They didn’t get up to anything truly dangerous in the carriage ride back home. Cass thought about it, but Lucian was the one who kept his hands to himself. His kisses were anything but controlled, and they told Cass that Lucian wanted more, but he held back.
Cass wasn’t sure why, but his head was swimming with thoughts of Lucian by the time that they pulled back in front of the house. Cass knew that the others had to be waiting outside, but he needed a moment to gather himself.
To attempt to cover up the blush that stained his cheeks and hide the results of what kissing Lucian in the carriage had done to him.
Lucian, because he wasn’t wearing painted-on leather pants, was able to hide what was happening to him, but barely. The man was massive, so it wasn’t like when he got hard it had anywhere to go, it just wasn’t as obvious. That didn’t mean that they left the carriage right away so they sat parked, Cass sitting next to Lucian instead of in his lap in an attempt to calm himself down.
Then, a soft knock sounded on the carriage door and Cass felt embarrassment flare. Lucian chuckled.
"We’re not up to anything, you can open the door." Lucian called and the door opened rather quickly after that. Cass half expected two people to open the door. Either Sam, or Edgar, and not surprising at all, it was Edgar who opened the door with Sam hovering behind him but in view.
Edgar looked over the two who were sitting side by side, but Cass had a feeling it was obvious what they had been up to because his eyes narrowed slightly. He was wearing his hate for safety even if the sun was almost fully down. With only a moment of hesitation, Edgar hauled himself into the carriage and sat down across from them, leaving the door open.
He crossed his arms, staring at them silently and Cass wondered what he was going to say.
"What did you two get up to? Did you have fun?" He asked tightly and Cass blinked. He wasn’t sure if he expected this kind of reaction from Edgar, but...here it was. Cass glanced at Lucian and when he did he found that the man had that smirk on his face. The one where he knew something that Cass didn’t because of their connection, but this time, he was giving it to Edgar.
Cass felt his stomach flip in an odd way.
"I don’t want to get ahead of myself, since the date isn’t over till we get out of the carriage, but I think Cass had a good time. Didn’t you, sweetness?" Lucian asked, turning towards Cass. Cass dropped his gaze, feeling his face warm. He did have a good time, even with the weird moment where he ran into Mr. Collins and his older boyfriend.
It was just all of the emotions at the end, where he was talking with Lucian and how the man had just...accepted all of that that had Cass feeling a little strange. Confused, but not in a bad way.
"It was a good date." Cass admitted quietly, and both Edgar and Lucian stared at Cass. Lucian looked incredibly pleased. Practically glowing with pride. Edgar looked...surprised, but he didn’t look upset. He even looked towards Lucian, a little impressed.
"Huh. Well, good for you. It would have benefitted no one if Lucy had treated you to a terrible date." Edgar said, still sounding tense and tight. Cass wasn’t sure why but Lucian gave a light chuckle.
"Eddie, what happened while we were gone?" Lucian asked carefully and Edgar flinched. He flushed, looking embarrassed but his hands were tight. He even crossed them across his chest, but it was less like he was resting and more like he was protecting himself.
"Nothing we couldn’t handle." Edgar said tartly and Cass’ mind started churning. Something had happened the one time that he had left the mansion alone without protection? That couldn’t be a damn coincidence, not in this world. Cass wouldn’t believe it, not with his asshole grandfather next door.
"Was it my grandfather? The king, or Gideon’s Dad?" Cass asked and watched Edgar squirm in the seat.
"Why are you assuming it was one of them?" Edgar asked, sounding defensive. That only confirmed for Cass that it was one of them. Cass shifted in his seat, wanting to cross his legs but he was unable to because of his current condition. He instead let out a heavy sigh, shifting against the carriage bench seat and staring at Edgar.
"Why wouldn’t I? They’re damn thorns in our sides, and it wouldn’t surprise me that they would all be watching us to see if they could infiltrate the place because both Lucian and I were gone. Were you okay? Did anything happen?" Cass asked, worry filling him.
Edgar bit his lip, looking frustrated.
"Why were you able to sniff it out so quickly? I wasn’t planning to bring it up right away? I was just curious about how your date went." Edgar muttered, his shoulders dropping slightly. "I didn’t want to be the one who..." He trailed off and Lucian laughed. Lucian got up, hunched over because this was the interior of the carriage, and moved. He plopped himself down next to Edgar, wrapping an arm around the other man’s shoulders and tugging him against his chest for comfort.
Cass watched as Edgar fell, his eyes going wide as Lucian carefully took his hat off and placed it down on the seat next to them. He didn’t do it without concern for Edgar. He made sure that not a single ray of sunshine was near the other man.
"Edgar, don’t worry. We can put that look back onto his face, and we both care more about your wellbeing and safety than a date. I feel I can speak confidently for both of us when I say that. So, who was it? Who do we need to threaten? Or, remind them that they don’t have as much control over us as they thought?" Lucian was being...sweet. To Edgar. In front of Cass. It was a rather surprising situation for Cass to find himself in, and from the way that Edgar was looking at Cass like he was in shock too, told him that he felt a similar way.
Cass wasn’t upset though. He had almost expected that he would be, but he wasn’t. Was it because it was Edgar? Or was it because Edgar was looking at him like he’d fucked up, like he was going to cut this moment off out of fear that he made Cass mad? Cass wasn’t sure, but he sat back on the bench, watching the scene before him.
"Who was it, Edgar?" Cass asked softly, and watched as the man who was pressed against the pecs that Cass had a hard time with, swallowed thickly.
"I don’t think I like you two working together." Edgar whispered and Cass felt a wide, slightly delirious smile touch his lips.
"Now you know how I felt. How I still feel sometimes. Now, tell us, Edgar, before we both get upset and Lucian decides to do something about it?" Edgar flushed at Cass’ words, while Lucian chuckled.
"Awe. It wasn’t that bad, was it, sweetness? You like being pressed against my chest. I’m sure Eddie can get used to it too. Especially when we come back and you’re plowing his ass from behind." Lucian’s smile was so damn devious that Cass and Edgar both blushed.
"Lucian. We’re trying to get Edgar to talk. Speaking like that is not going to help." Cass warned, speaking more from personal experience than anything else. Cass stared at Edgar, trying to sus out who it was. "My guess is that it wasn’t the King. He’s too busy licking his wounds after his ’great plan’ fell through. So, it was either my grandfather or Gideon’s shitty father." Cass said.
Lucian bent, pressing his face against Edgar’s neck, inhaling loudly and Edgar squirmed.
"What in the world are you doing?" Edgar snapped, his voice rising as Lucian held him in place easily.
"Relax, Eddie. I’m just sniffing you." Lucian said, his eyes hard. "Mm. I think you’re right, Cass. It smells like both of them." Both of them? Why the hell would the two of them be moving together? Were they uniting because they had a common enemy, Cass? That was shitty of them.
Stay separate and evil alone, damn monsters.
"What were they here for? Did you open the door for them? I’m sure the trees had something to say about them trying to come here." Cass said and Edgar finally gave a little laugh.
"They were soaked through, just like Gideon that first time. They looked pissed. It was...it was healing in a way." Edgar muttered. "I’m sorry. I really didn’t want to bother you two when you’d just gotten out of your date but they just left. I was feeling a little lost as to what I was supposed to do." Edgar said. He still looked embarrassed, but he also looked conflicted.
"What were they here for?" Cass asked and Edgar made a face. Then, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a letter.
In a familiar font.
It was from the King, and it wasn’t exactly a summoning to the castle, but it was something important.
Cass stared at the letter like it was going to burn him because he knew what it was. It was for the dungeon. This was the letter that was going to announce that another dungeon had opened and Cass knew it.
Lucian and Edgar were watching Cass, watching his reaction as Cass reached out, taking the letter from Edgar. Cass could tell that Edgar had opened it now that he held it in his hand, knew that Edgar had probably read the contents. Cass let out a shaky breath.
"You’ve read it?" Cass asked carefully and Edgar nodded.
"Yeah. I have a feeling you know what’s written in there, Cass." Edgar said and Cass winced.
"Well, some things are easy to predict, you know? Like, of course, as soon as Fiona leaves, we get the notice that a dungeon has opened." Cass joked. Lucian’s gaze widened slightly.
"So soon? They usually take a few months to form before-"
"-Unless someone was hiding dungeons from us so that they could form." Cass interjected. Lucian’s expression darkened and Edgar didn’t look surprised by Cass’ words. "We are at a disadvantage because there are probably a lot more hidden demons then we are aware of, we don’t know where they are scattered, and Lady Ava had been told not to tell anyone who the demons were. She’s annoyingly loyal in strange ways." Cass muttered. Edgar raised a hand, covering his face with his hand.
"I...can’t argue with that." He agreed. As her big brother, he should know her better.
"Do we know what kind of dungeon it is?" Lucian asked, his jaw tight, and that was when Cass was reminded that the man, no, dragon had to leave soon. For his safety, and for Cass’. Cass swallowed thickly as he pulled out the letter.
He stared at the words, reading silently as Lucian waited patiently for Cass’ response. When Cass let out a slow, measured breath, Lucian didn’t think that was a good thing.
"I want to say that you should be able to leave at any point, but I can’t." Cass admitted, upset. "The dungeon this time..." Cass trailed off, shaking his head. "We’ll need you." Cass looked up at Lucian, feeling terrible that he was going to have to ask this of Lucian. Lucian, however, gave a nod.
"I can stay around a little longer. Another two weeks or so won’t end my life or anything as dramatic. I just might get a little more emotional." Lucian told him calmly. Cass felt his chest squeeze.
"Are you sure?" Cass asked, truly worried for his sake and Lucian snorted.
"Having you this concerned for me is a treat enough. I’ll manage, I promise. If I’m needed, then that just means I’ll set the pace on how quickly we clear it. As long as it isn’t undead again, I’ll be able to push through it. Plus, we have our new saint Gideon with us. It’ll be a good chance to test him out." Lucian offered. He was being rather calm about it. Even Edgar was surprised by his reaction.
Lucian looked between the two mages and gave a snort.
"What? Did you think I would leave you alone with Gideon to clear a dungeon? Are you serious? I’m not someone who would ever do something like that. I care about both of you." Lucian said and Cass swallowed. His mind went back to what he’d heard earlier, about how he had felt nothing when his lover had died, but had cared about his friend passing.
Cass nodded carefully, his chest feeling tight.
"Thank you." Cass told him. Lucian smiled at him.
"Of course. Now, let me make good on my promises earlier, Cass."