Cass was grateful that instead of everyone getting upset that he was part demon, they were instead furious over what his Mother had done. He didn’t really worry that they would be upset that he was part demon, well, maybe he worried a little bit that Taniora would be, but she was clearly not treating him negatively.
She clearly had a strong dislike for the demon king, which anyone should. Cass also had a strong dislike for him.
Ugh, the only good thing to consider about that waste of space was the fact that through him, Sam and Cass were better connected.
Cass let out a heavy sigh, glancing between Edgar and Gideon for a moment. Gideon looked like he was riding out a severe shock, but when Cass looked into his eyes, which were busy scanning the room almost desperately, he could tell that the man was fighting for his life. Cass wasn’t sure why, at first, and didn’t understand.
Until he remembered that the whole reason that Gideon had even been ousted from the hero party for even a short period of time, was that he found out a truth about Cass, and then had gone and run his mouth after he had refused to accept it. The man did not want to repeat a past mistake, and was making sure that didn’t happen.
So, he was holding Cass’ hand, supporting him as he revealed a hard truth. One that he had thought he had told them in private, but Gideon didn’t need to know that part.
Edgar, however, looked calm. Outwardly, the man was his normal self. The only thing that gave him away to an oblivious observer, was the way his eyes were glowing like a damn beast. Outside of that, he looked unaffected. Cass had grown used to Edgar, however, and could tell that the man was in shock.
His hands were twitching slightly, his bottom lip was trembling slightly and those beast-like eyes? They were darting around the room, his eyes grazing everything, but never lingering. He was having a hard time processing everything, and given that his current vampiric state was tied to the gods that he knew, that made perfect sense.
Edgar had no idea that other gods had come before the ones that he knew, the ones he was probably in a contract with. Probably against his will. No, knowing who his father was, and the pieces that he had heard, definitely against his will. Cass imagined that a lot of the feelings that Edgar had were complicated, laced with rage, anger, regret and helplessness.
He was going to have to comfort the man after this, and Edgar deserved that from him, and Gideon.
"Cass?" It was a gentle prodding, from Ser Hune, and Cass swallowed. Right. He was in the middle of talking, not focusing on the two men who were around him.
"Sorry." Cass mumbled, but their expressions softened while Cass felt his chest tighten.
"It’s okay. You can take your time." They told him, and Cass shook his head.
"No. It’s better to rip the band aid off." Cass told them, confusing everyone in the room. "Something that needs to be explained for any of this to make sense is that there are different types of demons. The Demon King doesn’t always come from the same type of demon, they rotate. It’s a power thing, I’m not too sure how it happens and I honestly don’t care. With that being said, the current Demon King, the one we have to fight and kill, is an incubus." Cass said.
The room nodded, and Cass wondered if they were truly getting what Cass was saying. It didn’t matter. It would make sense in a moment.
Did it feel strange telling a whole room of people something that he should be keeping to himself? Yes, but at the same time, the anger and compassion in their eyes told Cass that he wasn’t doing the wrong thing. And it was fucking exhausting not being able to trust those around you. Cass kind of just wanted to say it all to a large group just to get it off his chest. If they did tell others?
What could he do? Why should he care? He could collapse the fucking country and leave. Cass kept bringing up that thought. He really needed to sit down with it and consider if that was the option.
"My Mother, in her infinite wisdom, decided that she wanted to make a deal with said demon king. Honestly, she could have just been trying to make a deal with anyone, but the demon king found her proposal interesting enough to take personal interest. Plus, if a child was born between a demon and a fairy, that child would be a crime against nature." Cass said it simply, as it was. He could feel the protests building in the others, but he shook his head, not budging. "This is not something that is up for debate since it is true. Even the gods were confused as to how I got demon blood." That shut the others up.
"Anyway, they signed the deal and my guess, she’s a damn sneaky one and signed my name instead of hers. The demon king, whether he noticed it or not, didn’t seem to care. As long as someone or something was born that had demon and fairy blood. Because my Mom was pregnant with me at the time, he took the human parts of my body and changed those into demon parts. How it happened? Don’t know, don’t care to know. All I know is that I came out like this," Cass made a vague gesture to his whole body, "and that she killed herself shortly after having me. She became a succubus, while I..." Cass trailed off, his face going blank as he remembered the pain and fear and suffering he’d gone through as himself, and as Cassian.
Cass trembled slightly.
"While I had to live with the choices she made for me."
"It hasn’t been easy for him either." Edgar spoke up. He had to clear his throat because his voice cracked. "Cass can’t eat blessed food. He gets violently ill, almost dies. He also, because of his demonic nature, has to feed both sides but we didn’t know what kind of demon he was for a long time. We had our suspicions, but..." Edgar trailed off, his eyes growing pained. "We had no idea what he was going through, especially because his own grandfather isolated him and spread rumours about him." Edgar swallowed. "I am ashamed to admit that I believed them."
"Me too." Gideon agreed softly. "He is a rather skilled manipulator. He made all of your actions seem suspicious, when you were just trying to live the only way that you knew." Gideon and Edgar looked very upset, and there was a part of Cass that was glad for it.
It was good that they were upset with their past actions. He hoped that meant that they wouldn’t fucking do them again. To Cass, or anyone else.
"Wait, I’m a little lost. If Cass has to eat two different food sources and his choices are limited, what can he eat?" The pink fairy asked. Cass tried to be reasonable about this, especially when it came to his response. Even as he felt his face go red.
"Um, well, I could eat anything that wasn’t blessed by the temple. I tended to have a rather sugary diet, now that I’m thinking about it. It also helped that I accidentally hired a demon as my personal aid and they are very loyal to me. They stood up for me in the kitchen and pantry, so my diet shifted. However, the last one we didn’t find out officially until recently." Cass found that he was having a hard time mentioning it. Ser Hune took pity on hm.
"Come on, you fools. Think about it. You know what succubi and incubi eat. Put two and two together." She snapped, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Cass has to consume parts of others, but it’s not blood." She said. Cass cleared his throat awkwardly.
"I actually can drink blood, but it’s more of like...a snack compared to the other stuff." Cass admitted, blushing terribly. Ser Hune nodded.
"Noted. Is that why you and Edgar often get along?" She asked and Edgar laughed.
"Well, there are several other reasons why we get along. Let’s just say, none of us were terribly upset when Fiona and Ava ran off together because we could manage just fine." That was a bomb dropped into the room. Ser Hune had been around since that had happened, but she hadn’t heard the truth of it. They were keeping it from the general public.
"Wait, they ran off together? Are you saying that the hero and the saintess abandoned their duties?" Ser Hune asked. Taniora looked enraged.
"They what?" She hissed. Cass, for his part, didn’t want to defend the two. He didn’t have to. Was he pissed at the shitty letter that they left behind? Absolutely. Was he pissed that they hadn’t even talked to him and assumed he would be able to handle it all? Yes.
However, there was a trigger to this reaction, and Cass needed to make that clear.
"While I think what they did is really fucked up and I am forever angry at them, Ava, the saintess, was almost sold to a demon and Fiona’s father, the shitty king who abandoned her in the fucking woods to die or survive, was going to announce her as probably the next heir of the kingdom. Thus making their lives ten times worse. Without consulting any of the involved parties. While it does not condone what they did, it explains it." Cass said.
"That’s it." Aunt Alysora said. "We’re killing the king." She declared. Cass had no idea why she had jumped to such conclusions, until she continued. "Not only did they fail in their duty to protect our sacred dead, and dead sacred to the royal family as well, they were separating lovers once more, destroying the environment, denying our claim on our kin and then abusing him, forcing children to do the work of adults, and becoming bloated on their own greed and power." His Aunt was pissed, and Taniora, the woman who was the love of the first King, nodded.
"I’ll help any way that I can." She said. Alysora shook her head.
"No. You’ve provided your tears. That is enough, more than enough. Hero Taniora. We will wear them with pride as we march onto the royal capital."
While Cass thought this was all fine and good, maybe starting a war when there was an active demon king wasn’t really the smartest idea?
"Um, if I may?" Cass asked, the energy in the room feeling a little too strained for him to outwardly speak his mind. The fairies all turned to him, eyes ablaze.
"Yes, Cass?" His Aunt asked, her voice softening slightly.
"While I hold no love in my heart for the King, the Dukes, or most of the higher ups in this Kingdom, I don’t think starting a war right now is a smart idea. For one, we have an active demon king around. Two, we don’t know how deep the demon rot goes. It might be ridiculous for me of all people to say it, but there are a lot of demons who have infiltrated all of the kingdoms, Edgar and I excluded from that list. We’ll need Gideon to find them out." His Aunt didn’t see the point of his words, so Cass continued. "Maybe you could use Gideon as a beacon, find the nobles that are demons and evil and...find a reason within fairy law to pick a fight with them and slowly chip away at the King’s support base? So when we finish off the demon king and we are considered heroes, there is no support for the King to remain in power and we can make the people think it was their choice?"
Silence.
Cass gave a soft chuckle.
"Um, too dark?" He asked and his Aunt ran her hand over her face.
"I’m thinking I’m thankful the gods got to you first before the demons did." She muttered, then winced. "And I am upset once more that we were denied access to you all over again."