Unfortunately, Edgar had to stop his mission. Not because Cass or even Gideon stopped him, but because Duke Ridgewood decided to show his face.
Cass wasn’t surprised, but Gideon was shocked. It was clear that even after everything, he had thought that his father hadn’t been on the property. Like he had been told.
Cass didn’t trust that tidbit of information in the slightest when he’d heard it. He didn’t think that any man in the Ridgewood family was allowed to make a decision outside of their father. It would explain why Gideon was treated the way that he was, because otherwise he’d be a really good son. Had a lot of holy power, loyal and determined. Followed the weird rules that he set up without question, until it told him to kill someone.
You know, all the things that any cult leader liked to hear.
The Duke, unfortunately, wasn’t as smart as he thought he was, and had let Gideon fall not only into his hands, but into Fiona’s, because he was an idiot and thought that Gideon was useless. There was no way that a man who was a micromanager of all of his children wouldn’t have noticed that there was something a little different about his son Gideon. That Gideon didn’t care about the opposite sex, and there was no way in Cass’ mind that the man hadn’t twisted Gideon into the form that he had been so that he was the kind of man that would turn against his best friend.
So, there was no way that he hadn’t ordered the brothers to beat the shit out of Gideon, and probably all to punish him for turning away from the family. Even though he was the one who kicked him out, took his sword, and sent him out of the Ridgewood family with pretty much only the clothes on his back.
Cass hadn’t been as angry as he should have been over how that had happened. Yeah, Gideon had attempted to harm him, but Gideon was also the one who had felt the worst about it. He had taken all of the anger that the others had shown him without complaint. He had treated it like it was completely normal, completely expected that he would be treated the way that he had.
Cass was annoyed at the person that he had been when Gideon had come back, and also understanding that he hadn’t known Gideon well enough back then. There was a reason that Edgar had kept a lot of his thoughts to himself and had remained silent, letting the others make their decisions. If he had spoken he would have made it obvious that he cared about Gideon, a lot, and that it hadn’t changed in the face of everyone else’s anger.
Cass was glad that others, himself included, could see what kind of person Gideon actually was, and that his family and father was the actual problem.
"What do you think you are doing in my house?" His father bellowed, and Cass was impressed by his control of his lungs. That was an impressive sound.
Cass had his back to the main house, Sam and Byron in front of him and facing the direction of the main house. That was how Cass knew he was coming. Byron had stiffened, his nose rising slightly in a full act of disgust.
Cass knew Lucian wasn’t that subtle, but Byron was by the nature of his dragon. He also pulled Sam closer to him, protective of either Sam, or so that he could make sure Sam didn’t fly at the holy knight to punish him.
Cass spun, his hands on his hips, squinting his eyes in the late afternoon sunlight to catch the Duke racing towards him, a cloud of dust trailing behind him. They really needed to soak the ground. The dust clouds were a little ridiculous.
"What am I doing here? Don’t you think you should be thanking me for not harming any of your guards instead?" Cass replied, not going to take any shit from this man. "Especially after what you’ve done to my property?" Cass was going to stick to the excuse he’d used when he first protected Gideon. It made things easier, and honestly, he didn’t need to know anything else.
Cass watched as the man scanned the area, saw his other sons on the ground, Edgar marching towards them, and the trio around Gideon who was still on his knees. He clearly was looking for something in particular, and it was a bit jarring to realise he was looking for Lucian. The man thought Lucian was the biggest threat.
Granted, he hadn’t seen, nor had any of the nobles, how much power Cass had, nor what kind of powers he had been granted by the gods. Cass wasn’t even fully sure what that was, but Lucian did, and had been helping him control it so that it felt like a second nature to him. So maybe he was right to consider Lucian a bigger threat, but he was wrong to do so.
Hard to forget the impression one got when someone shed their human skin in front of them and a giant fucking dragon came out. Cass understood it, but he was a fucking fool. After all, that dragon, and another one close by, listened to Cass.
"Your property? What have I done to even touch your property?" The man scoffed. "You destroyed my front gate!" He protested and Cass scoffed in turn.
"Well, you had your stupid guards so that I wasn’t welcome, so I fixed the issue." Cass responded, being just as prissy as the other man. They were like snapping, hissing cats, backs arched, teeth barred.
"Fixed the issue? You’ve been on a rampage in another Duke’s territory!" He yelled, and clearly, this was his normal. The calm, collected person that Cass had met at the ball had been a hoax. This was who he really was.
Cass smirked, looking down on the Duke as he crossed his arms. He huffed, rolling his eyes dismissively. It was clear the small slight drove the man insane with anger, his hands fisted at his side, anger rolling off of him. Gideon let out a shaky breath from where he was on the ground, clearly worried about Cass, or himself.
Cass felt bad that he was so concerned, since there was no way Cass was about to let an abusive older man get away with touching him in the slightest, and if he did try to touch Cass? Well, he wasn’t going to like the outcome.
Going bald was the LEAST of anyone’s concern.
"Well, again, you shouldn’t have taken something that belonged to me, held it hostage, and then hurt it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have to be here to reclaim it." Cass said. The Duke’s eyes widened slightly, dropping to Gideon, and then snapping back up to Cass’ red gaze. He scoffed.
"Gideon? Gideon is what you came to retrieve? Even if he is a temporary saint, why would you even care? It’s clear that the gods made a poor decision and-" For his own sake, Cass waved a finger and watched as a wind whipped up dirt and dust and whatever the fuck was in the area and smacked the man in the face with it.
He was spitting and sputtering, wiping at his face as Cass continued until he felt he had to stop. He let the man breathe for a second, or at least attempt to do so before he took a few menacing steps towards him.
"The gods," Cass began, his voice deadly serious, "do not make saints so easily. You of all people should know that as you practically witnessed him becoming one. Saints are also not beings that have an easy time. Learning how to manage holding so much power is a difficult task, which was why Ava was even brought into the Vespertine family. Do not behave as if you have no knowledge of this, Duke Ridgewood." Cass hissed. "Besides all of that nonsense, Gideon is a part of the hero party." Cass stared at the coughing man with disdain. "Do not think I have forgotten or forgiven how you have treated not only him, but us, recently." Cass’ voice was cold, his eyes glowing slightly.
The man stared at him, a small shiver running down his spine.
"You cannot be serious." The Duke argued, still coughing, and Cass gave a soft laugh.
"Serious? I’ve never been more serious in my life. Aren’t you supposed to be a family filled with those who follow the good word of the gods?" Cass asked, his smile mocking. "The loyal protectors of the royal family, the loyal members of the temple, that’s what you’re supposed to be." Cass was mocking him, and from the angry, upset look in his eyes, he knew it. "Yet, from where I stand, all I see are a bunch of spineless, stupid boneheads that couldn’t hold true to their convictions if they came and hit them over the head." Cass told him.
The man took exception to that.
He rose from his crouched form, towering over Cass as he did so. It was an intimidation tactic, Cass knew it, but it wouldn’t work. Cass had to look up at people who were taller than him all the time. Man or woman.
"The Ridgewood family is a long line of those who look out for those who need protection. You take that back, Cassian Blackburn." The way he said Cass’ name was a clear slight, with vitriol in his tone. He wasn’t able to truly fight Cass’ claim though, and that made him even more angry.
"Using my full name in an attempt to be more powerful, hmm? You’re a fool for thinking that could even hurt me. Yes, I’m a Blackburn, yes my family isn’t perfect either, but at least I know who are loyal to me and how to reward them, while you spit in their face, turn your back against them, and then attempt to harm the people that they care about. That’s something that you will never understand as you continue to reward those for their bad behaviour." Cass told him as the older man loomed over him.
"Loyalty? What would a Blackburn know about loyalty? What would you know about loyalty? Your own Mother couldn’t remain loyal to you." Sam gasped, and Cass didn’t even need to look back to know that Byron was holding him back. He had no idea how deep those words sunk, and why they hit. He had no idea about what she had actually done. He had just been firing in the dark and happened to hit.
"I think that is exactly the reason I know what loyalty is." Cass told him, pulling his arms a little tighter around his body. "Because it was people like you who painted me, a child, an innocent child, as a problem and as a threat, abandoned me when I was defenseless, left me to rot and die and despite it all, I grew up and flourished. Do not think for a second I am not aware that you could have stepped in when you noticed that my grandfather was trying to kill me through neglect. Do not think I will forget that. Do not think that you are safe, for I don’t only have financial power anymore." Cass warned.
"What does that mean?" Duke Ridgewood asked, taking a step closer. It was clear he did not like the words coming out of Cass’ mouth, but Cass didn’t back down.
"I’m saying, haven’t you noticed how your holy powers are getting weaker? How you can’t do what you used to?" Cass asked, taunting him. It was clear he struck a chord and Cass took a step forward. He took his left hand, raising it slowly and pressing it with intent against the center of his chest. "I am the reason that is happening. I am the reason you are getting punished. I am the reason that nothing seems to be going right. You shouldn’t have fucked with me. You should have left us alone. Now? Now everything you ever thought held value is going to slip through your fingers and when you finally look back on everything and ask where it went wrong, you’re still not going to look in the right direction. You are going to blame me, when in truth, you were the one who set yourself down this path in the first place." Cass sneered up at him. "Sometimes, you don’t have to make a contract with a demon to let them win."