It appeared that the King had some issues with Cass and his family getting all of the attention. Made sense. After all, he had been riding off the high of being King for so long that he thought he could get away with anything up until this point.
Having someone else take all of that attention from him?
That wasn’t going to fly.
So as soon as he realised what was going on, he did something to draw attention away from Cass at the very least. Or he tried.
The King asked for his Aunt’s hand for a dance. Something he hadn’t even done with the Queen at any of the balls previously. He usually had his son dance with his wife in place of him and his wife dancing. It was an incredible thing to offer since no one was happy with it.
Aunt Alysora’s husband was pissed, the Queen was pissed, and the nobles were whispering up a storm. Even Cass’ grandfather looked like he wanted to be anywhere else as soon as the King suggested it. Maybe he got the idea from Gideon dancing with the Queen earlier, but it was clear that Cass wasn’t the only one who was shocked.
The Queen was gripping onto the edge of the throne she was sitting in, like she hadn’t married the King for the position of power instead of love. She was putting on a good show of being upset, until Cass realised that this kind of undermined her position of power. The world here still didn’t give women autonomy over themselves completely. The only way that you could move in this society without concern that someone would just harm you was being more powerful than others.
Even Fiona, who was one of the strongest women that Cass knew and had the most power that one could have, had her power taken away from her. It was a rather awful realisation for Cass. It took away some of the anger that he felt towards Fiona again. What choice did she have when the King decided to take everything away from her? It was a knee-jerk reaction, and yes Cass had expected her to come to him, but why would she?
They had only recently repaired their relationship and they had never been close. They only got close because they found out secrets about each other. Cass almost felt a little ridiculous as he watched his Aunt begrudgingly go dance with the King while the Queen watched on because he was somewhere else completely different.
He had wanted to run away because of...what? He thought it was the best choice? He thought it was the only choice? He was scared, afraid? He hadn’t been the only one. The two girls hadn’t left because they wanted to harm him. They had left because they felt like they couldn’t do anything else, and it was the gods who had encouraged them to get somewhere safe.
It was the one time that Cass thought the gods had been acting purely for someone else’s safety. It didn’t surprise him that they showed once more that they favoured Fiona, but he shouldn’t be too mad at them. She was their original chosen one, and she was good at it.
She kept giving and giving parts of herself until there were almost no parts left to give. It was Cass who had stepped in and put a stop to her being used by others and giving up too much of herself. Cass was the second hero, the one who was supposed to step in and help clean everything up because that’s what the gods needed.
Even this moment was a way to help clean up the mess that the demons were leaving behind. It wasn’t fair to the Queen that she was being belittled like this. The King probably didn’t even consider it. He was only focused on his own concerns, his own issues and didn’t care about his wife at all. It was a telling sign, one that Cass was sure many of the women in the room could relate to, but something that Cass was only slowly waking up to.
He was just too used to women having rights. That’s why he had been upset the way that he had been. He hadn’t really considered the options that had been before Fiona and Ava, and now he was feeling a bit of sympathy for the Queen too. Even if she was a demon, she probably hadn’t always been one.
Hopefully. Maybe. He could sympathise with that. What he could not sympathise with was how the Queen decided that she’d had enough of this embarrassment and the moment that the King was done dancing with his Aunt, the Queen got down from her throne and marched directly towards Cass.
Not his Aunt’s husband, not another Duke, but Cass. The exact person that the King was trying to pull the attention from. The King looked shocked that she would even consider doing something like this, or that she hadn’t demanded a dance from him. Cass was shocked because she didn’t hesitate.
She marched directly towards Cass, who still had Byron’s Mother on his arm, and held out her hand as if he had already offered his hand.
"Let’s dance." She told him, leveling him with a look that had Cass stunned, as he stared at her offered hand, and the shocked, appalled look of the King only a few feet away from her. Even the musicians had stopped playing as everyone held their breath, waiting.
"Are you sure?" Cass asked, his body going into panic mode as she stared him down. She gave a cool, collected smile but rage hid behind her eyes.
"I am very sure." She told him and Cass gave a heavy sigh.
"I’d rather not lie and tell you I’m a good dancer. There was a reason my grandfather kept me away from these things." It was a half joke, half truth. He was sure that the Queen knew everything as she gave him a smile. It wasn’t warm. It was as cold as a snowy day in winter.
"Well, I’m a capable dancer, Lord Cassian. Now stop embarrassing me and get moving." It was an order, but one she knew didn’t hold much weight when it came to Cassian. After all, he’d ordered a dragon to eat someone at the last ball he’d been at, he wasn’t exactly afraid of the royal family.
He turned to the lovely fairy next to him and she gave his arm a squeeze.
"Play nice, Cass." She said softly, and both Cass and the Queen smirked.
"I’ll try." Cass told her, being sincere, and the Queen chuckled.
"I appreciate it, Lord Cassian. Now, can we? I want to get this over with." She muttered quietly and Cass almost wanted to ask her why she was doing this in the first place. He already knew the answer. It was written all over the dumb King’s face.
He truly had never expected her to do something ’so disrespectful’. In a way, this was her fighting back against him. Cass was very amused to see how this was going to shake out after he left.
Placing his hand in hers felt like a trap of sorts, but one that Cass felt was double-sided. He was doing something he shouldn’t, but so was she. She might know that Cass knew what she was, or she might not. Cass knew that she had some theories about him, but neither of them had ever gotten close like this before.
It was a dangerous game, and they were both walking into this fully prepared.
Cass gripped her hand and thankfully, Cassian’s body remembered everything. He’d been a proper heir, after all. His grandfather did not handle disgrace well. It would be a poor showing to not teach him something as basic as dancing.
The Queen seemed pleasantly surprised as the next song started up and Cass was in the right position and he began to guide her across the floor. He’d never felt so bougie in his life, nor as straight.
"You seem experienced. Were you lying?" She asked quietly and Cass snorted.
"At this point, what use does lying have? I haven’t danced with anyone outside of the instructors who taught me how to dance." Cass told her. Being this close to her, feeling how her dress moved against his body, Cass hated it.
He didn’t realise he didn’t like dresses until now, but there it was. He hated them.
"Isn’t that thing uncomfortable?" Cass blurted, and the Queen nearly stumbled.
"What?" She sounded truly shocked, and Cass huffed, his face turning pink.
"The dress. The shoes, the skirt, the everything. It feels so burdensome." Cass explained. The Queen, who clearly thought Cass was trying to take a jab at her, was a little shocked by the meaning behind his words. Strangely innocent, and cute.
She let out a laugh. It didn’t sound fake or forced. It sounded rather sincere. Cass could tell that shook people more than the fact that they were dancing together. Her actual laughter had probably never graced these halls until now.
Her eyes sparkled as she smiled at Cass, pulling him closer. She made them look intimate and Cass could feel two sets of eyes boring holes into him. One was the King’s, and the other set belonged to Edgar.
He was going to hear an earful for this later, and he couldn’t exactly say that Edgar was wrong to be angry.
"Sometimes I forget that you are just a child, Lord Cassian. Thank you for reminding me of that." The way she spoke was strange, but honestly? It fit her perfectly. Cass couldn’t tell if she meant that in a condescending way, or if she was being sincere. He chose to believe it was a little of both.
"Despite what you think, your Majesty, I am not as young as you think I am." It was a small reveal of his cards, but truly, what could she guess? Who would make the absurd assumption that the gods were doing things that were similar to demons?
The Queen stared at Cass for a long moment, neither of them speaking as they swept across the floor in a dance that felt too complicated for the conversation they were having.
"Hmm. That may be true." She agreed. She seemed to be in a good mood though, given everything that was going on. "A shame that we aren’t on the same side." She whispered. Cass twitched.
"I don’t know if I agree with that." Cass replied tartly and she laughed. This time it was a big laugh, truly surprising coming from a woman who usually kept her composure.
"I truly think so. You’re funny, Lord Cassian. Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to convince you to switch sides?" She asked and Cass knew she was being sincere. Cass leveled her with a serious look.
"There was a time when that might have been possible, I won’t lie, but now? Too many things have been done to the people I care about for me to ever be able to agree with what you’ve done." Cass was going out on a limb, making an assumption, and he felt his heart squeeze at her smiling response.
"Oh darn. What was it that upset you? Was it going into the wretched hero’s home?" She asked and Cass felt his jaw tightened.
"That wasn’t even the core of the issue, but yes, that did play into it." Cass told her. The Queen sighed.
"Well, this moment was nice while it lasted then. I’ll treasure it." She told him and Cass knew that she would. Now that he knew some of the truth, she had to know her days were numbered.