Cass’ hands shook as he stared at the newspaper that had been brought to him the next day. Normally, he had Sam or Edgar go through it for any important information. He didn’t really care to learn more about the human realm as long as it didn’t harm him.
However, today was different.
Today he was staring at a recreation of his own face, his own body, on the front page. A huge recreation too. It wasn’t perfect, but Cass really thought the sparkles were unnecessary. What the fuck was this?
The title of the main article of the newspaper?
Lord Blackburn spotted, everyone better prepare their loins. Baby season is coming, and you could be too
What the fuck kind of title was that? Cass blushed immediately, a shocked gasp leaving his lips. The paper trembled in his hands as he stared at the bold letters, the giant, recreated photo of him laughing and smiling, and wondered how the fuck these two things could be related.
"What in the world?" Cass mumbled. He’d barely had his first cup of tea for the day, he was in the dining room having breakfast with Edgar and Gideon. Both men were on either side of him, leaning in to catch a glimpse at what was going on.
Gideon snorted, turning his head to the side. Cass jerked his head in his direction, narrowing his gaze.
"What is so funny?" Cass asked dangerously and Gideon coughed, clearing his throat.
"Well, uh, I didn’t realise that you could be the reason that the population of the capital would rise, Cass, but I’m not surprised." He pointed to the photo. "I like the sparkles. Even drawn, they make the moment feel more real." Cass was baffled by his response. More real? They were fake sparkles, and Cass hadn’t cast any magic to make him sparkle!
"I don’t sparkle." Cass deadpanned and Edgar snorted.
"Um, well, that’s a personal opinion that I won’t say is false, but Cass..." Edgar trailed off. "You’re a sex demon. Your job is to attract others. You do sparkle, and that’s what this represents." Edgar told him warmly. Cass stared at Edgar who just shrugged.
"But I’m still me." Cass countered and Edgar nodded.
"You are you, but you’re...more? You were particularly attractive yesterday, and it seems that we were not the only ones who agreed. The common folk noticed and tried to capture it. That’s why the sparkles were added to the image and the uh, headline is what it is." Edgar snorted, covering his mouth. Cass wanted to knock over his goblet just out of annoyance, but he controlled himself.
Instead, he let out a loud, annoyed sigh. He pressed his hand against his forehead, grumbling out loud at the strange situation he found himself in. Now he understood why Sam had been hesitant and insistent that he gave this to Cass. Fucking hell.
"A baby boom? Are they fucking serious? The article barely even mentions that I was all over you two yesterday!" Cass said loudly, annoyed. Both men turned their faces away, trying to control their expressions. Even Sam had to force himself to remain standing there with a flat expression.
"T-That’s annoying." Edgar managed and Cass nodded.
"It is! It was supposed to upset the Dukes, but if it’s barely mentioned and instead talking about how I’m creating more babies, that’s not going to help anything." Cass was pissed. Truly pissed. Had they buried the gay aspect of the article because it was against the Kingdom’s rules? Was that the reason there was only a quick sentence on the bottom talking about who Cass had been all over all day?
Even the fact that he was with the fairies all day was only one sentence. The rest was rambling about how attractive Cass was, how they hadn’t realised how handsome and pretty red eyes could be and the new touch of freckles on Cass’ face were a nice touch. Cass frowned at that, his face warming at the reminder.
Cass hadn’t been aware that his freckles would come back. They were from his old body, but it wasn’t like he could tell many people that without sounding insane. Plus, he had very little evidence beyond the fact that he’d seen them for over 10 years on his old body.
Edgar and Gideon hadn’t brought them up either, so Cass wondered if they even noticed. This article just proved that they were being nice by remaining silent. Cass had also worried that they would take away from Cassian’s public attractiveness, but no one even said anything negative.
In fact, it seemed that they liked the freckles. Cass blushed harder.
He closed the paper and threw it to the other side of the table.
"Let’s just eat breakfast." Cass mumbled, flustered, annoyed, and wanting to forget about this for a moment.
Gideon and Edgar let him, both men silently eating their food as they kept stealing glances at the newspaper. Annoyingly, Cass had a feeling that both men were going to pour over the article once breakfast was done.
He had too much work on his plate to worry about what a damn article said about him and how handsome he was. He wasn’t a vain man, and it didn’t matter. They’d accomplished a lot yesterday, including ordering a bigger bed but now that Cass knew that Lucian was going to be bigger, he wondered if it was going to be big enough? He’d ordered it before Byron had revealed that to him.
He huffed, rolling his shoulders as he cut into a sausage. It exploded, juice pouring everywhere and Cass and his damn body reacted.
It was just a damn juicy sausage but Cass’ mind filled with what other juicy sausages he could have. Sam left the room, ordering others out as soon as he caught Cass’ line of sight. Gideon’s chair pushed back and Cass heard the sound of his pants coming undone. Cass blushed, his wide, confused eyes turning towards him.
Gideon smiled at him, no anger, no heat, only concern.
"Are you thirsty, Caspian? Come here, I’ll give you what you need." Gideon murmured, pulling himself out of his underwear. Cass glanced at Edgar, who appeared to be eating like normal, while Cass was getting a very different kind of meal.
How had they known? How had Sam known? What had changed when Cass wasn’t aware of it?
Cass wanted to continue down that trail of thought but the smell, the temptation of the meal before him was too strong. He was thirsty, and if Gideon was offering in the dining room...who was Cass to say no?
~
Cass only remembered at dinner time about the question he needed to ask from breakfast. He’d been in a little bit of a daze after watching Gideon’s face twist with pleasure as Cass sucked him dry. It had been a tasty meal, and Cass had felt a little full all day until dinner.
He’d also had a full day of work that he needed to catch up on since he’d taken the day off to go shopping. It made sense that he’d forgotten about it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel good about it.
"Sam." Cass called. They were alone in his office, Cass forgoing sitting down formally to eat in the dining room since he was so busy. Edgar and Gideon were also busy. Gideon was out on a task for his Aunt and Edgar was off to collect more of his food source from the shrine.
He wasn’t alone, of course, even though Edgar was a strong vampire in his own right. He was still the son of a Duke. Some level of protection was expected.
"Yes, my Lord?" Sam responded, his defenses down.
"How did you know I was thirsty this morning?" It was an unintentional thing, their differentiating between Cass’ two food sources. They hadn’t planned it, but it worked out. If Cass was hungry, he wanted solid food, if he was thirsty? Well, he wanted a more liquid diet. If he wanted actual liquid, Cass normally just asked for it by name. Tea, water, alcohol.
Sam froze at Cass’ question, his body stiff. He’d been organising something nearby in the office, but at Cass’ question he turned and looked at him with big, terrified eyes. It was clear that he hadn’t expected the question, and also had no clue how to respond without making Cass angry.
Cass thought that was silly. While Cass might be angry that he had been keeping something from him, it was Sam. It would be a light anger.
"Y-You’re just ima-"
"Sam. You know how I feel about lying." Cass told him calmly and Sam squeezed his eyes shut.
"I’m sorry." He said quickly. "I know that, I do, I’m just still out of sorts from yesterday." It wasn’t an excuse, not to Cass. It made sense to him. Sam had been actively out of sorts since yesterday, so it was easily forgiven. He’d even spilled a cup of tea earlier, which was unlike him.
"It’s okay. I just want to know the truth. Is it something I need to be worried about?" Cass asked. Sam hesitated.
"I’m not sure. I do know that Lord Gideon and Lord Edgar were planning to speak to you about it tonight." Sam told him and that made Cass’ shoulders relax. Okay. So they weren’t planning to keep it from Cass for long. If anything, they were waiting for things to settle down. Cass could understand that, even if he didn’t agree. If something had shifted about his body he had every right to know right away.
Especially if it was a tell about his demonic blood. Being gay out in people’s faces was one thing, but being a demon? That was still taboo in a way that Cass wouldn’t be able to so easily excuse. He didn’t want to reveal he was a hero just yet, and that was the only thing he could think of that could counter his demonic blood.
They wouldn’t care that he had gotten it against his will. The perception against demons was still too bad, and for good reason. Cass was pissed at them too, which was another reason why he didn’t want to give them good PR.
"Are you sure?" Cass asked and Sam’s jaw tightened. He nodded in response, his nervous gaze shifting to a very serious and dangerous one.
"Yes, my Lord. I am sure." That told Cass that Sam had put his foot down. They had to tell Cass about it, or Sam would. Cass smiled slowly. That was his Sam for him. Always looking out for him, even to spite the men that Cass took into his bedchamber.
"Thank you for being honest, even if you panicked." Cass told him and Sam nodded, blushing.
"Of course, my lord. Um, another cup of tea?" Sam asked and Cass nodded.
"Yes, thank you."