Cass didn’t take that time, since he would rather just get a recounting of what had happened at the estate while he was away. He could process the fact that his father hadn’t completely abandoned him later.
For now, what had happened while he was gone was more important.
Sir Forsythe gave a detailed recounting and it wasn’t all that different from what he had written in his letters to Cass. Lots of menial details, things like staff changing, punishments, maintenance issues. Simple things that a normal Lord probably wouldn’t want to hear, but stuff that Cass did.
Cass and Cassian were both control freaks when it came to things that really mattered to them. Cass was coming to terms with it, while it was clear that Sir Forsythe knew exactly what Cass wanted to hear from his lips.
He also explained a bit about who he assumed were spies, and what his suggested affiliations that they had were. It wasn’t particular people, but particular sectors. Like nobles, mercenaries, and merchants. Some were even from the temple but Edgar was there to confirm those outright. He had no plans to keep any spies from the temple and Cass was glad for his vote of confidence in that.
It was honestly pretty nice to have something simple bothering him instead of a deep revelation that was new to both Cass and Cassian. Just some simple spies that he knew about before, and that they could all workshop who they thought they were working for.
Of course, there was the issue with who worked for his grandfather at this estate. It seemed that quite a few people here did. The only benefit that Cass could think of was the fact that his Aunt Alysora had promised that there would be a lot of fairies that would want to work for him here, with or without the nursery tree branch that he was gifted.
They had talked about it before the tree gave them a part of themselves, so Cass knew he had some pull when it came to the fairies and hiring them. Cass asked Sir Forsythe to look for places that he thought would be a good place to plant a tree, which surprised Sir Forsythe.
He didn’t think that Cass was task him with this, but Cass just chuckled. Who else was he going to ask? Sam and Byron would be fussing over the protection and feeding schedule of Cass while he was under, as well as his protection, Edgar and Gideon would be with him, and Sir Forsythe had quite a bit of knowledge about nursery trees.
He hadn’t even flinched when the topic had been brought up before. He hadn’t asked any clarifying questions, which told Cass that he knew enough about fairies to know that they needed nursery trees to live and survive. He hadn’t known that Cass would need a tree when he was younger, so maybe he had only learned it when Cass was past that age.
This wasn’t to make up for anything that Sir Forsythe had or had not done, this was actually because Cass was trusting him. He wanted his help, his knowledge on the property and where he thought a safe space would be.
Sir Forsythe took this duty very seriously. He told Cass that he would have several locations on the property picked out for when Cass came out of his heat. He would make sure to list all of the good characteristics of each location, as well as the downsides. This would be important to the fairies that would come here, and to Cass as well.
After that, they considered what they would do to chase out the spies. Cass wanted to do what he had done back in the capital, but at the same time...the trees didn’t listen as well as they did back in the capital, and he didn’t really have a place to funnel the spies into like he did there either.
The estate was more open, so there were more places to hide. He also didn’t want to do anything that would damage the property either.
So, he considered just saying that since he’d come back from the capital he wanted to fire everyone working for him and send them on their way. Of course, he would only tell the truth to those that he actually liked, since most of them lived in the main town, but those who were bad and were spying on him had opted to remain on the estate.
It was a sign to Cass that they hadn’t wanted to assimilate into the community because they were going to turn their backs on them eventually. It was silly as much as it was true.
Of course, there were always outliers, that didn’t matter at this moment. They worked on their plan, Sam providing a full list of each and every employee, and they spent some time going through the list, making a separate list of those who were spies, those who were not, and those they were unsure of.
It took them until dinner time to get the list sorted, and by that time Cass decided to call it a night, tucked the lists into his magic bag, and dusted himself off. No one was going to get that. He was not foolish enough to leave that lying around, and Edgar smiled with his eyes as he watched as tuck it away.
"You’re being extra cautious." Edgar mentioned, pulling Cass close after he had come around from behind the desk. Cass just shrugged.
"Why wouldn’t I be? It wouldn’t be smart to leave my plans lying around. There was a reason none of you knew I was going to turn on you until the end." That wasn’t a Cass thought, that was a Cassian thought, and Edgar froze when it left his lips. Sir Forsythe frowned, while Sam hid his smile behind Byron.
Edgar pouted as soon as he got over his shock.
"That’s not a fair jab right now. I wasn’t saying that to be attacked." Edgar pointed out and Cass squeezed his hand, leaning over to place a soft kiss against his cheek.
"I know. My apologies. It just slipped out." Cass told him, apologising with ease. That too took Edgar by surprise, but he gave a dramatic sigh, his blue eyes warm as he glanced at Cass again.
"It’s alright. You’re right, I’m just bitter about it." Edgar agreed with ease. "I’m sure Giddy and Lucy will also be bitter about it, so be careful bringing that up." Edgar warned. Cass glanced around, glad that they weren’t near the stairs yet, just in the hallway heading down to the dining room.
The loud volume from inside told Cass that the Glendale’s were fighting again. He sighed.
"I need to get them their own rooms, and her out of there." Cass muttered and Edgar gave him a curious look.
"You could give them Ava’s wing?" He suggested and Cass scowled.
"No. They don’t deserve a full wing, not the men at least. Ava’s Mom wouldn’t accept it either." Cass muttered. A light went off behind Edgar’s eyes.
"Give her a room in my wing, then. I don’t mind, and I have a free room like you do. I’m not using it often enough anymore since I’m staying with you. I don’t mind, either. That way she can have some distance from her family, gather herself, and grow stronger. There is also a lot of scripture in my rooms as well. I’m sure that she’d like that and find comfort there as well." Edgar made a good point, but Cass wasn’t sure he wanted him to sacrifice that. It was his rooms, after all, and while he was spending more time with Cass, everyone deserved their own space.
"I’m not sure, Edgar. I don’t want you to lose a place you can go back to." Cass said and felt Edgar twitch. The man seemed to be thinking something dark, so Cass continued his train of thought. "While we are spending a lot of time together, and I like that, I do want you to have your own space. Your own area. That’s what your rooms are. That’s why when I built this place I gave each of us our own space. It wasn’t to isolate us, but to give us a place we could call our own. I didn’t really have that in the Blackburn estate so I made it a priority here." Cass clarified and Edgar halted, yanking Cass into a hug.
"Damn it. I can’t believe I didn’t know that until now." Edgar muttered, squeezing Cass tightly. Cass was a little surprised by Edgar’s outburst.
"What’s going on here?" It was Gideon, trying to sound accusing, but there was a brightness to his eyes that told Cass his words held nothing to them. He was coming down the hallway, clearly coming to meet them.
"Our sweet little angel here was telling me all about how he gave us our rooms to be sanctuaries, not isolation palaces." The way he spoke told Cass that they had spoken about this before. Cass felt his face warm. It sounded like they hadn’t spoken positively about them in the past, either.
Gideon came to a halt next to them, looking at the two men before he reached down and joined the hug. It was a little awkward, a little uncomfortable, and Cass blinked as his face warmed.
"What a sweet man we get to thank then." Gideon said and Cass sucked in.
"We are in the hallway." Cass pointed out and Edgar laughed.
"Yeah, of our home. I’m not worried about showing off, Babe. Why should I? I’ve practically cut all ties with my family, Giddy has, you care about us and take care of us, and I want to show you that I care about you and want to take care of you as well." Cass floundered with a response, but Gideon beat him to it.
"I second what Eddie has said. I care about you, and hearing that you were thinking about us years ago with consideration even when we were jerks makes me feel a little guilty, but also just means that I have to make up for it now by showing you how much we appreciate all that you have done." He laughed. "I would say that I could provide financially, but in the face of your vast wealth, I think that might just be insulting to you and the work that you do." Gideon said. Cass blushed a deeper shade of red. "And," Gideon added, his voice deeper, "you blush such a pretty shade of pink when I bring up the other ways I can repay you."
"Gideon!" Cass raised his voice in embarrassment but the knight just laughed. "What has happened to you?" Cass asked, flustered. Both Edgar and Gideon laughed.
"What happened? We have a sexy husband that we get to tend to, that’s what happened. Who in their right mind would turn down the chance to take care of you." Both men shared a look before stepping back, their eyes taking on a distinct look that had Cass swallowing thickly.
"Speaking of, when did you last eat, Cass?" Gideon asked. "Are you thirsty? Do you need a drink?" Sir Forsythe coughed, but said nothing while Cass let out a nearly quiet sound.
"I-I’m not thirsty." Cass told them. "Save it." Cass suggested, his cheeks burning, but his eyes darting to meet both of their gazes. The smiles that came to touch their lips only made Cass blush more. Edgar leaned in, pressing a kiss against his cheek.
"Where is the man who was rubbing up against me in stores, hmm?" Edgar teased and Cass huffed.
"He’s busy right now." Cass muttered and Edgar laughed. Gideon leaned in to press his own kiss against Cass’ cheek, then against Edgar’s. Edgar glowed under the attention, loving it. Cass wished he could be as open as he was, but it was still rather embarrassing to him, even if he liked it.
And he did like it, didn’t he? Cass liked it when they gave him attention, so it was a bit shocking to him and the others as they went to pull away and Cass resisted, slipping his hands into each of theirs. The men were shocked for only a second before both of them beamed.
They went downstairs, hand in hand, Cass burning up from the inside but not letting go of either of them.
He would get there. Slowly but surely. One step at a time.