Chapter 71: How did you know?
Determined, Cass didn’t look back at Lady Ava as he passed her slightly hunched form. Honestly, he had no idea what else she had anticipated him saying.
Well, in fairness, only really he knew he was a secret villain. Everyone else had just disliked Lord Blackburn because of his family background. If anyone else knew that, they certainly didn’t let it be known.
Sam had a rather stoic look on his face, along with Sir Forsythe. It was Draken who appeared to be thoughtful.
"Ready to head back?" He asked and Cass stopped mid-step.
"I am. Why are you asking?" He demanded and Draken chuckled.
"Because I am not about to let my husband who was already attacked once today travel on his own." Cass felt his face flush.
"We are not married." Cass declared quickly. "It’s illegal for two men to be married. We just happen to be married to the same woman." Cass knew it sounded like he was making an excuse. Maybe he was. Either way, he needed to defend himself, especially around so many ears.
Draken smirked, raising one of his hands to gently tap his own shoulder. Cass felt his face flame further as he realised what he was hinting at. The bite mark. The mark that had started damn near everything.
"Not by human laws, and we both know I don’t really play by those unless it’s convenient for me to do so." Cass, who had just come from Lady Ava who was practically begging him to forgive him for the same fucking incident, had gone to Draken. Who had no remorse about what he had done.
What a fucking great choice for him.
He could not move out of this damn mansion fast enough. Should he just go to Lady Fiona and try to get a divorce right now? It would save him some hassle.
Sighing, Cass rolled his eyes and headed for the carriage door. Draken shoved his hand in front of him as Cass was about to open the door. He then gently placed a hand on his chest, pushing him back a few steps, flung the door open, and then offered him a hand. Cass stared at the man in shock.
"Are you being serious right now?" Cass couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t believe that the man had this much fucking gumption. Draken was smiling at him, looking towards his hand, encouraging him to take it. Cass huffed, shoving his hand out of the way and climbed into the carriage himself.
"I’m not some fucking maiden, Draken. I’m a man." He growled, pissed, and Draken laughed. Cass didn’t like how close by his laugh was, or the fact that he was even fucking laughing. Cass settled down onto his seat, glad to notice that his basket hadn’t been touched while they were away.
He nearly fell over as Draken clumsily got into the carriage, and instead of getting in on the other side, he clambered into the small space next to Cass, forcing him over. Cass protested as he shoved his arm around his shoulder, pulling him close and Draken let out a pleased, rumbling sound.
"I know you aren’t a maiden, Cassian. I am also very aware that you are a man, but does that matter between two consenting adults?" Consenting? Fucking where?
"I never consented." Cass said hotly and Draken sighed heavily. He gave Cass a sad, beaten puppy look.
"I am trying to make up for that. Can you forgive me?" He blinked several times, trying to be cute. Instead of finding it endearing, Cass shoved at his arm. Of course the fucker wouldn’t move. Figures.
"Are you? If you are, leave me alone." Cass fumed and Draken tsked.
"If I left you alone you would be in the stomach of a dire wolf." Draken growled.
"S-Shall I leave you two alone?" Sam’s voice spoke from the doorway of the carriage and Cass jerked.
"No! We don’t-"
"How considerate of your aide, Cassian. That would be preferred." Draken literally covered Cass’ mouth, shutting him up. Cass, frustrated, grabbed onto his hand and tried to jerk it away from his mouth. Draken shot him a grin while Sam watched on, nervous.
"I-I’ll be just at the front of the carriage. You can still reach me if you need me, my Lord." Sam said, his gaze nervously darting around, avoiding making eye contact with Cass. Cass felt shock fill him.
So Sam was fine going against Lady Ava, but not Draken? Why the hell not? What was wrong with him? What the hell had Draken said to him? Or what dirt did he have on the guy? Cass struggled, fighting against the stronger man’s hold on him as Sam glanced at him, giving him an apologetic look before he closed the carriage door.
Cass let out an indignant squawk, well aware it wasn’t very future Duke of him, but fuck this shit! Grabbing onto his hand, Cass took the drastic move of biting into Draken’s fleshy palm and watched as the man jerked.
What he didn’t expect was that Draken didn’t let him go at all. Instead, he growled, a deep, rumbling sound that filled the cab of the carriage and sent a shiver of warning down Cass’ spine.
"Cassian, if you want to hurt me, you need to bite deeper. But if you are trying to work me up, you have succeeded." Cass released his hand immediately while Draken stared at him, his orange eyes slightly brighter than before. Cass could even tell that his pupils had elongated slightly and he knew he was in trouble.
The carriage jerked to a start, rocking them in their seats, but Cass didn’t care about that in the slightest. He was in some very serious danger right now. Cass tapped at his hand covering his mouth again, and this time, Draken did remove it.
Cass did not like how the man was looking at him. It was the same way Vespertine had before he-
Flustered even more, Cass could feel his face warm as he looked away from him. Cass cleared his throat.
"I was trying to hurt you." Cass told him, trying to clear his intentions.
"Oh? Were you trying to cause me harm to get my attention? That’s a rather smart thing to do. Especially since you told that little boy allllll about me." Cass froze at the sultry way Draken was speaking. Cass shivered as Draken’s lips brushed Cass’ ear, and Cass refused to turn to look at him. "How did you know, Cassian? I thought I was doing a rather good job at hiding it." Cass wanted to snort. He had been doing a terrible job.
But, Draken was right to ask the question. Not everyone would have guessed dragon. There were some other powerful creatures that would have been guessed first. Dragon was pretty much at the bottom of the list.
That was because of the great dragon wars. Cass had done some reading on the mythical creatures since he was curious. What kid didn’t like dragons? Tyler certainly did. Hell, Cass couldn’t even deny that he didn’t like dragons either.
Just not this particular one.
Swallowing, feeling like he was going to be swallowed by the brute, Cass felt it was better to tell partial truths than lie to him.
"Uh, Draken, your name is literally...like two letters off from dragon." He started and Draken gave him a surprised look.
"Well, you can’t say that, since I wasn’t even given that by anyone important. Nobles are supposed to have last names, so I was given that by an emperor forever ago." Cass felt himself pale. Shit. He really wasn’t making it easier on either of them, was he?
"W-Well, he wasn’t very original, was he?" Cass joked, and flinched when Draken raised the hand wrapped around his shoulder to grab onto his earlobe. It was far too intimate of a touch, especially with the carriage moving.
Cass was going to find someone to make cars if he could fucking help it. This was too much. They could get up to too many shenanigans in carriages and use stupid fucking excuses. He could see the thoughts running through Draken’s brain without even looking at him.
"Mm. I will admit, his naming style wasn’t to my tastes. I only accepted it because he said he would write my deeds into the history of his empire. So, here we are. But you haven’t really answered my question, Cassian. How did you know?" Cass flinched against, his breath fanning his ear. He was sure he could hear how fast his heart was going.
Damn it, the man was wrapping around him like a fucking snake, not a dragon!
"Y-Your eyes, your skills with magic, the type of magic you use, how quickly you got here, the den reference, your damn imperviousness to fire and anything to do with it, the fact that you fucking bit me, and sometimes, it doesn’t feel like I’m talking to a human, or even a creature similar to one. There! Happy?" Cass knew he sounded grumpy, and it was because he was.
He didn’t like being in situations like this, and this felt like the fucking umpteenth time today. He just couldn’t catch a fucking break.
Draken curled around him more, nearly squishing the smaller man with his weight and size.
"Very. I didn’t realise I dropped so many hints. I apologise for reacting so terribly." Terribly? Terribly!? The man was trying to squeeze him to death!
"If you feel bad, let me go. I’m going to be squished to death." Cass protested and he laughed.
"No you aren’t. I’m making sure I don’t squeeze you too tightly. You’re just being compressed a little. I thought you would need it after that conversation with Lady Ava. Oh! If you know what I am, does that mean I can be more honest with you? Let myself go around you?" Cass gave him a horrified look.
"No! We barely know each other! And I don’t need comfort after talking with Lady Ava! I’m fine. Honestly, I am more upset with the way you are treating me, as if I am your damn thing!" Cass knew he was yelling, but he couldn’t help it. He was at his last fucking strand right now, and Draken was taking a pair of sheers to it right now.
"But we’re married. I do own you." Draken whined and Cass was so done he started laughing.
"Against. My. Will. What part of the conversation that you overheard with Lady Ava did you not understand about that? No one stepped in, no one let me know what was happening, and yet everyone keeps bringing it the fuck up, as if it isn’t a sore issue for me. I chose to be married to Lady Fiona after several calculations and speculations if it would be the right thing to do in the grand scheme of things. I decided it was a smart move." Cass winced. "Of course, my feelings played a role in it, but they were secondary compared to the outcome."
"Feelings should not come secondary when it comes to relations between two adults who care for each other." Draken’s tone made it sound like he was pitying Cass, and that only made him more angry.
"I was not consenting when we got fucking married, Draken, so in my opinion, even if it is true in your culture, it isn’t in mine! What fucking part are you not fucking getting?" Cass snapped, pissed. He struggled even more to get out of Draken’s grasp, but the fucking dragon wasn’t budging.
"I am devastated that you keep repeating that it wasn’t consensual, and I am sorry that you feel that way. It just means I must put more effort into pleasing you until this sore spot, as you have described it, is healed over. I will work very hard for you to realise that I am a good husband. Even if this is temporary, I do not want you to leave with bad opinions of me." Draken sounded sincere, but Cass scoffed.
"Well you are doing a terrible job at that."