Chapter 88: Foot, meet mouth
A loud, frustrated scream filled the air, and Cass looked up, surprised, to hear the noise. Sam jerked also, and both men looked in the direction of the sound.
It sounded female, and Cass had a pretty good guess who it was. He also wasn’t surprised by the voice that followed.
"Ava, please! I just-"
"Why is it that none of you are on my side?" Ah. A lover’s quarrel. This was a crazy track record after the argument she had with Vespertine at the main entrance. Cass was honestly impressed. She could argue like that with her ’brother’ and then she was going to go in a few hours later with her partner? Go off. Have fun.
Cass would relish being a witness to both incidents.
"Is that Lady Ava and Lady Fiona?" Sam whispered quietly, leaning in towards Cass. Cass covered his mouth.
"Shh. Let’s watch." Cass whispered and Sam glanced at him, before he nodded. The two of them watched as the two women, who had apparently entered not from the main entrance into the garden, nor the gate that Cass had shown them before, but from the far end of the garden. That entrance was off of the front of the building, but tucked away. Cass and Sam were in the furthest corner, tucked away in the gazebo, and near where Lord Blackburn’s rooms were.
There was quite a bit of ground to cover between them, and there was a high chance that the girls couldn’t see them. He did wonder how they were speaking so loud that both Cass and Sam could hear them, given the distance between them. The wind wasn’t even blowing that strong, and they did look a bit like specs being so far away from them.
Cass could tell that Lady Ava was throwing her hands about, clearly upset. Cass felt a sick sense of satisfaction seeing that she was still upset. Was that mean of him? Maybe, but at the same time, he was sure that Lord Blackburn probably really liked seeing Lady Ava kind of circling the drain.
Lady Fiona, who had apologised to him twice today, was chasing after her lady love. He could feel her desperation from here. This was going to be good.
Cass reached for a few grapes, plopping them into his mouth as he watched.
"We are on your side! It’s just-It’s just that this is the way of the nobles!" Lady Fiona shouted and Cass winced. Even he knew that was the wrong thing to say. Of all the options she had, Lady Fiona had chosen the wrong one.
Lady Ava spun, and Cass could tell she was furious.
"The way of the nobles? What has gotten into you? You never used to be like this, Fifi! You used to-You used to laugh with me about the ridiculous things that the nobles would do. Things that were traditional, but we thought were ridiculous. We used to go along, but only because we had to, and then we’d laugh about it after. The way you’re talking right now makes you sound like one of them!" Lady Fiona scoffed, clearly upset about what Lady Ava had said.
"I sound like one of them? Ava, you were adopted into one of the Duke households. No matter what I do, no matter how many people I save or if I prevent the Demon King from returning, I will never hold the same rank as you. I can’t hold the same rank as you. Out of the two of us, you should be the one behaving like a noble, not me! So I can’t understand why you can’t understand that they did something wrong. And not only that, they did something wrong to Lord Cassian! Do you even know how much money they had taken from the Blackburn family? Enough to feed several families for years, but they were not using it for anything so pure." Lady Fiona defended, and Cass was mildly impressed.
Too bad she was actually the long lost princess of the Kingdom, but eh, that was the life she lived. She needed to feel inferior, or else she’d probably end up like Lady Ava. Character development and all that jazz.
"Oh, so he took money from the richest family in the whole Kingdom, maybe the whole continent? What’s the big deal? It’s just some money." Cass genuinely wondered what had happened to Lady Ava between yesterday and today. She couldn’t have taken this turn just because of what he’d said, could she? That would have been ridiculous, but this? This was truly ridiculous.
She was on some crazy type shit, and Cass couldn’t help but shove another grape into his mouth, his book long forgotten.
"Just some mon-Ava! It’s not just some money! Do you even know who built this mansion? Who made it so that you had access to a temple any day of the week? It wasn’t the Vespertines, it was Lord Cassian? Why are you suddenly like this? What changed? What changed you from the girl I knew before this?" Lady Fiona sounded desperate, and hurt. Cass almost felt for her.
"What changed with me? What changed with you? All of you are suddenly all fans of Cassian? Why? Why is everyone turning away from me and turning to him? I even apologised and he didn’t accept it! He basically called me a monster and told me that my apology wasn’t sincere! It was! It’s not my fault that he was abused as a kid! Why do I need to be responsible for that?" Sam gasped, Lady Fiona gasped, and then Lady Ava gasped, covering her mouth dramatically.
Sam jerked his gaze towards Cass, probably expecting him to react poorly, but Cass just calmly continued eating his grapes.
Woooow.
If she only knew that Cass was listening in, things could truly take a turn for the worst.
"I-I didn’t mean-"
"Ava Glendale, how could you say something like that? I can’t believe those words just came out of your mouth." Lady Fiona sounded like she was near tears. "You’ve changed, Ava. You really have. I didn’t realise it, but it’s been happening ever since you started talking to this new god of yours. You won’t even tell me what name they have. Me! We were supposed to tell each other everything, but you won’t even tell me that, and now you’re saying things so inconsiderate. Before, you would have been the first to show compassion for someone like Lord Cassian. Someone who has done so much for your group quietly, and despite us being rude and hurting him deeply, he hasn’t said a word about us to anyone. He is a much better person than any of us knew, Ava, and it hurts me to hear you speak about anyone, not just him, like this." Lady Fiona let out a loud sniff and Cass honestly felt bad for her.
This couldn’t be easy, finding out that your perfect girlfriend wasn’t as perfect as you thought. Sam and Cass watched as Lady Fiona raised her arm to her eyes, and Cass had a feeling she was wiping away her tears.
Cass knew that this wasn’t going to end well. He could see it in the cards. That did not bode well for him.
It benefited him greatly that Lady Fiona was dating Lady Ava. It gave him peace of mind, and kept them away from him. It also meant she stayed out of his business, because she was busy running around hiding her relationship with her. If they broke up, what would that mean for him?
They would also lose their main healer, and it was far too late in the book to bring in a new one. Cass did not want to have to deal with new dynamics as he was trying to change the ending. He would rather deal with dynamics he already knew.
Fuck. Did he reveal himself? Did he throw a rock and pretend that he ’just so happened’ to kick it by accident? He really didn’t want this conversation to turn in the direction he was pretty sure it was going.
Or did he pretend that he hadn’t heard a damn thing that they were talking about, and he had been absorbed in his book while they were fighting? Ugh! This was too much!
The sound of a door hitting the frame as it closed filled the air, as even the birds went quiet. Cass was confused as to why, until the blue head of Byron came into view and everything made sense.
Of course the birds would hide. A true predator had arrived.
This also proved to be the best excuse that could ever fall from the sky.
Byron was glancing around the large space, staying near the door as he scanned the areas that Cass had told him they were going to be. He was late, very late, but Cass didn’t care. The timing was perfect, and he could ask why he was late later.
"My Lord! Sam! I am sorry I am late, but your next meeting time is fast approaching and the people you are supposed to meet with are getting on the guard’s nerves." Byron’s voice rang out, loud and clear, and Cass could almost see how both Lady Fiona and Lady Ava froze.
They really needed to start considering the fact that Cass liked being outside, and this was right outside his rooms. Even if he hadn’t been out in the garden, he was sure that Lord Blackburn had seen many times when these two had come sneaking back in after being with each other in private.
Cass let out a loud yawn, slamming his book closed before he got to his feet and exited the gazebo.
"Byron? Is that you?" Cass yelled, covering his eyes with his hand as he glanced in Byron’s direction, giving the ladies a moment to think he hadn’t spotted them. "Oh? Is that Lady Ava and Lady Fiona?" Cass said, surprise tinting his tone before he started making his way towards Byron and Sam scrambled to gather everything behind him.
Cass moved slowly, allowing the women to pretend that they either hadn’t seen him or heard him, but it was Lady Fiona who grabbed Lady Ava’s arm and yanked her forward. They had quite the distance to travel to meet him, but Cass walked slowly, allowing both Sam and the two ladies to reach him as he met Byron near the door he himself had entered from.
Byron, confused, but not letting it show in his expression, bowed respectfully towards the two women while Cass watched him, doing his best to keep his expression neutral. Sam came behind him, huffing and puffing as he had rushed to gather everything quickly, and Byron quickly moved to take the heavy basket from him without question. Sam smiled at him gratefully.
Cass watched the women, who both wore very different expressions on their faces. Lady Fiona looked like she was staring at a ghost, while Lady Ava looked...pissed. She looked really fucking pissed, actually.
Cass had to fight his lips twitching.