(BL) The Villain wants a Divorce!

Lucian didn’t arrive that day. Cass swallowed his disappointment and instead, dealt with the issues at hand. Did that mean he wasn’t glancing out the windows every 30 minutes? No. He was, and he caught the others doing it too.

The only two people who remained calm and weren’t checking the windows were Byron, and Sir Forsythe. Edgar, Gideon, Cass and Sam were the ones who were checking. When Cass went for his afternoon walk, they were checking.

It now made sense why Edgar kept the windows uncovered. He was also checking for Lucian.

Thankfully, Cass had quite a few things to distract himself with. He also let Edgar distract himself with the work that had been left behind because otherwise he felt the man was going to worry himself into the ground.

He also sent Gideon off to go work out and talk to the knights in the manor since that was what he normally was in charge of here. Cass and Gideon had worked out their differences, so it was fine for him to do that again. Gideon, who hadn’t wanted to step on any toes, confirmed that was okay, and it was.

Sir Forsythe was in charge of Cass’ personal guards, and those who bore the Blackburn name, but Gideon had been in charge of the large manors’ whole protection. Sir Forsythe was actually happy to hand over that responsibility to Gideon again, and Cass could tell that Gideon was a little emotional that he was being trusted again. After all, it was Fiona who had given him that power, but this was Cass.

Cass was unprepared for the emotional kiss that he received in response, as was everyone else. They clearly didn’t think that Gideon would be the kind of man that would grab Cass, both hands around his head, and pull him in for a kiss over his desk. Cass was also surprised at the possession in the act, and the ease that Gideon did it with.

But then memories from how he’d held Edgar during his heat, the possessiveness that Cass had witnessed, had practically felt in the air, made him realise that Gideon was just really good at being sneaky when it came to his possessiveness.

He was just as bad as the others, he just felt that he had to earn it.

Cass stared at Gideon, a little stunned when he pulled away, his green eyes bright. He left shortly after, not before he’d given Edgar a hug and a cheek kiss, and the silence in the room had been long and loud before Cass broke out into laughter.

He wondered what Lucian would think of his behaviour when he got back. He bet there was going to be a ’conversation’ of sorts. Cass almost looked forward to it.

Now that Edgar and Gideon were occupied, Cass focused on his other task.

They didn’t do it in his office. That was where Edgar was working, but they did bring the people to his rooms. They just did it in the room that was barren with nothing in it besides hardwood. Easy for cleanup.

It might also have a giant fuck off bed in the background, but that was covered up so that they didn’t get any strange ideas from Cass and Sir Forsythe.

Byron and Sir Forsythe handled grabbing the few people that Cass needed to speak to privately, and they made sure it wasn’t obvious. Sam stayed with Edgar to help him on Cass’ orders, even though Sam looked like he wanted to be in the room with Cass the most.

Cass blamed that on the demon in him.

The first maid who came into Cass’ dark, dimly lit storage room took a second to catch on to what was happening. Once she did, she paled until she looked like a ghost, fell to her knees and begged for her life. It took Cass a few probing questions to try and figure out if she had done anything that meant she needed to beg for her life like that, and found that early on in her working here she had been approached to spy on Cass and the others for an entity.

She had said no, but they hadn’t relented until she said yes. She felt that she had no choice, but she also hadn’t sent out reports or letters. Nothing. She also hadn’t been told where to send them either. She was very sincere and promised that she loved working here, would never go against Cassian and the others, and was very apologetic.

Cass, for his part, was frowning the whole time. While this was his house, Fiona had been in charge of a lot of this, and Cass realised once more that that was a poor choice on his part. He knew Fiona was capable, but she was, at her core, a free spirit. Giving her this much responsibility was a bad idea.

This was the outcome.

Cass was going to have to punish someone who should have come to him the minute someone had begun approaching them, especially if they didn’t want to spy on him. That was begging and pleading for Cass to forgive them.

Cass decided, that for people like her, who weren’t willing to be used but felt they had no other choice, he was going to confine them to the manor until he dealt with the spies. This was for their safety, of course, and he sent her to his office to write a letter to her family under the supervision of Sam and Edgar and they would make sure that they got it to know she was safe, but being punished.

That would make it clear to anyone watching her that she had been caught, but her family would know that she was safe. Cass didn’t want to have to get rid of those who actually cared, or didn’t, and just wanted to do a good job. That didn’t mean though that he could overlook her finally giving in to the pressure.

He did tell her that next time something like this happened, she had to come to him. It was fine if she was uncomfortable, but he did not take well to others harming his people. He wasn’t aware of it, but even the sunglasses in the dark room could not hide the way that his eyes glowed with his statement. However, the maid didn’t take it poorly. She’d worked here long enough, pretty much the whole time that the manor had existed, that she knew there were a couple of strange things about the hero party, but they were good people.

Lord Cassian might be harsh, hard to speak to, and yell sometimes, but he made sure they were paid well for the services that they provided. Enough that the maid’s family was doing very well.

Cassian had no idea how much that kindness could help change the public’s opinion on him.

~

Of the five or so people that Sir Forsythe had been uncertain of, the maid was the only one who had been approached but hadn’t fully committed. Two had no idea of anyone reaching out to them and thus, were unapologetic. Scared, yes, but they stood firm in the belief that they had done nothing to betray Cass, the hero party, or their own coworkers and community. The other two were from the area, and while they were human, they knew Sir Sanders and Ser Hune quite well.

That was the answer that Cass needed for those two. The other two...

Well, let’s just say, there was a reason a blanket had been put down on the hardwood. Pee was such an awful thing to get out sometimes.

With that done and taken care of, Sir Forsythe and Cass discussed what they would do with the others. Again, Cass didn’t want to kill all of them, so he was thinking of making a large statement. He was going to have Gideon gather the knights and guards, tell them (the ones that weren’t being bought) what was going on, what was going to go down, and then summon all of the staff to the training grounds. The same ones where Cass had tied up the stablemaster, the dumb bitch who had kept ruining only Cass’ carriages, just to prove that he had control.

Cass was going to summon all of the staff, not just the spies, so that everyone was on the same page.

The manor was changing. Cass was not going to allow betrayal anymore. He was in charge of his house, and it was his, and those who were caught spying on him would become fertilizer for his ancestors. This was their one chance. Their one choice.

If they wanted to continue working for people who didn’t care if they died, that thought they were disposable, then that was fine. They could do that, they just had to know that there would be consequences. If they wanted to repent and grovel for a second chance, they could do that too.

Cass was more than happy to reward loyalty, after all, but this was their only chance. If they were approached again and decided to accept the money, that was it. That was when they became food for the trees and plants and their families would be sent word that they had disappeared along with a nice sum of money so that they didn’t come pestering Cass.

If they decided to betray Cass again, that was all they would be worth to them. A check and fresh, healthy dirt.

After they had that conversation, those that Cass trusted would watch those who had proven they couldn’t be. Cass would be sincere. If they changed against those who would rather let them die, Cass would welcome them back. There would be rules, and hard lines, and suspicion, but if they could last, they would belong once more.

If they didn’t....well, they had their warnings. They knew that Cass would be serious, and if they didn’t, they would find out.

Sir Forsythe thought that was a great idea. He liked it so much that he pushed for Cass to do it today, in fact, and Cass found that with Gideon now in charge instead of Sir Forsythe, the knights were willing to move and get this going. There was a gleam in their eyes, a darkness that Cass wasn’t sure had always been there, but he would use it to his advantage.

So, the whole staff was summoned, minus Ava’s Mom and family, and Cass spoke to them all on the dirt ground, his shirt blowing softly in the wind as the sun began to set. The sky was a beautiful pink and purple painting behind him, but that didn’t make the moment any less serious.

Cass could tell from the looks on some of the faces before him that true fear was being struck into their hearts as cotton candy coloured the skies. Cass finished his speech, his hands relaxed at his sides, Edgar beside him on the left, Gideon on his right, and Sir Forsythe, Byron and Sam behind him to the right.

A heavy silence held over the group before they were dismissed, and then the scrambling began. Those who were unwilling to give up their allegiances fled while Cass was at dinner with the others, while those who wanted to change, who wanted to stay went to Sam, Byron and Sir Forsythe.

The knights who wanted to change went to Gideon after dinner, pulling Gideon away from the meeting Cass was going to have with his Aunt, but that was fine. Even if it annoyed Gideon, Cass was glad that he also felt included in the chaos of the house. Cass and Edgar could both tell that as much as he hated missing out, he was actually very pleased that he was being pulled away like this.

His shiny sword at his hip, the gift from Cass that was supposed to be for the head of the Ridgewood family, hung at his hip with pride. Some things weren’t meant to be changed, and the fact that Gideon got his cup full by being involved with knights and guards was one of those things. Cass was glad that he found community with them, and he was glad that he had someone who could manage that community for him too.

All of the craziness was only made worse when he got onto the communication orb with his Aunt and found she wasn’t at the palace, but instead was at the mansion with Ailia and the other fairies.

He nearly had a heart attack when he found out why.