Cass wasn’t aware that it was three days later when he was finally fully himself. Without pain, besides a dull ache that didn’t hinder him, his eyes bright, and he could mostly function on his own.
Bending down was a bit much, but he could do it. Thankfully, he had an eager Sam and a kind Gideon who was there to help him no matter what. Edgar, he found, when he woke on the third day less groggy and at a reasonable time, had woken up and decided he was going to work for Cass so that he wasn’t as behind as he thought.
It was a sweet thing to do, and Gideon promised that he’d been making sure that he wasn’t overworking himself. Gideon was moving between Cass and Edgar, checking on them both until they were both awake and aware. Cass thought that was sweet, even if he was essentially patrolling.
Gideon had laughed, pulling Cass close in a warm bear hug that melted the rougher edges around Cass.
"Guards don’t get to hug the people they are keeping an eye on, Cass, nor do they get to lie in bed and watch them sleep." Gideon told him and Cass fought against his own embarrassment.
"Well, not the good ones." Cass muttered and Gideon laughed, squeezing him a little tighter before he let him go.
After that, Cass finally got up for the day, Sam helping him after shooing Gideon out of the room to go check on Edgar and let Edgar know that Cass was lucid and getting ready for the day. Sam didn’t put Cass in anything that was too hard to move in today, giving him a little bit of leeway when it came to shape, but the colour?
Yeah, it was Sam after all.
It was a loose-fitting black dress-shirt combo paired with some nice, black pants. Silver accessories, a red gem brooch with crows and spindly trees made out of silver, silver cufflinks and black leather shoes.
Cass kind of looked like the gothic version of Lucian, and that made Cass chuckle to himself. He was certain that Sam didn’t intend for it, since something like this might have a corset or something to break up the look, but again, Sam was being kind to him since he was still pretty weak. Mm, maybe not weak, but wobbly for sure.
When Cass entered his office, Gideon, Edgar and Sir Forsythe were inside. They were chatting to each other, but to Cass it almost looked like they were scheming. Cass narrowed his gaze.
"What are you three up to?" Cass asked, and watched as two of the three turned to him, eyes wide, while Gideon stared at Cass with open affection.
"We were just discussing what we should feed you when you wake up." Gideon told him and Cass blinked, while Sir Forsythe stared at Cass openly. Then he sighed, glanced at the desk that Edgar was sitting behind, and reached for something. When he came over to Cass he handed him something and Cass blinked.
His sunglasses?
"Your eyes are obvious from here." Sir Forsythe clarified and Cass paled. He hadn’t noticed when he’d been changing, but then again, had he even glanced at himself in the mirror? He’d looked at his outfit, but he hadn’t looked at himself. Not in the eye.
Cass turned his gaze towards Sam who looked a little nervous.
"You didn’t make a comment about it so I didn’t bring it up." That sounded like an excuse to Cass’ ears, but he didn’t have time to pester Sam about it when Sir Forsythe laughed. It was a surprising sound, especially as the older man smiled.
"What are you laughing about?" Cass asked, a little tense. He didn’t exactly like the idea that they were talking about him, discussing him without him around. Sir Forsythe just stared at Cass, shaking his head after a long, quiet moment.
"I just thought I would have some more time to adjust to the fact that you’re changing, but the gods are not being kind to me. I cannot tell if it is because I’m ridiculous for feeling a bit of a loss, or if this is a reminder that there isn’t one." Cass had no idea what his words meant until he clarified. "You’ve developed freckles across your cheeks, and your eyes, or your pupils are shaped like hearts. You’re getting stronger, your body is developing. I can’t be certain if this is because you’ve merged souls, or if this was always who you were meant to be." Cass’ heart hurt for the man.
Cass himself, swallowed, the feelings inside of him complicated, painful. He didn’t know either.
The air grew tense, Edgar, Gideon and Sam not sure what to say either. Cass couldn’t speak on it. He didn’t know. He hadn’t seen what Cassian had been like fully grown without anything holding him back because...he’d never grown. As far as Cass knew, he hadn’t been feeding himself properly even at the end of his story, when he died. Knowing Cassian, he probably hadn’t given in even in the end.
He considered them his urges, his desires, when they were actually his body screaming that he needed to feed, with a little bit of his desires creeping in. Cass felt bad for the Cassian who didn’t know the truth, and for Sir Forsythe, who thought he might have some time to come face to face with the changes.
He wasn’t rejecting Cass, that much was clear, but...Cass could not even begin to understand what he was going through whenever he saw Cass. It wasn’t like he was like the others. Gideon and Edgar might have met him and known him a little bit, Lucian was just...Lucian, and Fiona and Ava had only known him for the same amount of time that Lucian had.
Sir Forsythe? He himself had admitted that he had known him since he was a baby, not just a child. He completely understood, and could give space to a man who had tried to protect him as best as he could without getting kicked out. Cassian knew that, which was probably why Sir Forsythe had been his first crush.
It was an awkward realisation, but something that Cass had to face head on. Cassian had a crush on Sir Forsythe as a child, and even as a teen, but he had never considered him an option. He wasn’t. It was a harmless thing, a young boy figuring out himself, but it did mean he held a special place for Cassian, and it was one of the secret reasons he had brought Sir Forsythe with him when he left the Blackburn estate.
Cass could never tell the man that, or if he did, it would be years from now. When all of this was behind them.
"I’m not exactly comfortable with all of these changes either." Cass finally said, the silence having dragged on a little too long. "I don’t know if these are normal either. Did...my father have freckles?" Cass asked awkwardly and Sir Forsythe’s eyes widened. He blinked, clearly shocked that Cass would ask that, before his expression softened.
"No, he didn’t." He admitted and Cass looked away. So his theory that the freckles were his wasn’t fading. Interesting. "Anyway, I’m glad to see that you are up, but please, until we clear the mansion of the spies, cover your eyes. No one is going to take kindly to them, and I would rather not have a mob rush the mansion." Sir Forsythe chuckled, as if that was a funny joke.
Edgar paled, as Gideon clenched his fist. Cass laughed.
"A mob? In this day and age? Come on, they wouldn’t do that." Cass said dismissively, but no one else found it funny. "And besides that, it’s like you’ve forgotten that we’re half of the hero party. We’re strong enough to take on a mob and not hurt them." Cass clarified and Sir Forsythe shook his head.
"I didn’t forget, I just worry that if we do follow through with something like that, your image would fall even further." Cass scowled. He was right about that. He wasn’t going to protest wearing the glasses, but now it was truly a must.
"Fucking demon blood." Cass muttered, annoyed, and Edgar gave a small laugh.
"Join the club, Bunny. At least we can get away with just wearing a hat and a pair of dim glasses." He joked, a man who also had demon blood in his veins. Sir Forsythe nodded.
"Do you need human food yet? Or are you still full?" He asked, and Cass was reminded that everyone knew what he had been up to with the men, and after the serious, almost emotional conversation he’d had with Sir Forsythe, it gave him a bit of whiplash.
Cass blushed, awkward, as his stomach tensed but no hunger followed.
"I-I’m fine until dinner, thanks." Cass mumbled, and it was like the oxygen had been let back into the room. "What have you been up to while I was asleep?" Cass asked, turning his attention towards Edgar and Gideon, needing to break away from the awkwardness of the situation. Edgar smiled at Cass, his shoulders relaxing and his hat protecting him from the sunlight that was pouring in through the windows.
"I’ve just been going over requests, simple statements, and getting updates from Sir Forsythe about the servants that are fleeing for their protection because word of what you did last month is finally catching up to the ones who weren’t connected to their handlers." Edgar said with a grin. "A few of them are still sticking around, but the list of those that we don’t know their allegiance to is only a few strong." Edgar confirmed. Cass carefully made his way over to the desk, his legs still shaky, but supporting his weight.
"Like three or four people? Or more?" Cass asked. Sir Forsythe followed Cass, as did Sam, but Sam went to his little tea station and began making some. Cass appreciated that immensely. He needed something familiar at the moment.
"You’re correct with your guess. We have about four that we are unsure about." Cass nodded.
"And your list? Of places for the nursery tree?" Cass asked, glancing at Sir Forsythe. He straightened immediately.
"Done. I passed it off to Edgar earlier, but I can go over it with you right now if you want." He confirmed and Cass shook his head.
"No. I’d rather you and Gideon go pick up the people we are uncertain of their allegiance to so that we can deal with that before the nursery tree is even in the ground. I want that mess dealt with. I will not let them consider burning the tree or pulling it up." Cass declared, his gaze narrowing. Edgar made a small noise of agreement.
"I agree with you, Bunny. Better to deal with it now, that way we can bring in fairies and those sympathetic to fairies into the mansion. The fairies at the capital estate would die for the tree, and once they realise what we’re doing here, I think they would do the same." Edgar said. Cass was glad that acknowledged it before Cass did.
"Thank you for saying that. Do we-"
"Your Aunt reached out while we were busy in an attempt to talk to you, but I told her what was going on. She said to reach out once you were awake, and that it was nothing bad. Just that she wanted to talk to you about how many fairies you wanted here." Sam interjected from his tea-making spot. "I hope it’s alright that I spoke for you, my Lord." He looked a little flustered while Cass was delighted he was getting confident.
"No. Thank you for doing that, Sam. I’m sure she would have responded well if Sir Forsythe answered as well, but she probably felt more comfortable speaking to you about it. I’ll reach out after dinner." Cass told them, and they slowly began to discuss what they were going to do with the rest of the day.
All while each and everyone one of them kept glancing out the window.