Chapter 200: A not so subtle secret

Words : 1763 Updated : Sep 27th, 2025

Chapter 200: A not so subtle secret Cass nodded miserably and Vespertine handed the tins over to Lady Ava. Lady Ava had a rather serious expression on her face as she looked over the tins from the outside, before she put one down and opened the other. She coughed, looking like she was having an allergic reaction. Her face was turning red, she looked a little ill, and her eyes were watering. She closed that one and turned to the next. She had a similar reaction, but the second one wasn’t as severe. Lady Ava stared at the tins, before she turned to Cass. Her expression was grave. "Do you remember when you started taking these ’healing tonics’?" She asked and Cass opened his mouth, about to respond, when he closed his mouth. Did he have those memories? It didn’t feel like he did. When he looked deeper, he wasn’t able to find them. All he had were the memories that he had personally experienced. How the owner hadn’t been surprised to see him or Sam when they had entered, how he had gotten more tonic, how Sam had been the one to offer it... "I...I can only seem to recall the most recent times, but I’m sure if we asked Sir Forsythe when we leave here we’ll have a clearer picture." Cass said quietly and Lady Ava nodded. "Okay. Because I’m going to say something, and uh, I don’t want anyone to freak out." Lady Ava said and she was staring at Cass. Her gaze was hard, but not cruel. Cass braced himself. "Cass, this is...made of demon blood." Cass felt like he had taken a blow. Fiona was there to catch him, holding him up as Cass’ body gave out. "What?" He asked, softly, carefully, like he wasn’t just crumbling. "No. That’s not possible." Cass protested but Lady Ava’s face shifted. She almost looked apologetic. "I can test it." She said, her throat working as she swallowed. "Look." She stuck her finger into the tonic powder, hissing as everyone watched on in horror. Her finger began to swell, blistering and Vespertine rushed over, taking the tins from her and wiping her finger with his sleeves. "My gods, Ava, be careful!" Vespertine said while Cass’ mouth went dry. Oh god. Oh fuck. Cass thought he was going to throw up. Not just human blood, but demon blood? What the fuck was wrong with him? What was he doing? Why was this allowed? How was this allowed? It was obvious to everyone that this was news to Cass. It was Cass’ worst fear manifested. The thing he’d been desperately trying to avoid, ignore, laid out bare when he was unprepared all because of a bottle of poisoned pills. Pills potentially poisoned by the man that he trusted most since his arrival. "I think I’m going to be sick." Cass murmured and Lucian scooped him up in his arms, taking him away from everyone and comforting him as he tried to throw up, but nothing was coming out. He was just heaving. Painful, without any actual relief, Cass felt his body shake and convulse for another 10 minutes before exhausted, he couldn’t do it anymore. The time he spent away gave the others enough time to chat among each other, gain their own bearings as Cass felt like this dungeon was a damn curse. The whole thing was a fucking curse. A curse to drive him insane. He was going fucking insane. The sound of someone approaching had both Cass and Lucian looking. Lucian probably was just doing it out of consideration for Cass, since he had better hearing. It was Vespertine. He had a look on his face that Cass wasn’t able to place. He hated it. "Cass...it’s okay. No one is upset with you." Vespertine murmured but there was no way Cass could believe him. "Do you think I’m stupid? An idiot? How the fuck aren’t you upset with me? Ava practically just confirmed the fucking rumours about me in two seconds! You’re all fucking hardcore believers! I know what fucking happens to those who-" Cass cut off, feeling like he was going to heave again. He’d just gotten himself to calm down enough that he wasn’t heaving like a damn freak. "Fuck." Cass sounded broken. He was fucking broken. He cursed everyone who got him here. Lucian’s had was warm, comforting on his back, brushing his hair away from his face. "I don’t care what you are." Lucian told him. "You’re more than the blood that runs in your veins, Cassian." Lucian was trying to be sweet. Cass knew that at any other moment, this would be sweet. Cass scoffed, his hands scrunching against the wet, cold stones of the floor. It hurt. It was painful, but he didn’t care as his fingernails caught. "My body is fucking trying to kill me, Lucian. That’s a sweet sentiment, but I’m literally tearing apart at the seams." Cass snarled. He was lashing out, he knew it, but Lucian only paused, before he sighed. "Mm. Alright. You are making a rather good point, unfortunately." Vespertine crouched down, not quite in Cass’ vision, but in his peripheral. "Ava feels like shit. She didn’t think she would come to this conclusion, and honestly, I thought she was going to flip her lid. Don’t think I didn’t notice you listening in on a few of her tirades." Cass flinched as Vespertine called him out. "She didn’t react negatively. Honestly...I think we all kind of...connected the dots after she said it." Cass’ throat closed up. "Edgar, now is not the time. Look at him. He looks like he’s going to faint." Lucian scolded and Vespertine chuckled. "If I don’t tell him now, he’s going to run away." Vespertine shot back. "He looks ready to flee, Lucy. He needs to hear this." Vespertine said. Cass couldn’t argue with either of them. Both parts of him were panicking. The part of him that was Lord Blackburn, and the part of him that was Cass. Cass was in full control, because if it was Lord Blackburn? He would have fled. Like Vespertine had said. Cass wasn’t sure that wasn’t off the table. If Cass let his guard down, he still might flee. "Cass." Vespertine’s hand touched his thigh and Cass flinched. "You’ve been pretty obvious about you being different, like I have, and like Lucian has. We have just never...been around someone like you before. It’s okay. We aren’t...we’ve talked about it, and we aren’t going to tell anyone else." Cass jerked his gaze towards him. The man who was the son of the current High Priest. The brother of the saintess, and who was also...probably a demon. Cass didn’t know what kind of face he was making, but it was enough to move Vespertine. He reached for him, wrapping his arms around him and hugging him tightly. "Cass. It’s okay. We aren’t going to turn you over to the church. There’s not fucking way. I don’t-I admit, I don’t understand why the gods have selected someone with demonic blood as a hero, but it’s not my place to question them. Not when it..." Vespertine sighed. "Not when it comes to someone like you." He said quietly and Cass was frozen. This felt...oddly familiar. Lucian’s hands slid to Cass’ hips and Cass shivered. "You have every right to." Cass whispered and Lucian and Vespertine tightened their grip on him. "No. You’ve done nothing but try to help us." Vespertine’s tone was firm. "Even when we were biased against you, treated you less than, you never got mad at us for it. You just...supported us quietly. You even built your home, our home, on hallowed ground for Ava. Fuck. All of your strange food issues all make sense now." Vespertine murmured and Cass felt his eyes begin to water. How the hell did it make sense? "What?" Cass asked and Vespertine chuckled, holding him. "Ava liked to bless the raw ingredients." Vespertine told him. "So of course you wouldn’t be able to eat most food. They were infused with holy power. They were killing you from the inside." Cass felt like he’d just dropped a bomb. "The only thing that is never blessed is sugar. It’s a temple rule from a long time ago." Vespertine said, looking bitter as he pulled away, cupping Cass’ face. "Which is why you only have damn cookies as rations. Ava went out of her way to bless everything before we left. I didn’t even think-why the hell would I when I’m not affected as you are?" Cass’ head was confused. His heart was confused. He couldn’t breathe, he was tired, and the wheezing sound he heard couldn’t be coming from him. It couldn’t. "Breathe, sweetness. It’s okay. I wouldn’t let them hurt you anyways." Lucian said. "If need be, I would have fled with you. No one is going to hurt you." Lucian’s voice was gentle as he pressed his lips against Cass’ neck. Cass shivered, before he finally just broke down again. The sobs shook his body and this time, two sets of arms were there to comfort him. He had been in denial. He hadn’t wanted to look at it too closely, but he knew. Of course he knew. Lord Blackburn had told him something was up, and Cass wasn’t an idiot. He just didn’t want to cause more trouble for himself. Yet, here it was. Laid out for the others to see. He knew that the others were going to treat him differently. There was no way that they weren’t. They weren’t reading the romance novels he was, and they had grown up in a world saturated with demons being the bad guys. Cass knew it. That was the whole reason the Blackburn family had a bad rep. They had been practising dark magic and making deals with demons. Cass didn’t know how he worked into that picture yet, or even his own damn origins yet. It was clear that Lord Blackburn wasn’t taking it well that everyone else knew this either. Cass could feel the weight of his presence inside of him as he cried. They were sharing these tears. This was for both of them, while the tears from the previous day had been solely for Cass. It made it feel bigger, heavier. Cass just wanted to go to sleep, and wake up like all of this was a damn nightmare. He didn’t want to deal with any of it.

Chapter 200: A not so subtle secret

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