CHAPTER 213: STEP ON ME

Cass didn’t know how he survived the night, and honestly? He didn’t care.

All he knew was that he woke up in the tent alone, just like how he had been when he had gone to bed. He was shaking slightly, cold to his bones, but it wasn’t that deep, worrying cold that he had woken up to twice now.

So, Cass got dressed, pulled himself out of the tent groggily and glanced around.

The fire was dim, and there was only one silhouette by the fire. Cass didn’t even need to think long about who it was. Especially as they shifted as soon as Cass came into view. Cass did gasp when he caught sight of his face.

He looked fucking battered. Fiona had really laid into him, and Lucian smiled bitterly when he saw Cass.

"How was your sleep? Are you cold?" He asked, his voice quiet, but somehow able to reach Cass even with the distance between them. Cass’ heart jerked. He didn’t feel...bad for the man. Not truly. He did feel sympathy for him. That had to hurt.

His eye was swollen, as was his lip. He looked like he had a rather serious bruise forming on his cheek and throat, along with several other bruises peppering parts of his body that were exposed.

"How long did she hit you?" Cass asked, not responding to his first question as he slowly approached Lucian. Lucian swallowed thickly.

"Until I got it." Lucian replied as Cass came to a stop. He was next to the fire, but not next to Lucian. He wasn’t even standing in front of him. He was out of reach. Lucian sighed, dropping his head, his shoulders dropping as well.

Cass stared at him, his body, his own frame trembling as another shiver rocked him. The fire he was standing next to doing nothing for his body. Lucian sighed again, and held out a hand.

"Cassian, please. Let me warm you up. It hurts me to see you shivering like that." Lucian raised his gaze, his orange eyes burning Cass from the inside out. Cass hesitated, before he took the few steps he needed to stand before him. Cass tentatively put his hand in Lucian’s and warmth flooded his system.

Cass let out a soft, relieved sigh, his eyes fluttering closed for a second before he flickered them open.

"Have you been out here all night?" Cass asked and Lucian nodded.

"I don’t really need to rest." He admitted easily. As if he could sense the anger, he chuckled. "It’s an...occupational hazard. Sometimes, if I go to sleep, I wake up far too late." He said and Cass felt his expression shift, his eyebrows furrow.

"What do you mean by that?" Cass asked and Lucian sighed.

"It means that sometimes I don’t sleep hours away, I sleep years away." Lucian shrugged like that wasn’t a big deal, but Cass knew that wasn’t the case. Not by the way his face was hidden in the darkness. "It’s fine. I mean, I have been fine since it’s only been a few days, and I haven’t been in my true form." Lucian stopped talking, as if he was hesitating to say something. "Cass...I think I did something unspeakable to you." Lucian whispered quietly.

Cass felt his heart squeeze.

"You did." Cass told him quietly, his hand jerking, his grip tightening around Lucian’s hand that he still held. Lucian crumbled, folding in on himself.

"I...I hate that I don’t understand things. I hate that I don’t...that it feels like I can’t understand things sometimes. Until it’s too far." Lucian whispered. Cass remained where he was standing, but his throat was tight. There was such raw emotion coming off of Lucian there was no way Cass couldn’t tell. "I didn’t...you have every right to harm me. To take my dicks. To take one of my hearts. In my customs, that’s your right." Lucian said, raising his gaze to Cass’. His orange gaze held a lot of emotion. An overwhelming amount. "I don’t understand how you could ever forgive me." Lucian said. "And that terrifies me."

Cass didn’t know what to say. What could he say? That he wasn’t going to forgive him, so there was no point trying? That he was constantly letting him down, so Cass really should stop getting his hopes up that this man, this dragon, was going to get any better?

Cass opened his mouth, ready to spew the angry, hard words at him, but they got caught in his throat.

"I’m not taking your heart or your dicks." Cass said instead, and Lucian’s face crumpled. He let out a soft exhale.

"I see." He whispered. He squeezed Cass’ hand. "Is there anyway that...as a human, you would be appeased?" Lucian asked carefully, quietly.

"You need to grovel." Cass said quietly. "You need to understand that there are some lines that can’t be crossed." Cass whispered. "You told me that you were going to follow my word, and you didn’t even ask for it." Lucian’s gaze jerked to Cass’. Cass watched him, his face stony, and Lucian swallowed.

"That...that feels too...light. Like I’m getting off too easily. Do you want my scales? They are worth a lot. They are often used for medicine. I can offer my body too. I grow back limbs pretty quickly. Do you want to try dragon? I’ve heard stories that it increases others’ magical capabilities." Cass felt his eyes widen at the words coming out of Lucian’s mouth.

"I have no desire to cut you up into pieces and eat you, Lucian! Nor do I have any need to sell parts of you for money." That was almost insulting. Lucian’s eyes widened.

"What else do you want? I don’t think groveling is enough for the crime that I’ve committed." Lucian sniffed. "I know asking for forgiveness is out. I shouldn’t even have the right to ask that of you." There was a bit of satisfaction in hearing that Lucian had gotten to this level, but it was tainted by the fact that he’d needed it literally beaten into him.

"Lucian." Cass started. He jerked his gaze to Cass’, staring at him intently as Cass spoke. "If you want this...bond to work, like you keep saying, you need to put in the work. So far, you’ve barely put on the veneer of humanity." Lucian flinched and Cass sighed.

"So you want me to be human?" Lucian asked quietly, slowly, like it was something horrible. Cass stared at him.

"You couldn’t pull it off." Cass told him bluntly, and Lucian flinched. He opened his mouth to protest, but shut up when Cass squeezed his hand. "I want you to do your research. You can’t keep doing this. What happens if you cross the line again, and there isn’t anyone around to beat the shit out of you? What then? What if..." Cass winced as the words came to his mind, left his mouth. "What if I just disappear because you never cared to learn what my society, what my beliefs were? You think it’s perfectly fine to keep things from me until you get caught. That’s horrible in my opinion, and if it wasn’t so fucking obvious to me that part of it wasn’t intentional, I wouldn’t even be having this conversation with you."

Lucian gulped audibly.

"O-Okay. You want me to grovel...and learn?" Lucian asked and Cass nodded. Lucian let out a shaky breath. "You...You are too nice." Lucian said quietly and Cass chuckled.

"Make no mistake. Part of this is because I still need you in my life. If we weren’t still in this dungeon, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation in the first place." Cass told him calmly and Lucian’s hand in Cass’ twitched.

"O-Oh. How soon should I grovel?" He asked, before falling to his feet before Cass. Cass barely was able to get a word in before Lucian shuffled back, leaning in and to Cass’ horror, he kissed Cass’ shoe. He looked up, those orange eyes reflecting remorse as the flames danced in the pit, showing off part of his face.

"Lucian, I-"

"I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Kick me, beat me, punish me as you see fit. I’ll be your eyes, arms, ears, legs. Treat me like cattle. Spit on me. Piss on me. Whatever makes your anger dissipate. Just...don’t leave me." Cass had never been on the receiving end of such genuine pleading.

He wouldn’t lie and say that he wasn’t moved. Lucian looked like his whole world was collapsing. He held his breath, and when Cass didn’t respond within a minute, he bent, pressing his lips to his shoes again. Then, he took one of Cass’ feet, practically knocking him off balance so he had to reach out and grab his shoulders for stability.

Cass had no idea what the man was planning until he placed Cass’ foot on top of his head on the ground.

"You can crush my head. As long as my hearts are still beating, I’ll come back." Lucian told him. "I’m not supposed to tell people that, but you can know. You have the right." Cass kind of thought that Lucian was blowing this out of proportion.

He was fine, and honestly, Cass hadn’t hated the attention. He was just mad that they hadn’t asked before it happened.

"Lucian, I’m not crushing your head." Cass swore he heard the other man sob.

"Why not?"

"Because I’m not a dragon and that wouldn’t make me happy, plus I’m too weak to crush a human head, especially a dragon’s human head." Cass told him bluntly, and Lucian sniffed.

"Fair point. Do you like having my head in the dirt?" He asked and Cass stood there, his one foot pressing against the soft flesh of Lucian’s face, his hands on his shoulders and he sighed.

"I don’t hate it." Cass told him. "It’s...a nice feeling." It was a thrill that he could do this to a powerful being like a dragon, Cass would admit it. He’d probably like this only slightly more if he could do this to the demon king. Or the god that fucked up and killed him early.

"Then you can ask me to do this whenever you want." Cass scoffed.

"You don’t mean that." Cass said and Lucian chuckled.

"You could ask me to do this in the boss room, in the throne room, anywhere, and I’ll do this for you." Lucian said. "You don’t understand...how much I like you." Lucian said quietly and Cass felt his heart twitch. No, he clearly didn’t understand how much Lucian cared about him, because he still doubted his intentions.

Did he like Lord Blackburn, or did he like Cass? This was a question he couldn’t even ask.

Cass sighed, removing his foot from Lucian’s face.

"Get up before the others wake up. I don’t want to deal with the questions." Cass muttered and Lucian got up. He sat back on his knees, staring up at Cass.

"I can...do other things to you. For you." Cass wasn’t an idiot. He could connect the dots between the man being on his knees and where his mind was going. Cass smirked. He reached out, touching the other man’s chin before he tugged on his facial hair and Lucian flinched.

"That would be a reward for you, not a punishment." Cass said. "And I can’t trust just anyone with my cock." Cass said and watched as the second eyelid slid across Lucian’s gaze, his throat working.

"Okay. I now know my goal." He whispered, his gaze sliding from Cass’ to Cass’ crotch. Cass felt his face heat. The damn pervert. Cass pushed him away in disgust and Lucian stayed where he was until Cass sat down on the bench he’d sat on the previous night.

"You’re hopeless." Cass mumbled as he reached into his bag, his stomach rumbling now that he was awake. He’d skipped dinner last night because he’d gone to bed so early.

"Maybe. I’ll make it up to you." Lucian said, staying on his knees until Cass realised he was waiting for Cass to give him a signal to get up. Cass waved his hand and finally Lucian got to his feet before he sat down again. Cass ignored how he was staring at him and pulled out one of his books again to read while he ate. At least he could get some reading in before everyone else woke up.