Chapter 69: A bad habit
"Who’s the cute kid, Cassian?" Cass did everything he could not to flinch as he heard Draken speak to him over his shoulder. He hadn’t even heard the guy sneak up on him as he was about to step into his carriage. Cass shot a glare at him over his shoulder, and Draken grinned at him. Cass hated that they were wearing the same outfit, even vaguely.
He could feel everyone looking over at them, including Lady Ava. He could feel that she could sense something was up, and he watched as she began to shrug off the kids. Fuck. Draken really was bad news to him.
"You don’t need to worry about him." Cass replied and Draken chuckled.
"Already defense about him? That’s cute. Are you going to adopt him to be your sidekick? Maybe a mini...Sam?" Draken suggested. Cass hated that Sam perked up at that immediately.
"I would never treat a child like that." Cass knew he was being a little snippy, but he’d had a long day, made even longer and more exhausting because of the dire wolves. Draken also took a lot out of him.
Fuck. That wasn’t even considering how is day had started with Vespertine.
"You wouldn’t? I’ve seen you treat adults like that. What makes kids different?" He asked, clearly trying to tease him but Cass rolled his eyes, annoyed.
"Obviously it’s because kids are innocent and untainted. They aren’t like adults yet." Draken watched him, grinning. He bent, leaning in closer to Cass who flinched away, giving him a nasty look.
"Aren’t like adults yet? What have adults done to you, Cassian?" Cass was very, very sure that he didn’t want to know the answer to that. Between his own awful interactions with shitty adults, and Lord Blackburn’s hidden memories, Cass had a feeling he had enough to upset any normal person.
Granted, Draken wasn’t a normal person. If he recalled correctly, most dragons were abandoned as eggs and forced to get good or die trying. Cass could say that he’d basically had the human version of that. Lord Blackburn basically had the same start as well.
Fuck. A lot of the hero party, except Vespertine and lord Ridgewood had that kind of upbringing. Lucky bastards. Mm, Lady Ava could be added to that list too. She didn’t have to get good, it just benefitted her when she did.