Cass and Gideon had a great morning. Cass was honestly a little surprised by how well everything went. It was a smooth morning, with his Aunt and the other fairies coming to join them for breakfast. They snuck a few knowing looks, but they didn’t poke fun at either of them.

They didn’t need to.

Gideon was red enough that no one else needed to tease him. He was teasing himself enough.

Cass was in a great mood, especially after Sam disappeared during breakfast as if he heard something was coming, and after several minutes, he came back with a letter in his hand and a scowl on his face.

Cass, and Gideon, recognised the seal on the letter. The men shared a look. It had taken this long for the King to send them even a simple response, and it was a single letter? He hadn’t even treated Fiona like this. Or, maybe he had, and Fiona had just hidden it from them.

Either way, Cass could tell that Gideon wasn’t even happy with the simple, thin letter. At the very least, Gideon expected that it would have been two pages of praise for what they had done. Gideon thought it was only right, but he did agree that at the very least that the bare minimum had been done. It was written in the King’s hand.

Cass thought it would have been pointless for the King to write a letter singing their praises. He was pretty sure that the King would rather spontaneously combust than write anything truly nice about them. Cass knew that they were a thorn in his side. The whole hero party was.

Cass found that the few sentences written in the King’s hand felt right, but the letter should have come a little sooner. So, Cass decided that that was what he was going to say.

He was going to send a response letter on the fanciest, most extravagant paper. He might even include something magical.

All it would say was "you should have sent this sooner. Thanks" and that was it. Cass was a little sad that he wouldn’t be there to see the King’s expression when he opened his letter.

His Aunt was delighted, and offered to see if she could try to be there to see his face by announcing that they were in the city and coming to visit. Cass told her that it was a ridiculous thing. He wouldn’t open a letter around them, especially one from Cass. She chuckled.

"Not if we bring it to him." She countered. That, Cass couldn’t argue. However, he didn’t want to interfere with their plans. This was his own petty squabble with the King, he didn’t want his Aunt to have to deal with his own personal issues, especially when they had important work to do.

His Aunt mumbled her complaint, but sighed and nodded, agreeing with Cass that his decision was probably the right one. She puffed up her cheeks, very much not the matriarch of the forests that she was supposed to be, and instead behaving like a child who didn’t get their way. Cass’ eyes sparkled as he laughed, unaware that Gideon was watching him with open affection. The fairies watched on, the happiness of the moment infectious. Very few things could ruin Cass’ day.

~

Lucian barely made it to his den in time. He knew that when he extended his time to help everyone in the dungeon that it would cost him, but it had been such a long time since he’d had to worry about his shed that he had forgotten how tight his body got. How much it hurt, ached, tore at his delicate, new flesh underneath until all he could do was roar out his pain.

He knew that he needed to keep his mouth shut. He needed to keep quiet. While there weren’t a lot of monsters out there that could hurt a dragon anymore, especially since the great war, that didn’t mean that the list was zero. Revealing himself and where he was resting while he was shedding was a very dangerous thing to do.

He knew of several dragons who had gone down to shed and had never come back, other dragons, other monsters sneaking into their dens to kill them when they were at their most vulnerable. Lucian knew that, he did, but the pain was too great for him to keep it inside.

After all, he had done his best to refrain from touching Cass before he came here, and did his best to keep his distance. Not only was he going to his den alone to shed, but the whole reason why his shed and reproductive cycle had been triggered wasn’t at his side. And it was intentional.

Lucian surfaced from the lake he had dived in to give himself some relief. He was lucky that the lake near his true den was still around. Sure, it wasn’t a lake in a true sense, filled with minerals and poisons that would kill normal life, but to a fire dragon? It was like a bath. It cooled his overheating, peeling skin, soothing the wounds that had begun to form in his new skin.

He was almost to his den, almost safe and tucked away. Lucian knew it was dangerous, but at the same time, he also knew that there were not many fire dragons left. The few dragons that remained were those who he had no ill will with. No bad blood. They had all gathered, horrified at the loss of life that had been taken, and they had sworn that they wouldn’t agitate the world for a long time.

Lucian had put himself to sleep whenever the pain of the loss had gotten too heavy and hard for him to bear. Fiona was the one who had stirred up the magical energy around him enough to wake him up. Granted, Lucian had fallen asleep outside of his den in a desperate plea that maybe someone would put him out of his misery when he was asleep, but that hadn’t happened.

That’s what happened when you became the biggest, baddest dragon around. Not many could best you, even in slumber.

Lucian gave a bitter laugh, the sound coming out more as a raspy growl in his dragon form. He flapped his wings, minerals flying across the area and Lucian watched as a few strips of old scales, old skin flecked off of his wings. His gaze hardened.

While it was true that with his new skin he would be more delicate, more tender, it was the reproduction cycle that was the bigger issue. If someone wasn’t bonded to their dragon, or even a dragon themselves, the dragon would quite literally fuck them to death. It was a brutal experience, one that Lucian was glad that he hadn’t done before, but had seen the aftermath of.

Had helped fellow dragons bury their loved ones, tears streaming down their faces, regret and remorse heavy on their hearts. Those dragons never lasted long after. Another heavy reminder, another jab at the misery Lucian felt because he was alone.

He had done the right thing. It was a good thing that he left Cass behind. He had told him that he didn’t want to be bond to him the way that he was, and he had meant that. He was just getting desperate because he was going to be away from him for two months. His chest ached, both hearts breaking at the reminder.

It was tragic that he hadn’t been able to hold him, kiss him, love him before he had left, but this was the choice he had to bear. He had made this decision, he was the one who had to deal with the consequences of his actions.

The way that Cass had looked at him, unaware of how hopeful he had looked when Lucian had told him that he wanted to break their current bond to form a new one...Yeah, that was enough for Lucian to realise that he had to be strong for the two of them. Even if it was killing Lucian to not be able to feel him right now.

They were too far away from each other. The bond stretched too thin and Lucian had been intentionally thinning it in the days leading up to his departure for him. This was intentional. He was supposed to not be able to feel Cass right now, but damn it, it made Lucian feel truly alone after finally feeling a connection with someone after a long time.

Lucian exhaled, shaking his large head, flapping his wings, before taking off. He was getting distracted by the pain, the fear and the heat that was taking over his body. He was honestly surprised at how well he was handling things. Especially given how long he had held back from leaving for his shed and how long he had been around Cass, Edgar and Gideon.

Lucian forced himself to take to the air, forced himself to continue his journey. He was close enough to his den he could practically taste it. It was his first den, his most important one. Cass would only be able to come here after they had bonded because then his blood, his bond would protect him from the heat of the lava pools in his den.

Not all of his den was around lava. Just the beginning parts. They were essentially traps to warn others to stay away. With Cass being what he was, fairy and demon with a sprinkling of human mixed in, Lucian would not risk taking him here until their bond was fully formed.

Lucian sighed, his eyesight flickering as his shed tried to cover his vision. He didn’t really need it to get into his den, wouldn’t need it at this point, but it was frustrating. His skin was tight, his body hot, and all he wanted to do was sink deep into his love. His bond. His mate. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

His whole body ached for him, but he was the one who separated them. He was the one who hadn’t acted on his true impulses when he should have, and Lucian was the one who now had to suffer from it. He had never been one who had repressed himself before this, so it was a bit surprising that he had done so for as long as he had.

Three years and he hadn’t acted on his feelings towards Cassian, now Cass. It was...strange. Unusual. It made Lucian think that there was probably a reason why he hadn’t been able to act on them. It wasn’t as if Lucian hadn’t liked Cassian. He had, which is why he had always provoked him, but why had he turned himself towards Fiona instead? When Lucian had known about Fiona’s feelings towards the saintess ever since the two had met?

It was something that Lucian tried not to think about. He wasn’t one of the members of the hero party that had deep thoughts like that. He’d stopped trying to think that way after the war, since it hadn’t gotten him anywhere good.

He couldn’t fight it off though. It made him worry that maybe the gods had a role to play in it. Had they wanted something to happen to Cassian so that they could use it as an excuse to punish him and change him? While Lucian would admit that Cassian before had been a bit of a stick in the mud, he hadn’t been a bad man. He’d been sickly, ill, short-tempered, but hell, Lucian knew all about being short-tempered.

He hadn’t agreed with some of his actions, and had actively fought with him about it, but now that he knew more about what the heir had been dealing with, he had more sympathy for him. His heart ached for the other man.

Lucian just...Did it have to be Lucian who had made that change happen? Was that something that he couldn’t avoid? Had Lucian truly been the one who had harmed him?

Lucian let out a mournful wail, the roar tapering out as he caught sight of the black pit that was the entrance to his den. It was time to put these thoughts aside. He wouldn’t be thinking deeply like this for a while. He knew that his mind would be consumed by images of Cass and Edgar, both men lost in pleasure.

Lucian let out another bellow, this time, a warning. Any monster or beast that heard it would know that he was back and that he was not going to be forgiving if he was bothered. He dove into the hole, the heat pressing against his skin and Lucian let out a deep huff.

Despite everything, it was still good to be home.