"Young man...."
"Sir," Damon replied to the duke.
"Are you allergic to peace?"
"No sir... but peace is allergic to ," Damon replied in all seriousness.
Cassian’s eyes twitched.
"Take this seriously. Do you have any idea who you just offended?"
Damon felt like the duke was scolding him. Hmmm, this was strange. The last ti he had been scolded was when his mother was alive, and she didn’t have the patience to just talk. She also threw hands.
He half expected Cassian to beat the living daylights out of him, but it seed Cassian was far more patient than his sister.
"Erhmm... Seras Blade, the Empire’s daughter of war...."
"The daughter of war?" Cassian repeated loudly, his tone sharp.
"What made you think it was a good idea to provoke soone like that?"
Damon’s lips twitched.
"I didn’t... it just sort of happened."
Cassian paced across the room with a distraught expression. Not many could see this expression on his face, but today he had it. He didn’t seem like the cold and terrifying Golden Death, but more like an uncle who was frustrated with his troubleso nephew.
"The insults I can understand... but why did you spank her rear?"
Damon was genuinely confused with this question.
"I... bea... because it looked spankable...."
Cassian instantly felt the blood rush to his head. In this mont the urge to scream his head off really presented itself.
Annalise stood up, touching his shoulders.
"Calm down now. No need to get worked up. Here, have a seat."
Cassian took a deep breath and sat down. His father, the Grand Duke, didn’t say anything.
Damon sighed. This wasn’t his fault. Seras was the one who approached him. She was the one who started it. And besides, she was the one who thought of killing him first.
She did that twenty-five tis.
Damon was just reacting the way Damon usually would.
"I an, I sort of thanked her for the golden ticket...."
Cassian’s brows furrowed, then he laughed.
"He thanked her for the golden ticket, hahaha! Do you hear that? Then you proceeded to sexually harass one of the most dangerous people alive...."
Damon wanted to say sothing but realized Cassian had a point.
Annalise sighed.
"Damon, did you at any point not realize she could kill you?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"No. I wasn’t worried about that. She had no serious intent to do so...."
Glancing around, he looked at the four people in the room with him.
"More importantly... why am I here? This is a very bizarre way to summon soone, Your Grace. You could have just sent a ssage or wrote...."
The Grand Duke chuckled, looking at Damon with a spark of amusent.
"Not bad... not bad indeed. How do you intend to impress Seras Blade with those injuries?"
Damon glanced at his body, raising an eyebrow.
"What injuries?"
"The ones on your soul," the Grand Duke replied with a pang of worry.
"It seems to be backlash from a spell or skill, which ans it will take ti to heal naturally...."
Cassian glanced at him.
"How did you sustain such grievous backlash, and what skill could be so vicious?"
Damon could sense they were worried, but this was a good opportunity to give himself an alibi.
"I got them from fighting so guy in a dungeon. I barely beat him, but he got away...."
Lilith had told him the contents of a secret eting between the great powers of this world, and they seed to be searching for him. By her estimation it was only a matter of ti before they found him out as the one who beat Ashcroft.
Who better to back him up than his own grandfather and uncle?
"I see.... And can you fight with those wounds?"
Cassian did not ask who, which caused Damon to bite his lips. It seed he could keep things under wraps a little longer.
It was only a matter of ti before Abellona discovered him anyway.
"That won’t be a problem."
Cassian glanced at his father with a worried expression.
"That doesn’t seem reassuring...."
Damon shook his head. The whole Ashcroft issue was on his mind. The way things stood, he did not want to be interrogated by forces beyond his control, or maybe taken by the Temple and asked unnecessary questions, or even go through their rumored brainwashing.
However, if he had the Brightwater household to fall back on, even if others believed him fighting and defeating Ashcroft was dubious, they would only ask questions, not try to use him.
’Power really does make a lot of difference in this world.’
The Temple had learned its lesson with Seras Blade. They would not allow another variable they didn’t have full control of to run amok.
The reasonable choice was simple: join them or be eliminated.
What good is power that you can’t use?
Damon closed his eyes with a sigh.
"I would win without any issue... but Ashcroft sort of did a number on . I can’t even feel my face right now...."
Cassian nodded absentmindedly.
"Oh, I see... Ashcroft did.... Hmm... what did you just say?"
Damon shrugged.
"I’m dealing with the aftermath of my battle with Ashcroft... you know, the Dominator."
This was the best course of action. Damon needed soone to act as his backer, and to do so he needed them to at least be aware of potential dangers to his person.
Cassian glanced at his father, who stood up looming over Damon with a serious expression.
"So words should not be said in jest."
Damon narrowed his eyes.
"Do I look like I’m joking?"
"I happen to know Abellona of Valtheron gave a report on the happenings of that day, and while I won, I do not feel safe. Ashcroft is still out there, and more importantly I can’t deal with threats from within...."
Damon smiled faintly adding.
"I don’t know why... but I feel I can trust you."
Leaning back in the chair, he exhaled.
"You are all looking for , aren’t you? The one who fought the Dominator... and won."
Cassian crossed his arms, feeling the headache increase.
"I see... so Duke Astranova’s suspicions about you weren’t baseless after all."
Damon felt his heart sink. He knew it. Soone already had a clue it was him. It was a good thing he made the first move.
The Grand Duke closed his eyes.
"You would trust us when you kept quiet the whole ti? Why not go public and earn yourself the title of hero?"
Damon smiled calmly.
"If I did so thoughtlessly, I would be prey for whoever holds the most power, which at the mont is the Temple. I don’t trust you... but even if I don’t, I still think whatever ulterior motives you may have would be less than the Temple’s."
Hearing Damon’s words, the Grand Duke felt a pang in his chest. This was his own grandson, yet he was treating him so cruelly.
The boy really knew how to break an old man’s heart.
Cassian crossed his arms. He should feel proud that his nephew was so outstanding, but wasn’t this a little too outstanding?
"The brightest lights burn out the quickest."
Damon frowned at his words. That was a very ominous thing to say.
"We’ll help, but only if you tell us everything," Cassian whispered.
Damon nodded.
"I’ll need a drink. We’ll be here a while."
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