Page 66 of My Duke, The Stranger
Cassian had no answer. He looked pleadingly at Isolde as if she might provide one, but she simply cocked an eyebrow back, daring him to deny the little boy.
“Stay!” Thomas demanded. “Please, stay!”
“Thomas, if His Grace has more important places to be…” Isolde looked pointedly at Cassian, giving him no room to squirm.
“I suppose…” He bit into his lip, and she saw the fight raging within. “I suppose I can stay for a little bit.”
“Yay!” Thomas snatched Cassian’s hand and pulled him toward the table. “If you’re a duke, does that mean you know the king?”
“I… I have met him.”
“You have! Wow…” Thomas scrambled into the chair beside where Cassian sat. And then he gaped at Cassian as if he were the most interesting man he’d ever seen. “What’s he like?”
“The king?” Cassian frowned. “I am not…” He looked at Isolde, who just shrugged as she chuckled and shook his head. “He is shorter in real life than you might expect.”
Thomas giggled. “Short like me?”
“No one is short like you.”
Isolde’s heart swelled, and she did not try to hide her smile.
It had been a risk introducing Cassian to Thomas and Marianne. In fact, she had fully expected Cassian to meet them and then flee back inside to safety. But Thomas’s innocence and his general eagerness were infectious, and they wrapped themselves around Cassian in a way that could not be denied or fought against.
And Cassian, faced with a young boy who did not fear him or want anything from him like so many did, quickly relaxed, forgetting who he was so desperate to be, and acting as himself for once. His true self.
“Do you have a sword?” Thomas asked next.
“I do,” Cassian said with a chuckle.
“Thomas, that is a silly question,” Marianne snapped. She eyed Cassian nervously, unable to look at him for too long. But Isolde saw the curiosity in her eyes, just as she saw how overwhelmed her sister was.
“It is not!” Thomas cried. “I always wanted a sword.”
“Maybe Cassian can teach you how to use it?” Isolde said as she sat down beside Cassian. Then, again, without asking, she took his hand. That time, he did not start or try to pull away.
“Maybe in a few years,” Cassian chuckled. “Right now, it is almost as tall as you are.”
“Promise?” Thomas demanded.
“I do,” Cassian said with a warm, genuine smile.
Isolde did not try to steer the conversation a certain way. She did not try to intercept Thomas’s barrage of questions. Rather, she sat back, relaxing fully, and felt Cassian do the same.
It was a most comfortable morning spent together. There was no expectation about it. No decorum or need to impress and play a specific role. It was the scene of a family spending time together, enjoying one another’s company, and reminding one another of what it meant to have those in this world worth caring for.
And as the hour wore on, Isolde saw Cassian warm up to the setting, his smile real and permanent, the light in his eyes reminding her of the man who she had first met when he’d woken in her home without a memory of who he was.
The real him…
When it finally came time for Cassian to leave, Thomas jumped from his seat, rushed Cassian, and threw his arms around his leg in a hug. Cassian started in surprise, looked at Isolde as if to save him, and then laughed as he patted Thomas on the head.
“Will you come and visit us?” Thomas asked as he clutched to Cassian’s leg.
“I will,” Cassian said. “So long as your sister allows it.”
“I think that can be arranged.”
Cassian left them after that, but when he did, he found Isolde’s eyes and made sure that she saw the smile behind his own. The sun shone brightly, and not just above, but all around them, as if blessing this day for what it was.
