Wings, Beasts and Claws: Violet Embers

Ch. 8 : A Moment With You

I awoke around lunchtime and quickly changed, rushing out of my rooms after getting out of bed. I wanted to see my children before joining my brother and husband in the aftermath of the attack. And when I entered Cal’s room I stopped in my tracks and smiled at the sight that welcomed me.

Melina and Teris were fast asleep on either side of their brother who was awake and propped up by a pillow. Cal smiled when he saw me walk in and made a little motion for me to keep quiet as I slowly approached him.

“Did you sleep well?” I whispered to him, gently sitting on the edge of the bed so I didn’t bother Melina.

“Yes, Momma.” He looked down at his siblings and rubbed his eye, looking as if he were fighting the remaining bits of sleep that clung to him. “Melina and Teris didn’t want to be alone so they came here… is that ok?”

“Of course it is.” I reached out and brushed a few of his dark locks away from his eyes, smiling at my little Prince. “That means they feel safe with their big brother… Does it bother you that they came to sleep here?” I wondered if he was able to get enough rest with his siblings next to him, or if it had upset him that they were in his room, since some children can be quite territorial over their own personal space.

But Cal shook his head no and looked back down at his siblings, smiling a little.

I urged him to get just a little more sleep and helped him slither down to a comfortable position before leaving, running into Ivy out in the hallway.

“Oh, my baby girl.” I reached out and took a sleeping Thea from Ivy’s arms, holding her close as she sighed against me. “Did you move her cradle to your room? I didn’t see it this morning.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Ivy smiled, placing the little lavender blanket she was holding over my baby. “I wanted to make sure that you and His Majesty got enough rest after all the chaos was done and over with.” She glanced at the door behind me as I kissed my peacefully sleeping child before handing her back, a clear question in her eyes.

“Cal, Teris and Melina are all there.” I told her, following her down the corridor slowly so my Thea didn’t wake. “They’re still sleeping so just let Cal’s Tutors know that he’ll resume his lessons in a day or two. I want my children to have a break and just play for a while before we try to return to normal.” She nodded and bowed softly, opening the door to her own room to put my little girl in her cradle.

I continued making my way towards the office and thought about how grateful and lucky I was to have someone like Ivy in my life.

She had started out as a maid in the Du Pleasant estate when she was young and was one of the few servants there that didn’t look down on me and my brother for being the Duke's illegitimate children. She had even chosen to follow me here to the Capital when I had become a candidate in the Queeness competition that would select Dorian’s future wife and Queen. And when it was announced that I was Dorian’s fated Mate, she stayed with me even though her family had urged her to quit, knowing that those close to the Royal family tended to become targets. She became the one and only Nanny to my children and would report to me and Dorian about anything and everything going on in their lives.

Ivy was the only person Dorian and I trusted to be completely alone with our kids, besides certain family members. And after that dark night five years ago, no one else was hired as her assistant. She never complained though and would use her high status as the Royal Nanny to make the maids around her help out whenever things would become hectic. But no one that worked within this Palace outside of Ivy was allowed to be alone with any of our children. No matter the reason.

“Amara, what are you doing awake?”

I walked into the office to find my brother in his Royal Knights uniform along with Commander Lovarne and my husband who was in more casual clothes. Arden quickly rushed to me and started looking at me closely, worry knitting his eyebrows and darkening his amethyst eyes. Eyes that we shared and were unique markers for our mothers side of the family. He frowned more at the sound of my chuckle and shook his head, no doubt preparing to lecture me about taking better care of myself.

“I know what you’re going to say, and I won’t do it.” I told him, walking around him and approaching my husband's desk.

“And how would you know exactly what I wanted to say?” He questioned.

“Because you’ve done the same thing since we were children.” I said, making the Commander and Dorian smile. “And I am not in the mood for a lecture when you probably didn’t even get enough sleep either.”

He huffed but stayed quiet, shaking his head as he returned to my desk that he had been using to spread out the papers he was looking at. I waited patiently on one of the loveseats across from Dorian's desk, listening to the men talk as reports of what had happened during the banquet were made aloud. And while the information on the attack itself was being discussed, a vile taste of something cold and acidic invaded my mouth, churning my stomach.

Apparently, the assailants had snuck through our gates using the carriages of our guests for cover. And once a small scout group had made it in, they assisted their others in sneaking past the patrols and killed as few Knights as possible before crashing into the ballroom. Twelve of our men had lost their lives that night and an empty bottle of a Neutralizing Elixir was found right outside our gates, hidden within the bushes. This was how they had masked their scent and snuck past so many guards that were protecting the building, since Dorian had increased security immensely so that nearly fifty Knights were making their rounds in the areas that surrounded the ballroom.

Which begged the question: How did they manage to buy that?

Elixirs like that were very difficult to make and have them work successfully, with many people trying and failing to make it so one's scent was completely undetectable. They were also highly expensive as well and usually sold in more seedy areas that criminals frequented. So either they had a gifted herbalist within them to correctly make it, or someone had to have very deep pockets and managed to find a place to purchase it.

Of course, there was no doubt who was behind the attack itself, since the few that we had captured had the sewn symbol of the ‘Order of Will’ somewhere on their clothes or etched onto their weapons. But other than taking credit for killing our Knights, attempting to kidnap Noble children and ruining our son's special day, the prisoners weren’t saying anything else. They refused to even give us their names or where they’re from, so Commander Lovarne was seeking permission from Dorian to begin using a more… physical form of questioning.

Once the Commander left I walked up to my husband and was quickly pulled in for a tight hug, his nose pressed against the curve of my neck where my Mate Mark was.

“You smell like sunshine.” He murmured against my skin, making me giggle and struggle to remain calm against the heat growing between my legs.

“You need to sleep.” I whispered to him, pulling back as Morina walked into the room and was snatched up by my brother near the door. “Both of you… you can’t keep going like this.”

“Amara’s right.” Morina chimed in, smiling at me before she cupped my brother's face with her hands. “You have worried and stressed about the well-being of the children as well as us and given us a chance to rest after all that madness… now it’s your turn.”

I nodded as I looked into Dorian's garnet eyes, silently pleading him to return to our room with me. The silence stretched on for a moment before Arden softly agreed and left with my sister-in-law in tow. And as the quiet of the room returned I worried that Dorian would brush off my request and continue pushing himself. Thankfully, he sighed and nodded back, taking my hand in his and leading the way back to our room.

We talked softly about what the rest of our day entailed and I inwardly groaned after he told me that an emergency meeting of the Council had been called. It was set to be held in a few days and would be where all the information gathered about the Order and the attack itself would be discussed. I hated being in that Council room and always felt on edge, having to constantly prove myself to the large number of Nobles that sided with Duke Zenan and believed that I would corrupt Dorian and take the Fafner Kingdom down a dark path.

As we reached our room Dorian scooped me up and carried me the rest of the way, gently placing me on our bed before removing his shoes and button-up shirt.

“Sleep is what you need.” I said, laughing as I shimmed away from his side of the bed. “Not whatever it is that you’re thinking.”

He smiled and climbed into bed as I slid my legs off on the other side, his arm wrapping around my waist and dragging me back to him.

“I know exactly what I need, my love.” He muttered, his lips brushing against my ear as he tightened his hold on me.

“Sleep.” I pressed, struggling to get out of his hold while also feeling my body heat up all over. “You need sleep.”

He shook his head against my neck, his free hand sliding the thin sleeve of my dress off my shoulder.

“I need you.” He pressed a kiss over my solid black Mate Mark that was identical to his, making me shiver. “Just you.” My dress was suddenly feeling very loose around my body and I realized that he’d undone the corset ribbons that held it in place. “Nothing else will help me right now.” A gasp escaped me as I felt his calloused hand beneath my skirt, gripping my inner thigh and igniting the pyre within my core. “You know… we haven’t tried to see if four truly is the limit for us.”

“What?” I breathed, turning to look into his eyes as he pulled back a little, smirking mischievously.

“The All Mother told us that the points on the star in the middle of our Mate Mark showed us how many kids we’d have… but now that we’ve completed the four, I wonder if there’s a chance of having another.” He leaned forward and captured my lips, my mind reeling with the fire he had started and the meaning behind his words.

Within minutes my dress and whatever else was in between us was soon tossed aside and we spent the rest of the afternoon desperately clinging to each other.

I understood then what he meant when he said that he needed me, feeling my own chaotic worries and fears get released while in his arms. Hearing his sweet loving words as he kissed me and feeling how gently he touched me warmed my heart and eased the panic that was still buried in my chest. He made me feel safe again and even though I was still afraid of anything happening to him because of those bastards that attacked us, I was at peace in that moment. And I could see that I wasn’t the only one with that fear, catching the barely hidden emotions within his crimson gaze that looked at me as though I would vanish at any second.

He knew that, just like him, I would be at the forefront of this mess to some degree and things could get dangerous at any moment, just like at the banquet.

So we took our time as we stayed hidden in our room. Loving and cherishing every piece of each other. Memorizing every inch of the other as if we’d go months without seeing our precious Mate. It unsettled me how strong that feeling was, as if I somehow knew that I’d need to say goodbye to him for some reason. And so I poured everything I had in those few hours together and tried to help him understand just how much he meant to me.