In Stone

34: "Caspian!"

34: “Caspian!”

Waking up a married woman was a much sweeter experience than Caia would have predicted. The warmth of Caspian's arms around her, the feeling of his chest slowly rising with each breath, and the scent that surrounded her completely was the most wonderful thing she could imagine. The thought that she would get to wake up to this every morning made it even better.

She knew that she had woken up to this very same scenario many times already. There was just something different about it now. She could almost still feel the weight that the marriage cord had made on her wrist. There was a new freshness to the air. There even felt like maybe there was something different inside as well.

Caia's back was to Caspian. His arms were over and under her, reaching out with hers towards the edge of the bed. His body was nearly falling over hers. It was like she was wrapped in cocoon of his love and protection.

She looked over her shoulder and his face was right there. It was smooth and calm in sleep. The length of his lashes on his cheeks charmed her and she smiled.

The face of her husband.

She leaned back just a bit and pressed her lips to his. She felt him stirring when she did so and pressed just a bit harder. She knew the exact moment that he woke up because suddenly he was kissing her back and his arms were tightening on her.

“Morning,” he whispered into the kiss.

Caia smiled back as she attempted to hold onto him in return. It was a bit difficult though. He had her held so tight that it was hard to move at all.

He leaned back slightly, his eyes finally opening on the day. He felt a rush of warmth through his chest that the first thing he saw was Caia's smiling face.

The first thing he saw on his first day as a married man was his wife's face. His wife. He loved those words. She was his, forever more. Sweet, strong, beautiful Caia.

“Hello,” he said softly to her.

“Hi,” she beamed back at him. “Sleep well?”

“Can't complain. And you?”

“Wonderfully,” she giggled at the inanity of the conversation. “Is this what we're reduced to? Small talk? Married not even a full day and we don't even communicate the same.”

“Well, I can think of one way we communicate perfectly,” he told her, pressing his hips into hers and showing her just how awake he was.

“Already, you-” her voice cut off suddenly.

Caspian couldn't do more than look oddly at her before she was suddenly struggling against him. Her arms and legs flailed as she tried to get away. He released her without thinking and immediately she was bounding up out of the bed.

Before he could ask what was wrong, she was throwing herself down in front of the waste bin and he heard the unmistakable sounds of vomit hitting the bottom.

“Caia!” he stood up quickly in surprise and went to her side. “Are you okay? What's...” His own voice cut off as he realized what it must be.

Caia looked up from the bucket, wiping off her mouth. Her eyes were watering with the force of being sick, but she had a soft smile on her face.

“I'll go get you some water,” Caspian told her, beaming brightly.

He leaned forward once to kiss her forehead before standing. He grabbed a robe off of one of the chairs and disappeared quickly from the room.

Caia had enough time to stand up and grab one of her dresses out of the chest before Caspian was back, a small cup of water in his hands as well as something to clean her mouth with. Caia smiled at him gratefully before pulling on her dress.