A Court of Love and Devotion

X

ARIA

"Left and right, left and right," her not-yet mother told her, but Aria was hopeless when it came to the dance floor.

"I know," she said. "You've tried to teach me all my life but I was born with two left feet. Even Dad was a better student than I was, and that's saying a lot."

Nesta chuckled, some light shone in her eyes. Aria's heart swelled at the sight.

"Well, don't feel forced to dance with me if that makes you uncomfortable."

"It's alright, the song is almost over anyway."

The song ended and Nesta curtsied. Right, she couldn't curtsy either so she bowed at the waist instead. Nesta snickered.

Aria chuckled. "I know, your grandmamma would have beaten me bloody." Nesta's face fell. "But you always said that you would have killed her had she tried to touch me."

Nesta said nothing. Hazel walked to them with a big smile on her face, "Are you done stepping on her feet?" She asked her oldest sister who stuck her tongue out. Hazel brushed her off and turned to Nesta. "Can I have the next one? I promise I'm a much better dancer than Aria, not that it's hard."

Nesta clamped her lips to bite back a smile and nodded.

Aria laughed as she left them and joined Catrin and Callum. "If sword fighting was a dance, you'd be an expert," the latter attempted with a smile.

"And if dancing that badly was a crime, you'd be in prison," Catrin laughed but before Aria could retort or even scowl, her cousin stopped laughing abruptly. Catrin left them and Aria looked at where she was going and realized what had caught her attention.

The old Azriel was by the door, looking at the hallway. The one that led to the library.

***

CATRIN

"Don't," she said gently as she reached him. Azriel turned to her swiftly. "This all comes as a surprise, I'm sure. You probably haven't spared her a thought these past two years."

To his credit, Azriel looked ashamed.

"Has she?" he asked.

"Sometimes," Catrin admitted. "But mostly because you saved her. The mating bond hasn't snapped for her yet."

His face was unreadable as he looked back at his future self dancing with Gwyneth, looking so in love it was almost ridiculous. "We seem to be a close family."

"We are," Catrin smiled.

"Am I good to you? And your brother?" His tone was filled with such anguish. Her father had confessed to them some of the trauma he'd acquired from his childhood. How his own father treated him, abused him. How afraid he'd been to have children because of it.

All it had taken was Gwyneth Berdara for him to open up, for him to heal the wounds he'd refused to acknowledge for centuries. They healed together, grew together and when they were ready, expanded their family.

"You're an overbearing father-hen," she chuckled though her eyes burned. "Everyone would tease you about it, too. Every minor achievement was the most incredible thing to you and you made sure everyone knew about it," she laughed. "Mom told me that when I was one and a half, I had this toy with holes in the shape of cubes and pyramids... I managed to put the cube in the square-shaped hole and you cheered so loudly, it scared our dog, Stella, who panicked."

Azriel's brows were high as he huffed a laugh.

"Callum and I both have a book that you filled with those achievements. You're still writing in it. It contains everything, from my first word to the first time I went to the bakery on my own and ordered bread. I was five and you were watching through the window of the shop the whole time because you're definitely overprotective when it comes to your children."