✔ Mrs Mandray

29. The Blanket

Cassian

"I cannot believe that worked." He whispered with pure male satisfaction. Cassian turned to his mate, trying to tamper down on his pride at bonding with her son. That little animal instinct that kept the fae trapped to their heritage was beaming in smug pride. "Izzy-"

His heart melted.

Isabella was slumped over, curled around her son who was nestled into her side. Their sleeping faces were identical. Perfectly adorable and mirror images of each other. Both had their mouths open slightly, little puffs of breath leaving their lips and they lightly snored.

They were so fucking cute.

A soft smile tugged on his face and Cassian slowly stepped forward, scooping up Isabella first and carrying her through to the main bedroom he had passed on his way in. It was a tense three minutes of slowly placing his mate down on the creaking bed, fluffing up her pillows and tucking her in all the while not waking her up.

For a moment he just stared, brushing back a piece of her before deciding that was creepy and shuffling back to get Oliver. He had planned on leaving them separate. That way one could wake without waking the other but.... But they were so sweet and with that male- man - lurking outside he wanted to keep an eye on both of them.

Logically he knew that with his fae senses he would be able to hear anyone approaching but centuries of war and bloodshed had made him cautious. Losing Rhys had made him cautious. So here he was slowly picking up the boy with no small amount of fear.

It had been instinctive with Isabella, she was his mate and his instincts were roaring at him to keep her safe, to care for her. Ollie was different. He wanted to keep him safe, sure, that instinct was there. But there was also this innate fear of damaging him, of breaking one of his fragile little bones.

Especially now that he was sick.

When Azriel had tugged him to the side two days ago and told him that Oliver had got some kind of cold he had been worried sick. And apparently Feyre had got irritated enough with his endless questions about human illness that she begged Rhys to occupy him for a while.

He had lasted all of 12 agonising minutes brutally sparring with his brothers before he began peppering them with questions. Or more accurately Azriel who's shadows seemed to be waning that day.

Except the ones still by his side were darker, more dangerous in the way that suggested they intended to be corporeal for a while. It was odd seeing his brother's shadows charged up and ready for fight when there were hardly any of them left.

It had him on edge.

Rhys was apparently more than happy to help him deep dive into human ailments and medicine. It brought back memories of evenings spent in the library learning etiquette, battle plans and listening to an intellectual teen Rhys ramble about his topic of the day. It was nice for a moment, perhaps the only thing that had managed to distract him until he realised that Rhys wasn't invested in the same way as he usually was.

Normally there would be a casual ease to his studious times, whether it be a personal topic or a High Lord duty there was always a sense of decorum around the male. That was all thrown out the window and replaced by endless stacks of books and rabbit hole of study that lead to Cassian and Azriel physically dragging a passed out High Lord between.

Not like they hadn't saved the light weight from nights out before, they'd just rarely had to save him from a night in with the books.

It was worth it though, seeing how his small family  would fit within the Inner Circle. Oliver quickly burrowed into his mother's side, even while sleeping they instinctively sought each other out. Cassian decided then and there that he would pray to the mother with all that he was worth in hopes of one day experiencing that kind of quiet love.