The Illyians' Baby

12

The sun shining through the open window roused me from my sleep. I pulled the covers up and over my head with a groan.

A deep laugh sounded from the doorway to the bathing room. "Good morning to you too." I shot up immediately at the sound of his deep voice. Cassian was standing there with his hair pulled up in a bun and only in a pair of athletic shorts.

"You're back" I said to him.

He smirked and walked over to the side of the bed. "I was just making my rounds at the camps. I do this quite often. It's one of my duties in the court." I nodded. Rhys assured me that he was fine. But I still worried about him. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. It was only then that I noticed the layer of sweat on his skin and the stink of his morning workout.

I scrunched up my nose and leaned away from him. "You smell."

His laugh switched to a look of pure mayhem. "Oh yeah?" He reached out and encircled me in a tight hug. I wiggled and tried to pry myself away from him. But he continued to laugh and rub his face on the top of my head. "Now you smell, too." He finally released me.

I groaned and got out of the bed. Cassian followed me into the bathing room. We both cleaned up and got ready for the day. It took longer than it should have, because Cassian kept distracting me by 'accidentally' brushing up against me.

When we finally made it downstairs we found Azriel sitting at the table with a steaming cup of tea. I sat down on his lap and took a sip from his cup.

"Good morning, love. How are you feeling?" Az asked, wrapping an arm around my waist.

I sipped again before answering him. "Not too bad. Mor and Brynna drank more than I did." I looked around the room. "Where are they?"

Rhys walked in from the kitchen with his own cup of tea. "Mor walked Brynna home this morning. They seemed pretty cozy." Rhys wiggled his eyebrows, insinuating that more than friendly bonding happened last night. I thought back to the events, but other than dancing, nothing sticks out. I made a mental note to ask each of them about it separately.

Cassian came in with two more cups of tea. He placed one in front of Azriel and me, replacing the one I stole from Az, and then sat next to Rhys.

"We need to have a meeting today. Amren and Mor will meet us at the House of Wind in an hour," Rhys said. He seemed a little stressed about this. My guess is that this has to do with the female from Hyburn. I started to chew on my cheek. Azriel and Cassian exchanged looks between each other before nodding at Rhys.

The room filled with a tense silence. Not being able to handle it, I asked Cassian "How did the camps look?" The energy relaxed.

Rhys looked over to Cassian. He nodded, "The progress is slow, but they're starting to integrate the females into the daily training. At some of the camps, the males were starting to participate in the daily chores."

"Good," Rhys smiled. "We'll keep up with bi-weekly check-ins for now. With time, we should be able to ease up and the traditions will shift."

I raised my cup into the air, "To new traditions." The males raised their cups and clinked them against mine. We smiled at each other and finished off our teas.

~~~

Azriel gracefully landed on the balcony of the House of Wind and placed me down on my feet. I spent my whole life looking up at this palace, never even dreaming that I would get to come here. It's surreal that this is one of the many places I can call home.

"Amren and Mor are already here. They're waiting for us in the study." Rhys stepped away from where he and Cassian landed and grabbed my hand.

The four of us walked together through the house. I took in the grandeur of the place. I'm going to demand a tour of the place after this meeting.