15. Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen
Caspian
“Sweet Neptune’s symphony,” I sighed, the nutty sweetness satisfying the babes in my belly. “This fluffernutter spread is amazing.”
“Here,” Kes handed me a piece of chocolate. “Add this to your next bite.”
What was it they’d said in our movie the other night? Oh yeah, “Foodgasmic.”
Kes nearly rolled off the couch laughing. “If you think this is good, just wait until we actually make s’mores.”
“Now I know what’s for dinner. Surf and turf with dragon fire toasted s’mores for dessert,” Mattias leaned over the back of the couch and licked my face.
“Mmm, marshmallow is a delightful treat.” He picked us both up then sat down and nestled us against him.
“Is this the yellow sponge man again? How is he not always expanded if he’s an underwater sponge? ”
Great question for Kes. “It’s all pretend, mate. You’re taking it too literally.”
Great answer from Kes.
“Have you heard how the kids are doing in town?” From the last update they were well but worried about their parents. The oldest, Noir, gave a vague description of where their parents were but that was all we had heard.
“Not much different than the last update, though Baird and a couple members of his team left on a recon mission this morning. Hopefully, they check in soon. Also, Quint and Torin took one of the vans into town to pick up the massive load of packages at the post office for us.”
Kes and I giggled. “We had so much fun picking out stuff for the babies.”
“Don’t forget, you’re not allowed to order any furniture. Papa is taking care of that for the little ones.” Mattias rubbed our bellies as he said that.
“Did you just hear giggles?” Kes asked.
“Aye, I did.”
“Me too. I’m so excited. I’ve wanted to be a Daddy forever.” It was like every dream I’d ever had was coming true. Could’ve done without the battle and loss of life, which will hopefully soon come to an end. But for everything wonderful in my life I had both my mates to thank.
I can feel your dragon stewing, mate. What bothers you?
Leave it to Mattias to call me out.
Just the whole two eggs, two live births challenge.
You heard Raven, Kes said, Nature will find a way.
Yeah, but at what cost?
Trust in the Goddess, mate, Mattias gave me the sweetest kiss, so full of love while Kes rubbed my belly. She won’t give us more than we can handle and she’s well aware of what’s coming.
Believe in the Goddess. I’d been taught that all my life, but when times got tough, it was easy to forget.
Kes and I laid there, curled up against Mattias, his arms held us tight as we watched the infamous yellow sponge man.
At some point, I dozed off. When I woke, Mattias was gone but Kes was wrapped around me like an adorable octopus.
I heard voices, all but one I was familiar with, coming from upstairs.
Mattias was nearby, I felt him. He was likely with them, so I stayed in the comfy cocoon of Kes’ arms and legs.
“Eeep!” Kes and I squealed, still half asleep as we were hoisted into the air.
“Ssshhh, it’s me. Just taking you to see your surprise.” Mattias calming voice always helped. Even though we knew it was him, it had still startled us.
“Surprise?” That perked Kes right up though I can’t deny I was equally as interested.
He sat us down inside one of two rooms we’d agreed to turn into a nursery. “Who wrote all over the walls?”
“What’s inside all the boxes?” Kes was ready to dig in.
Mattias warm, rumbly laughter filled the room. “Goddess, you did me well with these two. Those, my loves, are the online orders Quint and Torin picked up for us. As to who drew on the walls, that was our contractor, Donovan, who had just left, and myself. He’s going to start the rooms on Monday.”
“Yay!” Kes and I cheered. Jumping wasn’t a good option right now and thankfully we’d both remembered that.
“I’ll introduce you to him as well as to Jacob, the furniture maker.”
“Furniture maker?” I thought we had a house full of that already.
“Yes, my love, the baby furniture. He’s made all the dragonets cribs, changing tables, dressers and even beds for Ionus’ little ones now that they’re too big for their cribs.”
Growing up as I had, kelp beds were where we slept and there weren’t any separate rooms, so to speak. We shared toys, played with the sea life and that’s just the way it was and we had a wonderful time, until the Gorynych ruined it. This was a whole new world, literally, for me.
Kes and I laid on the carpet, the indents where the furniture once was still there. I stared around the room, envisioning the nursery. “How will we fit six cribs in here?”
“Well,” Mattias laid down between us. “My thought was three oversized cribs. Each set of twins sharing one and the remaining two girls doing the same. We’re gonna knock through to the next room and make it a play space.”
“I never had any of this,” Kes and I said at the same time. Mattias took our hands and kissed them.
“I will give you and our babies the world. None of you will ever be without again.” That much Kes and I knew, without a doubt. “Now, we’ve been invited to Ionus house for dinner. How about after that we tackle some of these boxes.”
“Not cooking for a night? I’m down with that,” Kes said. One of the many fun idioms he’d taught me.
“Yeah, I’m down with it too.”
Mattias chuckled. “Okay, my sweet parrot, let’s head out.”
I’m not a parrot though?
Consider it another fun saying, Kes popped into my head. Parrots are smart and mimic humans.
Ahhh, okay. Good to know. Was afraid for a second that something had come loose in his brain.
The moment we stepped inside Ionus happy, but loud home, Kes and I kissed Mattias and went straight for the playroom.
“Unca Kes! Unca Cas!” the dragonets squealed and rushed over to us. Well, mostly. Poor Cade was still a bit wobbly.
“Oh, Ms. Luna, you must tell me how to find the best tutu’s for our girls.”
“I dunno,” she shrugged her tiny shoulders. “Papa and Daddy and Unca Oh get them for me. Daddy!”
Alex came barreling into the room, fire extinguisher in hand. “Where’s the fire?” The children stopped what they were doing and stared at him. “Where’s the fire?”
“Um, there is no fire?” What was I missing here.
“Luna, why did you yell Daddy then?” Alex asked her.
“’Cause Unca Cas wanna know where got tutu’s.” For as young as she was, her vocabulary was quite impressive.
“Goddess above, give me the strength,” Alex muttered, staring up at the sky. “Caspian, I’ll email you the links. Little girl, please stop screaming. You take ten years off Daddy’s life when you do that. I thought your brothers lit something on fire.” Ah, that explains the fire extinguisher.
“Sorry Daddy.” She made a kissy face at him and gave him a loud smooch. “Luff you.”
“I love you too, Princess. Now, Daddy’s gonna get back to cooking dinner. Griffin, you know what to do.”
“Yes, Daddy.” That boy was by far the most adult child I’d ever met. He stood guard over his brothers, watching their every move. Anytime it appeared they may cause mischief, Griff stepped right in and put a stop to it.
He’s intense, isn’t he? Kes asked.
Scarily so.
Luna crawled up on the couch between Kes and me and rubbed our bellies. “Babies hungry.”
Let’s see how intuitive she really is.
“How many babies, Princess Luna?” I asked.
She laid her head against my belly and tapped her finger. One, two, three times before she replied. “Four.”
Did they already tell her, maybe? Kes asked.
I-I don’t know.
“Luna, how many do I have?” she moved to lay her head on Kes’ belly.
“Two,” she held up two fingers. “Ugh, more boys. Hope they no fire.”
“You hope who doesn’t have fire?” Ionus asked her as he and Mattias stepped inside the room.
“Papa!” She hopped off the couch and ran toward Ionus. He scooped her up and swung her around. “Babies. Two boys in Unca Kes’ belly.”
Ionus blinked. “The babies in your belly have fire?” he asked Kes.
“Um, no. But I have a question, did you guys tell her how many babies Caspian and I were having?”
“No, why?”
“She literally just told me I was having four girls and they were hungry, then she told Kes he had two boys and she hoped they didn’t have fire.”
Ionus and Mattias laughter mixed with her giggles was… yeah. Witnessing the change in the scary head dragon when he had his daughter in his arms was quite refreshing and not so frightening.
“Our Princess is a bit of a gifted anomaly. A tiny Raven, if you will. Seer, healer, speaks to babies. She has a bit of everything inside this adorably tutu-d body.” He gave her a big kiss. “The Goddess truly blessed us though Kane and Hunter really challenge Luna.”
“They too much fire, Papa.”
“Yes, my love, too much fire. So that’s where the fire bit comes from. I believe our princess fears your boys may be a bit on the sparky side.”
Mattias groaned. “With six, that won’t be good.”
“Yes, dear brother-in-law,” Alex kissed Luna’s cheek. “But you have two mates to help with six whereas there has only been Ionus and me for our four.”
“What am I, chopped liver?” Knox barked. “I’ve put out many a fire myself, boy.”
“As have I,” Odem said, heading straight for the dragonets in question. “We’ve learned to better control them and not hurt the earth or Luna’s new tutus. Right boys?”
“Yes, Unca Oh,” they said as their favorite uncle scooped them up.
“We been good,” Kane’s little head bobbed.
“Swear,” Hunter held his hand up like he was taking an oath.
“I know you have been,” Odem hugged them tight. “Uncle Odem is very proud of you. Your Daddy hasn’t told me about any fires he’s had to put out lately.”
“No fire, Unca Oh, prowmise.” Kane looked like he was near tears. Poor boys. It’s hard when you first learn how to control your gifts.
“Odem, why don’t you take them out and have them start the fire pit so we can make s’mores after dinner,” Ionus suggested.
“We can use fire for that, Papa?” Hunter asked.
“If you listen to what Uncle Odem tells you, then yes you can, but only when we tell you to and one of us is with you to supervise.”
“’K, Papa,” The boys said as Odem carried them from the room.
“Yeah, it’s um, it’s been a lot,” Alex admitted. “Hopefully you have it a bit easier. When the boys come back in, let’s eat.”
I had a bad feeling our issue would be the opposite. Where they had fire, we’d have water and ice. Possibly both. Frozen floors, frozen stairs, frozen everything. I may be sick.
Can dragons ice skate?
Mate, are you okay?
Just envisioning a potentially frighting future in our home.
Even through our connection Mattias laughter was warm.
Don’t worry, either of you. We can and will endure.
From his dragon to the Goddess’s ears.
We took our meals outside, as soon as the kids were done eating they headed straight into the outdoor play area. Fenced, of course, though they could easily escape but knew better than to even try. That boundary was set for a reason.
“Soon that will be us,” Kes nodded toward them, Emerson and Ronan sitting on the benches, keeping a watchful eye.
“I can’t wait.” The visions I’ve had of our dragonets playing with their cousins warmed me.
Kes and I taking a ridiculous amount of photos of them using their Papa as a jungle gym.
One thing about living underwater was that we never had the ability to have something such as pictures.
While there were a few things I missed from my old life, my new one was filled with so much more.
Water was a part of me and always would be but this, living on land, was where I belonged.
I’d do anything to ensure my family lived long, happy, healthy lives and I’ll be damned if the Gorynych will hurt any of them.
It was quite interesting to see and meet dragons from all walks of life as we had lately.
Different skills and gifts. Just look at us.
The Goddess truly collected the best mates for the protectors as we each joined the family possessing special gifts.
There was nothing common about any of us.
She hand picked the Denarius clan and thus provided us with the tools to defeat this evil once and for all.
There’s no way she’d allow one of us to die, right? Knowing a protector would cease to exist as well because of it?
Goddess, please tell me that’s your plan. Don’t give me my forever then take it away. You’re not cruel, you’re better than that.
I am, Seadragon, and you have all been chosen with purpose. But don’t think for a moment that the war will be easy nor that I possess the ability to save lives.
“Caspian! Caspian!” Kes was shouting. Brain fog made it difficult to focus on what was going on.
“Why are you screaming?” Wait, where was I? “Why am I on the ground?”
“You passed out,” Mattias cradled my head in his lap. “What happened?”
“The-the Goddess. She spoke to me.”
“What?” Ionus asked. “Did you hit your head? Mattias, check for a knot?”
That’s very possible, but I heard her voice clear as day and she replied to my thoughts exactly.
“What did she say, my love?” At least Mattias didn’t think I was crazy. I hoped…
“I was thinking about how all of us have such unique gifts and that she wouldn’t be cruel enough to finally give the protectors their mates only to have one of us die.”
“And then what happened?” Kes asked.
“She said we’ve all been chosen with purpose but not to think that because of that the war will be easy or that she has the ability to spare any lives.”
If it was possible for Ionus to turn pale, I’d just witnessed it. Not a word was uttered after that. Mattias picked me up and he, Kes and me went home. That uneasy feeling from her words will forever haunt me.
And why had she chosen me to share her messages with?