Dayson
The last thing I wanted to do right now was to sit here and play nice with the stupidest, kindest queen I’ve ever encountered.
Was this normal for royals? Did they all have a few marbles missing in their brains?
Gavin’s father went mad, and his mother now thinks everyone is out to get her since her children want to steal the throne.
King Thomas couldn’t use the head that actually did the thinking, and Queen Catharine had an entire personality change once Cassarah freed her mind.
I was a simple man who grew up with things being black, white, and gray when it came to the jobs we took. There were rules we followed, but when you knew them, you also understood which ones you could break if need be.
The Bronze Reaper clan I grew up in were warriors.
If people needed help in a fight, we were who they came to.
Our clan was simple and slightly more barbaric than others, but we lived in the harsh mountains closer to the Unclaimed Dragon Lands.
Not much grew, so we fought and scraped for everything we had.
The black ink markings I bore on my skin proved my prowess in battle.
Being the son of the clan leader meant I had expectations to live up to, and I did.
If you’d told me I’d be a consort to a queen of our people, sitting at a fancy table, eating food I’ve never heard of before, I would have laughed in your face. Why would I give up everything I worked for to have that kind of life?
The answer to that would be—Cassarah.
My Cassy-bear, the woman who was so strong but allowed me to protect her.
For the most part, she let me guard and shield her from dangers, even though she didn’t have to.
From what Cole and Abbott told me, she was a fighter in her own right.
Even Jade had commented he was impressed with how she handled herself in the first encounter with the Lost King when they saved Gavin.
Now the woman I cherished more than life itself was growing life inside her.
The urge to snatch her out of her chair and lock her away somewhere safe away from all of this rode me hard.
If there was one thing Bronze Reapers treasured more than their reputation, it was children.
Not many women chose to have them, knowing the world was only becoming more dangerous.
So when it occurred, those women were looked after by the whole clan and banned from taking any jobs that would endanger them.
This world was on the verge of another great war, and my woman was in the dead center of it.
How could I let her go after the Lost King now?
Of course, if she knew what I was thinking, I’d get my ass chewed out.
She was as fierce as any Reaper, and I had no doubt she’d take the same stance as many of them, furious at the coddling.
“Lovely, then we will plan to leave for the summer home in the morning. The trip isn’t long… about half a day’s ride in a carriage,” Queen Catharine shared.
“Oh well, we would be going by dragon, so it might be slightly faster for us,” Cassarah said.
The queen paled at this. “You can’t ride those beasts while you’re pregnant.”
The stony anger that appeared on Cassarah’s face at the queen calling Vasin a beast made me cringe. I’ve learned in our time together not many things will flip the switch and make cold Cassarah present herself—that was definitely one of them.
“Vasin is not a beast,” Cassarah snapped.
“He is my pair-bond who I would trust with my life and my children's lives. There is nowhere safer than with him. Riding in a carriage, we could be attacked, horses spooked and driven off a cliff, or a wheel breaks, and we are stranded with no other option than to wait for help. No, Your Majesty, I would much rather take my chances on the back of my dragon.”
Queen Catharine quickly realized her mistake and took Cassarah’s scolding with grace. “I apologize. We here in Creisal don’t have much experience with dragons. I fear I’ve let the stories we’ve been told growing up influence me.”
“Your sister ended up with a dragon,” Cassarah countered.
The queen nodded. “Yes, that happened after she was set to marry the late king. With her status, this allowed her to be at the next dragon hatching. The golden dragon picked her, and there you have it, a woman who’d never thought she’d have a chance as the second sibling secured a crown and a dragon. ”
Interesting. The queen seemed bothered by this for some reason. “Were you ever at a dragon hatching?” I asked.
She looked over in my direction, and I could tell by the sour look on her face that she had not been picked.
“I attended one before I came to Creisal, and that was more than enough interaction with a dragon for me. While all of your dragons seem to be well-mannered, I’ve seen what they can do left un-paired.
When food gets scarce in the Unclaimed Dragon Lands, they venture out here and go after our farmers’ livestock.
The devastation they bring is unmanageable. ”
“While I understand your experience with them has left a bad taste in your mouth, I do request you keep in mind that, like people, there are those that are good and those that are bad. In many ways, dragons have been slaves to us until recently. The reason Birthrights ever came into existence is the bond with dragons. Their connection to a human when cemented with a bite injecting their venom into us, is what gives us the magic we share through the generations,” Cassarah informed the queen.
The king and queen looked shocked.
“I won’t bore you with the details since things have changed with the dragons, and only those they choose to share their gift with will receive it.
Thank you for this lovely lunch, and I look forward to visiting your summer home you’ve described with such love,” Cassarah said, rising to her feet.
“I will retire to my rooms if you should need me for anything, King Thomas.”
Taking this as a signal, I shoved out of my chair and headed right for Cassarah. She smiled at me as I took her hand, leading her out of the dining hall. Once we were back in the main section of the castle, I took a deep breath and rolled my neck to shake out the tension that had been building.
“Did you enjoy yourself, Day?” Cassarah asked, a teasing lilt to her words.
I glared down at her. “I’m not a man meant for palace niceties. My place is out in the training yards or on a job… a man of action.”
She nodded in understanding. “Trust me when I say I want our visit here to be as short as possible. I don’t find Creisal to be as agreeable to my senses as I first thought.”
“It’s certainly made an impression,” Pax muttered as he fell into step with us. “I swear, the more time I spend here, the happier I am that I never have to come back if I don’t want to. It’s part of the reason I would take any and all jobs I could to keep from being trapped here.”
“That surprises me,” I commented. “This seems just like the kind of people you would hang around. So many secrets for you to learn and use against people.”
“Maybe that’s who I was, but someone seems to have been rubbing off on me, and I couldn’t imagine having to deal with all that drama now.
Just seeing Percilla the other night made me so uncomfortable, nothing about her appealed to me in the slightest,” Pax shared, shivering at the thought.
“Speaking of her, I really should take some time to catch up with her father. I feel like he might be useful to us.”
Cassarah reached out and grasped his arm, drawing his attention. “I would greatly like to meet this man as well.”
Pax’s eyebrows rose at this. “What possible reason would you have to do that?”
“He was a great influence on your life and possibly to apologize for my actions toward his daughter. Whichever one you think he’ll believe more,” she answered with a shrug.
“Oh, spitfire, I do truly love that brain of yours. It comes up with the best situations,” Paxton praised, kissing her cheek. “All right, I’ll be off to visit my old friend and see what he’s up to.”
Breaking off from the group, Pax gave us a wave before disappearing down a hall. “That man worries me sometimes,” I commented.
“He’s just a wild spirit who hasn’t had a reason to be tamed,” Cassarah shared, leaning into me. “Much like the warrior who’s now the noble.”
I grunted at that, seeing as she made a fairly valid point.
“Mouse, wait right here. The rest of us are going to check your rooms before you enter,” Cole instructed, giving me a look to stay with her. I nodded, to which he returned, slipped past the door, and entered her room.
“Is this going to be a new step in how things go?” Cassarah asked.
“Yes. I’d get used to the fact we are going to be highly overprotective for the rest of your life,” I answered.
She chuckled and shoved me gently with her shoulder. “Weren’t you already doing that?”
“Not to the degree we are now with you being pregnant,” I pointed out. “You might not like it, but we’re their fathers, and no self-respecting member of the clans would allow their woman to place themselves in danger unnecessarily.”
“Yes, well, we are going to have a conversation about just that once everyone gets back and settled,” Cassarah informed me.
I tucked my free hand under her chin, lifting her face to mine. “We know you aren’t going to like it, but this is one moment where you are not allowed to be queen and just make an order for us to follow. I know we will find an agreement, but don’t think both parties won’t have to give a little.”
Cassarah didn’t answer, but I think she heard what I was trying to say. There was no way we would let her do something drastic if another option was available. This needed to be discussed tonight before we left for the summer home, where danger would be lurking.
Becka helped Cassarah into more relaxed clothes, and she laid down.
She was asleep almost instantly, but that didn’t surprise me.
The few hours she got before lunch wasn’t enough for her to be rested.
Then, you add on all that happened in such a short period of time, and I don’t blame her for shutting the world out and sleeping.
The guys and I gathered in the sitting area, looking at one another in shock.
“How did this happen?” Gavin asked, dropping his head into his hands. “She told us she didn’t want kids right now, and we did nothing to prevent it.”
“She was taking the tonic,” Abbott pointed out. “We should have been told if we couldn’t finish inside her or if there were other precautions we should have been taking. Plenty of women use the tonic and stave off pregnancy.”
“How many of those women have eight men they’re fucking?” Jade asked bluntly. “Cassarah might not have been in danger if it was only one man’s passion she was dealing with—”
“Our passion? Now I know you know that isn’t the case. That woman is more veracious than any man. She needed to have eight of us to control it,” Zan pointed out.
I gave an approving grunt to that as I nodded.
“When it was my night with her, she rode me ’til we both passed out.
There really shouldn’t be any surprise at her being with child.
Plus, it sounds like it happened right away, and if I’m not mistaken, that leads me to believe you two are the true fathers to those babies,” I said, pointing at Jade and Abbott.
“Not that it matters… whatever child Cassarah has is all of ours, just so we’re clear. ”
“Dayson’s right. What happened, happened, and now we need to ensure that Cassarah realizes what’s at stake here. It’s no longer just her life she holds in the balance but those of our children as well,” Cole commented, his face scrunched in a scowl.
Izel shot to his feet, surprising us all with this reaction.
“Listen to you guys,” he whispered harshly, trying not to raise his voice.
“Do you honestly think she isn’t fully aware of what’s at stake?
She was going to hide away in her own mind where it was safe instead of returning to reality because she was terrified of what this meant.
Who is the one person we can always count on to think of everyone else but herself in these moments?
Shame on each of you for getting blinded by your own fears and not seeing just how scared she is. ”
As much as Izel’s words hit me in the gut, I knew they did because it was true. Yes, we needed to adjust to this reality as much as she did, but none of us were the ones growing life inside our bodies. Never had I met a more selfless person than my Cassy-bear, which made me doubt her all the worse.
“So what do we do then?” Gavin asked. “How can we still let her fight?”
“As much as I would like to say that was our call to make, it’s not,” Izel reasoned. “Cassarah is still her own person, even if she’s carrying our children. What we need to do is support her, protect her the best we can, and let her know, as always, she’s not alone in this.”
Jade let out a groan of frustration, sagging into his chair. “I know you’re right, Izel, but that doesn’t mean I like it.”
“None of us are going to like doing it, but it’s what must happen if we don’t want her to pull away from us,” Zan added. “Now, who’s going to stand guard while the rest of us get some sleep? No one got much last night.”
I raised my hand. “I’ll stay. It looks like May and Becka are too, so go. In a few hours, I’ll wake one of your asses up to switch with me if Paxton doesn’t come back with the spymaster before then.”
They nodded in agreement and shuffled out of the room, leaving me to watch over our woman and unborn children.