Chapter Text
Callum doesn’t pull rank. He prefers when people just call him Callum, though few do. Prince Callum or Your Highness still make him squirm a little inside. People he’s known for years never really saying his name, bowing and averting their eyes? He’s never been comfortable with it.
High Mage is a little better, though it’s still a bit too much, a bit stuffy, but at least it’s a title he actually earned, so, because it makes the guards and castle help more comfortable to use a title for him, he prefers they use that.
It was one of the things that he immediately liked about Rayla, in fact. She never used his title other than to tease him, which was totally new to him and made heat rise to his cheeks and his stomach squirm and wriggle and it took him longer than it should have to realise it was because he really, really enjoyed it when she did that.
She still teases him with titles now, even after years of marriage, but at least he can tease her back. The way her face scrunches up whenever he calls her by her official title of Duchess never fails to make him laugh.
And he assumes most parents call their daughters “Princess” at some point in their lives, but Tio doesn’t yet know that more than an endearment, she is in fact a Princess.
A part of him hopes they can prolong that as long as possible, that the sting of her particular form of difference won’t become obvious to her soon, but she’s growing up and he knows it won’t be long before she realises that everyone calls her Princess, not just her parents.
She’s started to notice some differences already, has realised Callum doesn’t have horns or Rayla has one less finger than both of them.
The children playing together are all too young to realise she is different in ways beyond physical, and right now they are playing together happily. He doesn’t miss the slightly nervous looks the other parents send his way, but he tries to ignore them and enjoy the moment.
There aren’t many other children within the castle, so they try and come to the township as often as they can, so Tio can play and be a normal kid.
Or try to be, at least.
It happens fast, before he can stop it. One of the slightly older children, a boy, is clearly demanding something from Tio and she’s refusing to give it up. The boy has a block in his hand and at Tio’s second refusal, he hits her in the face with it.
Tio is shocked dumb initially, staring wide eyed at the boy and dropping the little doll in her chubby fist but a moment later blood begins to pour from her nose and down her face and then she starts to scream.
Callum’s blood runs cold at the sight of his daughter bleeding. She’s wailing loudly as he skids to a halt in front of her, using his sleeve to stem the flow of blood. He pulls her into his lap, shushing her softly.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Callum glares at the little boy, still clutching the block and appearing unrepentant.
“We’re sorry, your Highness!” A woman has also rushed over, grabbing the boy around the middle and forcing him to his knees as she does the same. “Please, we beg forgiveness. Please!” She bows as low as possible, shushing the boy when he begins to cry and protest. “He’s a boy, your Highness. Please. The fault lies with me. Please don’t punish him. I will go in his place.”
Callum frowns, taking a deep breath. He's furious at this child, but he pushes down his temper at the sight of the woman utterly cowering before him.
Rayla so often makes him forget, but he’s not just a normal person here. Everything he does carries enormous weight.
Tio is still clinging to him, sniffling softly as he passes under the portcullis and into the courtyard. He’s surprised to see Rayla there, talking with the Tidebound and Earthblood representatives that kept her in the castle this trip. Sighing, he knows she’ll stop him before he can make it to their rooms and clean Tio up.
She catches his eye as he steps into the sunshine, smiling brightly for a moment, before her face falls a little. Tio lifts her head from Callum’s shoulder, looking around and catching her mother’s eye and she starts crying anew, little hands reaching for Rayla.
Without a word to the dignitaries with her, Rayla immediately rushes to them, holding out her hands and taking Tio as soon as she’s within arm's reach.
“What happened?” she asks, eyes darting to Callum’s briefly as she pushes the hair back from Tio’s face and examines her nose. She’d stopped bleeding by the time he began walking back to the castle, but her tunic is stained red and there’s dried blood across her cheek and under her chin.
“Some little shit smacked her in the face with a block,” Callum purses his lips, scowling at the memory of the petulant little boy.
Rayla raises an eyebrow at his language but doesn’t scold him. “Oh, my poor brave girl,” she catches Tio’s eye, smiling softly at her. “In the wars?” Tio pouts, tears welling up in her eyes once again. “How about we see if Uncle Ez still has some jelly tarts and wants to share?” She strokes Tio’s cheek, nodding gently.
Tio sniffs, but nods along, resting her head on Rayla’s chest as she relaxes against her.
Kissing between her horns, Rayla looks back at Callum. “And how are you?”
“Me?” he asks, surprised. “I’m fine. I was sitting ten feet away when it happened.”
“All right then,” Rayla hitches Tio on her hip as she nods in the direction of the castle. “How’s the other kid?”
“He’s fine,” Callum scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Refused to even apologise.”
Rayla snorts. “And he’s still breathing?” She smirks at him.
Callum laughs then, shrugging his shoulders. “I’ve never wanted to Fulminis a kid more in my life,” Rayla laughs, shaking her head, as he continues. “But he’s fine. I thought his mother was going to have a heart attack though.”
“I can imagine,” Rayla sighs as they step inside the castle. “It’s probably not every day your kid attacks a member of the royal family.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Callum sighs, looking between Rayla and Tio. “It’s weird…”
“What’s weird?” Rayla stops, giving him her full attention.
Taking a deep breath, he tries to articulate his thoughts. “Well, I don’t want her to grow up, you know, isolated and lonely, the whole being a princess thing and, I guess, not being able to play with other kids and that but…”
“But?”
“Well, I also… how dare that kid smack her like that?” He takes a deep breath. “I wanted him to know he’d just struck a Princess.”
Rayla laughs softly, reaching for his hand as she smiles at Tio. “I’m not sure she’s very Princess-like when she’s running around all nudie after a bath. What do you think?”
Tio giggles, a cheeky grin on her face, though she elects not to comment.
“We can’t have it both ways,” Rayla looks back at Callum as they continue walking to the throne room. “If we want her to play with other kids and feel normal, then we can’t expect them to treat her like a princess.”
“Yeah, I know,” Callum sighs, taking her hand. “It’s not easy seeing a kid smack your little girl so hard in the face they bleed though.”
“Oh, I can imagine,” Rayla smiles ruefully at him. “I’m still quicker than you, you know? I’d probably have pulled my blades on the kid before I knew what I was doing.”
“Knowing you…” Callum snorts, feeling a little better about the whole thing.
“Give her a few years and she won’t need the whole princess thing anyway,” Rayla snickers. “The kids will be terrified of this little terror all by herself.” She tickles Tio’s side, laughing when their little girl squeals in delight.
“True,” Callum smiles at them both. “Until then, I guess I’ll have to make sure she knows she’s my little princess.” He takes Tio’s fingers in his, lifting her hand and kissing the back of it. Tio giggles, wrinkling her nose in delight.
Callum winks at her, turning his eyes back on Rayla, grinning wickedly “Just like I make you know you’re my Duchess.”
“Ugh,” Rayla’s lip curls and she rolls her eyes. “Don’t call me that.”