Work Text:
“Mother,” it was such a quiet croak that Jude was hardly sure that someone had even said anything. But then, it came again. “Momma”
Jude tilted her head slightly, lifting it up from the mattress to see a small shadow standing in the openings for a tunnel leading out of her and Cardan’s chamber. Besides it crouched a larger shadow.
“He was adamant that I bring him here,” the Bomb’s gentle voice carried. Cardan stirred beside Jude, as he tried to snuggle deeper into her chest.
Jude unwrapped her arms from Cardan and leaned on her hand as she sat up. The smaller of the two shadows clumsily hopped out of the tunnel and toddled over to where Jude and Cardan were. Finally Cardan opened his eyes and lifted himself onto his elbows, casting a dazed look on the small creature before him.
Aspen Greenbriar was holding a baby blue blanket in a tightly closed fist, and gazing up at his parents. His eyes glistened as if he was about to start crying, and his oak brown hair was tussled from sleep.
“Lili,” Cardan groaned, “you are dismissed.”
Liliver nodded then sneaked out the passage’s door, pulling it shut tightly behind her. As she did that, Jude climbed out of bed to pick her son up. As she did, he buried his face in the crook of Jude’s neck. She cut a look over to Cardan, seeing her own worry carved into his face as well.
“Aspen?” Jude made her way back to the bed and sat with the princeling still clutched tight in her hold. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
Aspen didn’t say anything, nor did he move. Cardan slid closer to his wife and son, placing a hand comfortingly on the latter’s back.
“Aspen, we cannot help you if you do not tell us what is wrong,” Cardan said.
That’s when Jude felt it. Wetness building up on her collar. She felt her heart breaking into little pieces, being ground into dust. He’s crying, she mouthed to Cardan, whose face took on an entirely new expression, exhaustion replaced with fear.
“Aspen-“
“You’ll never hate me right?”
The king and queen froze. Jude cut Cardan a look but Cardan refused to take his eyes off of his son.
“Aspen look at me,” he commanded gently.
Ever since Aspen had been born, Jude had rarely ever seen Cardan take any type of firm approach with him. Cardan had admittedly been the more lax of the two parents, never knowing how to say no and conveniently use his child as an excuse to get out of kingly duties, saying he needs to play with his son. However, that’s not to say Cardan didn’t have a serious side for their child, and it seems he was channeling that mode at the moment.
Slowly, Aspen lifted his head up and turned to face his dad. There was very little resemblance between the two boys; Aspen had come out a carbon copy of his mother, all tan skinned, brown eyes and unruly brown hair that he liked to be long. As Cardan stared into their son’s eyes, Jude’s grip loosened, allowing Cardan to take hold of their son.
“Why in the world would you ever think that either of us would hate you?” Cardan asked. All weariness from sleep had completely vanished and Cardan had never looked more awake in all the time Jude had known him.
Tears suddenly flowed freely down Aspen’s face like streams running into waterfalls. He sniffled and hiccuped and shook. Jude scooted closer to her son, hugging him from behind, while Cardan’s face melted into the softness Aspen had grown to associate his father with. Cardan gently shushed his son until Aspen seemed ready to form a coherent thought again.
“Did you have a nightmare my boy?” Cardan asked gently, maneuvering Aspen so that he was sitting in his dad’s lap. Jude moved next to Cardan and Aspen was now positioned in between his parents.
Aspen nodded. “I think, I accidentally set the- the- castle on f-fire.” Jude did not know what she expected but it certainly wasn’t that. “It became bigger and bigger and when it finally stopped, you and momma said that… that you didn’t want me anymore. You put me in that dark place.”
“What dark place?” Jude’s voice was urgent, but she tried to maintain a soft tone for the sake of her son.
Aspen stood up and walked a little bit away on their bed, before he pointed up at a map of Elfhame that had been painted on the ceiling of their bedroom. It’d been a commission by Eldred, but Jude had requested it to be changed a bit once she became queen; now it included Insear as well. The map showcased a star chart surrounding the many isles and “kingdoms” of the lower courts. And there, tucked into a corner sat the tower of forgetting.
Jude grimaced and turned to Cardan who shared her concern. Aspen wasn’t allowed off of Insmire, there was no way he could’ve possibly been to the tower of forgetting, which lay a whole two islands away.
“How do you know about that place?” Jude asked as she pulled Aspen into her lap.
“The horned lady told me,” he explained. Uncontrollably, Jude’s eyes rolled. “She said that very very bad people live there and that you two might end up sending me there one day if I don’t behave. I said that you wouldn’t because you love me, and she-“
“How did-“ Jude pressed a hand on Cardan’s shoulder to keep him from losing his mind with anger but truthfully, she herself was struggling to hold back the frustration for her mother in law. There was a reason why they kept her as far away as possible from Aspen, and had agreed to do the same for any future children they had.
“My sweet boy, we would never,” Cardan mustered out after a few deep breaths. He reached out and smoothed down Aspen’s hair.“Never shall we ever send you there and never shall we ever stop loving you.”
“Promise?”
“I swear it.”
“Momma?”
“I’ll love you forever and ever and ever. I will never stop loving you baby.” Jude pressed a kiss atop Aspen’s head. “Ever.”
Aspen curled deeper into his mother’s embrace, and after a few minutes, Jude felt his breathing even out. She looked up and Cardan, who was watching their boy with what must’ve been all the adoration in the world. When he looked up, he smiled widely and tucked a strand of hair behind Jude’s ear.
“We need to do something about your mother,” she whispered.
“I know, I will.”
“You alone?”
“You doing something will give her more satisfaction since it just proves her point that mortals are a weak, ill-tempered race. I know this isn’t your style, but this,” Cardan’s eyes darkened, “this is my fight, lemme handle it.”
Jude was silent for a moment, but finally responded with, “If that’s what you want.”
Cardan leaned in and pressed a firm kiss to Jude’s lips before finally settling back into sleep, their little one pressed between his parents’ bodies.