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The only thing that woke the Duke of Tyrrendor that morning was peaceful silence.
Like every morning, he was enshrouded in shadows and blankets and the smell of her.
He slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see the familiar silver tipped hair spread across his chest, however for once, he was met with empty space.
He frowned, but before he could allow the long-forgotten feeling of panic to fill his system, the door to their rooms opened, and she appeared.
Violet, his wife, walked in, dressed in nothing but his shirt hanging off her slender figure as she walked towards their bed, a chocolate cake in one hand, and their daughter's tiny form resting against her hip in the other.
He’d had eleven birthdays since the final battle against the venin. Eleven birthdays of being fully human, no longer a venin, but blessedly, freely human.
His grin widened as his daughter’s hazel eyes lit up upon seeing him.
He’d also spent four of those birthdays as a father.
He still couldn’t comprehend it, how something so gentle and precious and perfect could belong to him; a flawless blend of him and Violet.
Rose Riorson has his dark skin, her mother’s blue and amber eyes, and both of their tempers.
They were currently also assuming her biting phase was inherited through Andarna.
His wife deposited Rose onto the bed beside him, and his eyes filled with indescribable amounts of affection as he watched his four-year-old sidle up to him, pressing a sloppy kiss onto his cheek as she yelled, “Happy Bir-Day, papa!”
The rich baritone of his laugh erupted out of him as he ruffled her hair, making Rose huff out a protest. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
Violet moved to place herself in his lap, the corded muscle of his arm immediately coming to band around her waist.
She carefully placed the decadent chocolate cake in her lap, leaning to place a kiss on his lips while murmuring a ‘Happy Birthday, Xaden’.
He grinned, pressing his lips to hers again as he spoke through their mental connection, “I love you.”
Violet smiled into the kiss, responding with a wave of love and teasing rushing through their bond, “I know.”
He huffed out a laugh, pulling away reluctantly.
Violet used lesser magic to light the candles on his cake, as she began to softly sing happy birthday, Rose’s joyful giggles accompanying her, creating the most perfect duet he had ever heard.
He blew out the candles in one go, to Rose’s glee, smiling fondly as she clapped. “Make a wish, papa!”
He nodded, pretending to contemplate as his gaze fell on Violet, speaking through their mental connection. “I couldn’t possibly wish for anything. This life is a gift I never thought I would be able to have. Thank you, for every minute of it. Thank you for forcing me to push through being venin, thank you for finding a cure, thank you for running Tyrrendor when I couldn’t. Thank you for marrying me and allowing me to be a husband and a father. Thank you, Violet.”
Violet smiled back, her eyes lined with silver as she leaned in to kiss him again.
When she tried to pull away, Rose squealed, demanding they kiss again.
They laughed, and Violet complied, pressing noisy kisses to his lips, his cheeks, his forehead as their daughter giggled from beside them.
Violet placed the cake on their bedside table before attempting to move out of his arms.
He arched a brow as she gave him a stern look. “I need to get your presents.”
Without another thought, bands of shadows erupted around them, streaming into the armoire and floating a mountain of presents over, depositing them in front of Rose.
Xaden rested his chin on Violet’s shoulder, dipping into her neck to greedily inhale her scent as Rose started picking up his presents and ooh-ing and ahh-ing at every single one.
“I told you I didn’t need any presents.” He mumbled into the fabric of her (his) shirt.
She graced him with a sharp look that reminded him of the first time he’d lain eyes upon her on the parapet.
It felt like another world, another lifetime.
“Says the man who built me a whole library ‘just because’.”
He shrugged, burying his smile into the dip between her shoulder and neck.
Rose handed him the first present and he dedicated the next half hour to delicately opening all his presents, making sure his reactions were dramatic enough for his daughter’s approval.
He opened parcels of arinmint tea, new flight leathers, a pillow embroidered with the silhouette of a familiar navy blue dragon, a new set of daggers (that - during such peaceful times - were mostly used for display), a book written by Jesinia on the true history of the Tyrrish apostasy.
His last parcel included a pulse-poundingly see-through Deverelli silk nightgown. He glanced at Violet, heat clouding his gaze.
She smiled coyly, taking the box from his hands and placing it beside their bed. “Silly me, must’ve accidentally wrapped it.” She explained, making Rose giggle.
He narrowed his eyes at her, pushing a deluge of desire down their mental bond.
Rose moved to sit in front of the two of them, done with her serious duties of ‘present-distributor’.
He kissed her cheek, before mimicking the gesture to Violet, making all three of them break out in grins.
“You forgot about the picture you drew, baby.” Violet coaxed Rose, who immediately scrambled to show Xaden her drawing.
She excitedly pointed out the indistinguishable blobs in the picture, explaining who they were.
“That’s Tairn, Andy, and S-ail.” They were still trying to teach her how to pronounce the dragons’ names, however Rose might be the only person their trio of dragons would tolerate the slight for. “That’s me and papa and mama.” She pointed to the three conjoined figures as Xaden examined the drawing with concentration, nodding along to her every word.
He frowned, pointing to Violet’s shadow. “What’s mama holding sweetheart?”
Rose grinned, “My baby sibling!”
Xaden’s frown deepened, focusing inherently on his daughter in a way that meant he was trying to decipher the language that only she could really understand.
“Do you mean baby Liam? Sweetheart, he's your cousin, not your sibling.” Xaden responded, referring to Dain and Sloane’s newborn son.
Rose shook her head vehemently. “No, papa. The baby in mama’s tummy.”
Xaden frowned, the words taking seemingly forever to register. When they did, his eyes widened, his head whipping to face his wife, who was already grinning at him.
He stared at her mouth agape, before bursting forward to envelope her in his arms, his face buried in her neck as he tried to prevent the oncoming rush of tears.
“You’re pregnant?” He whispered the words with reverence, his tone laced with joy and disbelief.
“I thought this was a better way of telling you than Tairn just blurting it out again and making you fall off your seat mid-flight.” She murmured, smiling against his hair.
“It was perfect, you’re perfect. All three of you.”
His touch to her still-flat stomach was lighter than a gryphon’s feather as he dedicated his entire being to examining her face, grinning so wide his jaw hurt.
He immediately started wondering, would their next child have his eyes? Her nose? His hair? It didn’t matter, they were already perfect.
Rose crawled between them, joining their embrace.
He grinned, pressing a kiss to her head before leaning into his Violet, his wife, his love, to do the same-
∾
The Sage was gripping him by the throat, his sadistic smile revealing blackened teeth as his red eyes glanced over Xaden, reveling in his struggle, his pain, his torture.
“You could have it, you know,” The Sage whispered, “All you need to do is give into the power again, and she’ll be safe.”
The images of Violet and Rose and their unborn child fizzled away like acid as reality crashed back into him.
He had not had eleven birthdays as a human.
He had not had four birthdays as a father.
He could feel the pull to the power slumbering beneath him, and a lone tear tumbled down his face as the realisation that he likely wouldn’t have any more birthdays came crashing back down on him.