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It’s one of those days.
The Lenoran ambassador has announced his departure for the next morning. Which is great, on the one hand, because Steve thinks that if he shows him Princess Angela’s portrait once more, he’ll smash something, all rules of etiquette and hospitality be damned. On the other, it means he has to host the farewell feast - one of his least favorite royal duties by far. By the time he manages to slip away, it’s past nightfall.
His feet are heavy as he climbs the staircase to his tower and quietly opens the door to the nursery. He hasn’t seen his daughter all day. She’ll be asleep already, but he at least wants to check in on her. Sit by her bed for a few blissful minutes and watch her chest rise and fall while-
He freezes on the threshold.
Mari certainly is asleep. On the carpet. In the middle of the room.
So is the giant, black dragon curled around her. She’s pressed flush against its snout, fingers wrapped around a fang as long as her arm, and smiling in her sleep.
Steve chuckles and tiptoes closer.
“You know,” he whispers, prying her loose so that he can carry her to bed and tuck her in. She’s surprisingly strong for a kid her age, and surprisingly stubborn, even while asleep. “Most little girls are scared of monsters.”
“She’s not any little girl though." A wing wraps around him, only to be joined by a pair of arms a moment later. “She’s every bit like her father.”
There were times where Steve would’ve countered with some sort of self-depreciating remark. Now, he just smiles and tilts his head, giving Eddie better access to the bite mark on his shoulder. It’s hidden under the fabric of his shirt now, but that doesn’t stop his dragon from mouthing at it.
“I wonder about that, sometimes,” he admits. “I was scared of so many things, back then. But somehow never of you.”
Eddie purrs, and the invisible bond that ties them together shivers with it. “That’s because the moment you saw me, your soul knew.”
He continues to trail kisses and bites up the side of Steve’s neck, and Steve turns, melting into the touch.
“There’s no need for you to feel guilty, beloved.”
This time, Steve can’t keep in the sarcastic laugh.
“Oh no? Before Mari was born, I swore that I’d be there for her. That, even with my people and my country demanding my attention, I’d always find time for her. That I wouldn’t let her grow up as alone and unloved as I was, and-”
“And she isn’t,” Eddie says. “Robin was out in the gardens with her all afternoon, the kids won’t stop fighting over who gets to read to her at story time, and Chrissy sang her to sleep. She’s fine, even without you showering her in fatherly affection every hour of every day.”
Steve pouts, and Eddie claims his lips for a hungry kiss.
“Every hour of every day was never the goal,” he claims when they part. “She’s competing for my time with a very attention-hungry dragon, after a- Are you insane? Quit that!”
Eddie grumbles, but obediently removes his hands from where they’ve started to untie Steve’s breeches.
“I know, I know. The baby mustn’t be left alone, because she must feel cared for and loved at all times. Unless we wanna care for and love each other, because then we must suddenly leave the room and lock the doors.”
“Exactly,” Steve nods, grabbing a strand of curly hair between two fingers to tug his mate out of the room. “Now come on.”
Eddie’s eyes go surprised and eager. “Wha- … You mean … really? I thought you wanted to-”
Steve tosses his daughter one last look.
“She’s sleeping like a rock as it is, I’ll check in on her tomorrow morning. Right now, I could really do with some of that love and care you mentioned.”