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cressidagrey · 3 months

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Welcome to the World - Chapter 4

Summary:

The quickest turnaround time between finding your mate and having a kid anybody in the history of Prythian has ever managed

Warnings:

Azriel being a adoring First Time Dad

(super pretty dividers thanks to @saradika)

He was entranced.

Bewitched…enchanted, captivated, mesmerized…all of that and more.

As he watched the baby, Aurora, Aurora, who had her mother’s curly hair and his mother’s name…as he watched her greedily drink from Ciara’s breast…both of them so content…so happy…seemingly glowing with it.

It was everything that he had never thought he would ever have.

“I think I’ll sneak a nap in before all of Rosehall is awake,” his mother said quietly from her place at Ciara’s bedside, who looked up from Aurora, reaching to touch his mother’s hand.

“Thank you.”

She pressed a kiss to Ciara’s forehead like she had done to him thousands of times. “Of course. Try to get some shut-eye as well, alright?”

She came towards him, hugging him tightly.

“Happy Birthday, Ma,” he whispered.

“I am so happy for you,” she gave back, whispering in his ear. “Look at you, making me a grandmother without even knowing.” It was a joke and it wasn’t, because he was quite sure that even without a mating bond between Ciara and him, that was exactly the role his mother would have taken in Aurora’s life.

But like this…

He let her press a kiss against his cheek and then it was just the three of them, Nora long since gone…just him and Ciara and Aurora .

She finished drinking and Ciara rested her against her shoulder, gently rubbing her back above these tiny little fluttering wings…helping the milk settle…one hearty belch later and he was quite sure that she was already deep asleep again.

“You should sleep…” he said, his voice sounding weak even to his own ears as he looked at her.

Even as exhausted and tired as she was…she looked so beautiful. Glowing with Maternal Pride as she looked at her daughter, a smile curling around the corners of her mouth. So happy. So…beautiful. Incandescent with love.

She looked at him, hazel eyes watching…and then she patted the bed next to her, shifting slightly.

“Come sit down, mate.”

She could have asked anything of him in that tone of voice and she would have gotten it, he was certain.

But this…this was so easy to grant.

“Sorry about putting you through that during our first meeting,” she quipped and he couldn’t help but laugh, a deep rumbling sound somewhere deep in his chest. This was just so…

This was the last thing he had expected…and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“She’s so perfect,” Azriel whispered again as he sat down next to her on the bed, careful not to disturb her or the baby, as he sat down next to her…kicking off his shoes so that he could be nearer…She leaned against his shoulder, her wing brushing against him…not giving a single thought about that bit of startling intimacy.

But if she did that…he dared to reach out for Aurora, dared to run a single finger across one pudgy little cheek…

“She is,” Ciara agreed quietly, a jaw-cracking yawn taking over her face…she was still shivering with something only she could feel.

“Sleep?” he asked, once again.

“I don’t want to let her go…” Ciara admitted weakly. “I don’t want to put her in her crib and make her be alone…”

“Then don’t,” he agreed quietly. “Keep her with you, and I’ll stay awake and make sure that nothing happens.” He could do that. He wasn’t even tired…not when he could watch the two of them. He would watch the two of them for the rest of his life.

“Aren’t you tired?” she wondered but he shrugged.

“Not like you are,” he promised her. He hadn’t brought a child into the world. He had just watched.

Ciara met his eyes and something inside them softened. She did listen to him, laid down on her side with Aurora nestled between the two of them, one of Ciara’s hands on her baby’s stomach.

She fell asleep between one breath and the next, so quickly that he was surprised Ciara had even been conscious enough to have a conversation with him.

She fell asleep, her face easing and he…he just watched them. Watched Ciara’s face often and looked so much younger than she probably was…watched Aurora’s heart-shaped mouth purse and then her little grunts…

Watched the two of them. Both of them.

The emotions that were swirling in his chest were numerous and difficult to name…but the one thing that he did know was…he wanted them. Both of them. He wanted to be able to come home to them, he wanted to watch Aurora grow up.

He wanted to see Ciara and get to know her properly and fell in love with her and…he wanted that.

He had no idea how he had even come close to deserving them…but he wanted them.

You could have them, Master. It was a soft whisper from his shadows, coming to poke around…gently, so gently drifting over to Ciara and Aurora, like they knew how precious they were to him.

They did know. Of course, they did.

Did you know? he asked curious. Had the shadows sensed a mating bond before he had even had an idea about it? Had they known? Was that why they had suggesting him to start knitting and visit his mother? Was that why…

That she was your mate? No, Master…otherwise we would have dragged you here months ago. You could have stopped your moping without needing to try out hiking. They told him drily.

He snorted softly, not wanting to wake up either of the two of them, though it didn’t seem like that was something that he needed to worry about.

Ciara shivered.

Without a single comment from him, the shadows pulled a fur out of thin air…and stretched it over her form.

Pitch black. Glossy. Thick. Massive.

You are incorrigible, he told the shadows with some amusement as he watched them wrap Ciara up in that Fenris Fur.

She’s yours, Master. They are yours, the shadows repeated, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

It was a startling view to see them like that, wrapped in the fur of the animal he had killed…wrapped in his protection, kept safe and warm through something he had done…

It soothed the monster deep within him. He had provided this.

Just like The General had said, the shadows said pleasantly, happy enough to return to swirling behind his wings and letting him watch both of them.

Should we tell Cassian that he has a future as a seer? he quipped, still watching them. You watched her over the last year, didn’t you? He asked. He didn’t want to infringe on Ciara’s privacy, didn’t want to know anything that she wouldn’t willingly tell him, but…

Yes, Master. We like her . They told him pleasantly.

You do?

She’s very sweet. Everybody loves her. Even the donkey . Azriel was sure that Thistle had probably never tried to bite Ciara’s wings.

He saw Aurora move quietly, and make a soft noise, and he reached out to pick her up.

She was barely big enough to span the length of his forearm, her head fitting comfortably in the palm of his hand. Her wings weren’t even the site of his hands.

“You don’t need to cry,” he whispered quietly, even as her cries slowly heightened. “Hey, hey…let your Ma sleep alright? I am right here. Right here,” he promised her, gently rocking her.

She quieted right down, a soft snuffling sound coming from her, seemingly leaning into his touch.

She didn’t even seem to realise the violent scars marring her hands, that the texture of his hands was different than the ones of her mother…she just rested in his arms, head comfortably in the crook of his elbow…

“And I am going nowhere,” he continued quietly, wondering if it was the warmth of his body or the sound of his voice that was quietening her back to sleep…though she was still looking at him, dark eyes unfocused… tiny hands fisting into the blanket she was wrapped into…he reached out with his other hand, gently touching her tiny hand, offering her his finger and her hand wrapped around it…not even reaching the whole way…

“You know, your Ma…she worked really, really hard to bring you into this world. And she needs her rest so that she can heal, alright?” He said softly. “She already loves you so, so much.”

He didn’t doubt that for one moment. Ciara adored her daughter.

And she wasn’t the only one. Aurora would grow up like that…surrounded by love.

“You’ll be surrounded by that, you know…All the people that love you. It doesn’t matter if it’s the blankets your mother made you or whatever little dress I am sure your Grandma has sewn for you…“ the title slipped from his mouth without even thinking about it. “She’s so delighted with you, you know? We probably won’t even get to see you when you are a little older, because Grandma is gonna want to love on you every day…” He couldn’t help but laugh softly before growing serious.

“She never got to do that with me as much as she wished because my father kept me from her, but you…you are going to get all that from her,” he promised her fiercely.

His father had taken so much from both his mother and Azriel, but it was never going to happen again. Not if he had a single thing to say about it.

He had fought for less. And for this, he would fight until death. Until there wasn’t a single drop of blood left inside him.

“Nobody is ever going to keep you from your Ma. I’ll take care of that,” he promised fiercely.

Aurora would never spend even a day locked into darkness, into a cell underneath a keep…Aurora would grow up here in Rosehall, between the mountains and the ocean. She would be free.

She would be free every day of her life.

“I’ll take care of you both if your Ma is going to let me,” he said softly. If Ciara would let him… “Maybe I’ll manage to wear her down…I don’t deserve either of you, but I am going to do my damnest to do right by you both…”

He would.

“And I’ll protect you. You are never going to be hurt like she was. Or like I was…I’ll lay waste to the entire continent if that means that you’ll grow up safe and sound…and that you can do everything you want to do in your life…” he trailed off as her eyes opened again, as he could feel the wings twitch in their blanket cocoon and she made a soft unhappy growly noise.

“Do they itch?” he cooed softly, “I bet they do.” he unwrapped them carefully, and moved her so that she could rest against his chest…her wings moving, twitching slightly…

“You get used to them, sweetheart. And one day your Ma and I are going to teach you how to fly…you’ll love it. I do,” he promised her. “I didn’t always get to do that, but you will. You’ll fly and your wings are going to grow bigger and stronger and…and nobody will ever take them from you.”

***

She listened to every single single word he said…warm and safe and feeling…so very cherished. She watched him…Watched him dote on her daughter, on Aurora…on how these big, scarred hands touched her so gently, so hesitantly.

How he promised her, them…protection. Love. Safety. Everything she had ever wanted. He offered it for her taking.

And he didn’t ask for anything in return.

Not that she could offer him much.

Her love. She could offer him that…

And she watched him rock Aurora, and starting to hum to her as she grew restless in his arms…and then with a low voice, he started singing to her.

An old Illyrian nursery rhyme…she knew it, even when she didn’t remember it…about wings and the song of the wind…

and then he broke off because Aurora had started determinedly rooting around his chest for a breast.

“You had to pick the one thing that I can’t give you, didn’t you?” he asked, sounding both exasperated and amused.

“Not even a day old and already stubborn,” she quipped hoarsely.

His face snapped towards her. “How much…” he started to ask her. She couldn’t help but smile.

“You have a beautiful voice,” she complimented him, watching him in amusement as the blush grew over his cheeks…

“My mother used to sing it for me,” he said as he offered her Aurora, and she took her daughter, pushing away a fur that was definitely not…hers.

She was used to the crinkled cotton quilt and a thick duvet stuffed with goose feathers…and not…“That’s not Esmeray’s,” she said quietly as she turned on her side and offered Aurora her breast. She latched on with a hungry growl and then there was just the happy smacking sound of her lips as she hungrily downed her milk.

She could feel the cramping in her womb at that, but she ignored it in favour of touching the thick glossy fur that was enveloping her.

“No,” Azriel agreed. “It’s yours,” he said softly, biting his lip and she stared at him…and then the fur…and then it hit her.

“Azriel,” she whispered weakly.

“You were shivering,” he explained, blush once again growing over his face. “And I have been reliably informed that I was supposed to give it to my mate. That’s the tradition.”

It was the tradition. As a bride gift…she wondered if she had ever gotten one of these before…but she didn’t care. She got this one. And she knew that it was…the most impressive one she had ever seen.

She knew that Granya had gotten a coat made out of a hundred rabbit furs as a bridal gift from her husband…but all the females she knew…if they had gotten a traditional fur as a gift, it was always pieced together…it nearly never was…something like that. One massive piece.

“Where did you get it from?” Ciara wondered.

“The traditional way,” Azriel answered, one corner of his mouth kicking up.

“You killed a Fenris,” she said pointedly. A major predator. “Why?”

“It was kinda an accident, but yes,” Azriel admitted with a sigh.

“How could that be an accident?” she asked him with a snort. What had he done? Gone traipsing through the woods and found it at random?

“My shadows decided I needed a new hobby….so I tried hiking,” Azriel said quietly. “It thought I would make a nice afternoon snack.”

Ciara blinked twice, not even sure where exactly she was supposed to start at that.

And then finally… ”What else did your shadows suggest?” she asked, a grin widening over her face.

“Tried wood carving, which was the most successful…reading, but the only books I found that I really liked were children’s books… I wanted to ask Ma to teach me how to knit yesterday,” Azriel answered. She shifted slightly, moving Aurora so they both could be more comfortable.

“Esmeray can teach you that. She’s really good at it too,” Ciara agreed. Though the thought of Azriel with knitting needles in his hands was…something.

“Can you knit?” he asked her curiously.

“I am better at sewing…also better at crocheting, where you only need one hook and not two needles,” Ciara answered. “ I made Aurora a few knitted things though…couldn’t help myself…they are so tiny and cute.” With little slits for her wings too…Esmeray loved it though.

“Do the shadows often do stuff like that?” she wondered, craning her head so that she could watch them swirl around his wings until one tendril came to rest on her wrist where she was holding her daughter.

“No, not often. However, I think they are done with that now...I found something else to occupy my time,” Azriel said, a small grin on his face, and a matching one bloomed over Ciara’s face.

“Did you now?” she asked, the smile widening on her face.

“If they’ll have me,” Azriel said, his voice quiet.

“They will,” she promised. It was such an easy to promise to give him as well. So easy. “We’ll have you. We’ll have you for the rest of our life.”

#a pocketful of stars #acotar fanfiction #welcome to the world #azriel x oc #azriel x reader #my writing #azriel fanfiction #azriel fanfic

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