Prompt 10: Not said to me.
~10~
-Unconditional Love-
She isn't sure what causes her to awaken as silvery light swims into her vision. Perhaps it was the fuzzy dream that melts like fluffy candy away from her consciousness or the way the northern breeze scrapes down her throat. Ultimately she decides it's the lack of warmth that's usually like a furnace at her side and the absence of needy coos. Pushing herself up at a sluggish pace, slender fingers brush silver hair behind chilled ears as cerulean blues gaze around the cozy room. Passing over the ornate furniture she finds a silk blue robe resting at the foot of the bed and stretches reluctant feet towards the icy wooden floor. Wrapping herself in the material in hopes of warding off the cold, she breezes from the room on soft pattering feet.
The hall is ghost-quiet with only a torch to light up the stones in twitching amber flares. Not bothered by the yawning stretch before her without a single soul to fill its space, she eases towards the room next to her own where a sliver of silver light beckons her. Peeking through the gap between wood and stone, she spies a sight that lifts her full lips in a delighted curve. A man of short stature with wild, golden locks tousled from sleep and aglow in moonlight cradles a bundled being tenderly in hands that could easily destroy the world. The small little girl she can just barely see in his arms is porcelain with fuzzy blond hair and watery blue eyes that gaze up with all the wonder a bundle of joy such as she can possess.
A low voice with a boyish charm fills the room in a one-sided conversation that has her fingers curling over a wide grin. "…the Princess of the sky and below the earth. That's a lot, huh?" He tilts his head in a curious way and a tiny fist bats at his chin. The cheeky grin usually reserved for her that he now shares with their daughter makes her heart swell.
"Yeah it is, but you won't ever be alone, Ana. Your mommy and I will help you, huh? And your uncle and aunt," he trails the back of a knuckle down a chubby cheek, fond and gentle, as sleepy blue eyes flutter. "You're gonna have an amazing life, aren't you? You'll have your mother's grace, strength, and determination. None of the bad stuff from your daddy."
Her brows furrow and her lips pinch as she curls her fingers around the frame of the door. A small coo of displeasure bubbles up from the baby and he rocks her with the soothing steadiness of a calm river. "Yeah, no bad stuff from daddy. Not the ruthlessness, the anger, or the coldhearted manipulation. You're our little angel and I'm gonna make sure you're safe and happy and able to spread your wings. You'll like that, huh?"
A teeny warble is his answer and his voice falls to a hush she has to strain in order to catch. "You and Elizabeth are my world, Anastasia. I may not be an expert on love, but I assure you you both take up that space in my chest… I love you, sweet pea, don't ever doubt that." A brush of lips against a tiny brow seals his promise.
Elizabeth presses a hand to her ribs that feel much too tight to contain her thudding heart. The demon who was cruel and spiteful that somehow learned to care and love on their journey together is the most doting husband to her and father to their daughter Elizabeth could ever hope for. She could never imagine another in his place. She slips away, padding back to their room with the pondering thought of how to get Meliodas to see what she sees–that his so called "flaws" don't chip away at his value to his two favorite girls.