Chapter 49 A/N I don't own Merlin. I know that those are technically liturgical hours and that's a catholic thing and england wasn't really christianized yet at least I don't think, but whatevs. In case any of you were critiquing that. Guys, I just turned in a 41 page test in Physical Chemistry. My brain is MUSH! so I hope you like this, I needed it.
"If we continue like this, neither of us will be able to walk in a few days, we'd be so sore." Owaine panted as he collapsed next to her on the bed.
"Speak for yourself. I can already tell that the Knights' training is scant on stamina. Consider this training." Cassie said, grinning up at him and kissing him deeply.
"I'm going to ring for some food, now. Cassie. May as well call for water to be brought up for the tub." he said after another fifteen minutes in her embrace.
"Is that an indirect?" Cassie asked with an embarrassed look on her face.
"What? No, of course not! I would just love to see you lounging in the tub for a while."
"You want to see me bathe?" Cassie asked slowly, making sure that's what he said.
"I can never get enough of you, my Queen." he said, kissing the hand where she wore her family's signet ring.
"I am hungry." Cassie said, running a hand through her still curly hair, gathering it up and fastening it to her head so she could bathe without getting her hair wet. "May as well eat while we wait for the water to be brought. It's a shame we have to for appearance's sake. I could just as easily fill it up right now."
"We should probably dress first, shouldn't we?" Owaine said looking down at her naked torso and pulling her up to kiss.
"We'll need to have some space between us if we were to get dressed, my Knight." Cassie said, laughing as she danced out of his reach and went behind the screen to put her nightgown back on.
"Well, my wife. Which do you want first, food or bath?"
"Both?" Cassie replied, pushing him down onto a chair and sitting in his lap, her arms snaking around his neck and her hands tangling in his hair.
"Neither?" he suggested, lost in the depths of her eyes.
"I'm afraid if we keep going, this place will resemble your mother's gardens." Cassie said with a playful laugh, motioning around at the room that was currently filled with flowers of the same type that were in the vase.
"Let's open a window, then. Put that magic to good use and try to send it out to the fields." Owaine suggested, picking her up and putting her back down on the now vacated chair while he dressed and opened the windows.
"Definitely, but won't it be suspicious if they grow too fast?" Cassie asked, biting her lower lip.
"I don't know. There has to be some way to keep your magic at bay." Owaine said as he rang the bell and walked back over to Cassie, kneeling in front of her and taking her hands in his.
"I never spoke of this with Edurne. And she never mentioned anything of the sort." Cassie admitted. "At the time I knew her, making love was the furthest thing from my thoughts."
"Maybe it will get easier to contain with practice." Owaine suggested with a lecherous gaze.
"I'd like to keep trying. Maybe that is the case." Cassie responded, leaning down and kissing him deeply once more.
"And if it doesn't maybe there's something in that trunk of yours to help?"
"Perhaps, but the spells I have are all healing and farming spells. There's a few here and there that are more defensive than anything, but I doubt there's anything about this, really." Cassie admitted quietly, jumping as there was a knock on the door at the precise moment she finished speaking.
"My Lord, my Lady. Your meals. Would you like some water for the bath as well?" the servant asked as he went over to make the bed.
"Yes, thank you, William." Owaine said, standing up and taking the chair next to her.
"Has this always been the marital corridor?" Cassie asked once she settled down and began eating.
"My grandmother converted it to one when my mother and father married. Gives everyone more privacy and all." Owaine explained as Cassie popped a grape in her mouth.
"What are you looking at?" Cassie asked after she swallowed some of her meat.
"Perfection."
"We're already married, Owaine. No need to keep on with the lies and flattery."
"It's not a lie, you are perfect in every way to me." he replied, kissing her chastely on the cheek and smiling at her blush. "And I absolutely love to make you blush.
"Be careful, my husband. One of these days the blush will not come so easily." Cassie told him, feeding him some meat off her plate.
"So long as I call you wife, your blush will always come easily to me." he said to her, smiling as he chewed and the servants went about their business.
"The bath is ready, my Lady. Would you like anything else?"
"Lunch at Sext."
"It's the eleventh hour, my Lady, perhaps halfway between Sext and None?" William replied.
"Hadn't realized it was so late. We'll have some lunch at that time, then." Cassie said with a kind smile, ignoring Owaine taking food off her plate.
"Yes, my Lady." he said, leaving them with a soft thud of the closing door.
"I cannot believe it's that late! When was the last time we ate?" Cassie asked, trying to think back through the previous three days.
"We broke fast the day after our wedding, and then we had lunch yesterday but nothing the day before." Owaine told her. "We've been too busy doing other…activities." he said, looking down at her neck which was covered in love bites.
"We should go see Alex and Taran today. I miss them." Cassie said.
"I'll go anywhere you do, fair wife." he said, looking at her adoringly.
"Good, first a stroll through the gardens and then we'll go down and visit the two angels." Cassie declared, eliciting a snort from Owaine.
"Alex is anything but an angel some of the time." Owaine said at her questioning gaze.
"He was always an angel with me. Besides, we have yet to speak with them and the week was up three days ago."
"Yeah you're right. Do you still think it's best for them?" Owaine asked, not sure what he was hoping her answer to be.
"I know it's not with me. Not since Alex is terrified of my… special talent. And it would break my heart if he ever found out and looked at me in fear and disgust." Cassie said softly.
"He would never look at you like that. You know that, deep down. And he loves you, he's always thought of you like a friend since you met and kept pointing and saying 'rabbit'." Owaine joked.
"I hope so. Let's wash up, now."
"I'll just sit here and watch you bathe, Aphrodite."
"Water's going to be cold by the time you get in, then." Cassie said, letting the nightgown pool around her ankles and sashaying over to the tub, looking at him seductively as she lowered herself in with a content sigh.
"I hate you, wife." he said, standing up and crossing the room to grab a couple towels while throwing his tunic off and then lowering his trousers.
"You love me, my Knight. Now come along, I can't do my back." Cassie said, using the washcloth to delicately wash her arms as she looked at him entrancingly.
"Keep that up and we won't be going out today either, my Queen." he growled huskily as he took the washcloth from her hand and began to gently wash her back as she bent forward. "How is it possible to find new things to admire about you?" Owaine asked as his hands roved her body.
"I do not think there is much, my Lord." Cassie replied.
"There is plenty, Cassie. Your soft, milky skin. Your small, delicate hands. Each of your ten perfect fingers. Your wrist, your forearm. The crook of your elbow. Your shoulder. Your neck, with all its delightful places to kiss. Your ears, covered so by your lustrous, golden hair. Your beautiful blue eyes, and the way they crinkle when you smile. Your lips, my gorgeous wife's plump lips, who taste of honey and ginger. Your back, with your gentle curves and lines." he said, punctuating every sentence with a tender kiss everywhere he spoke of.
"Owaine!" Cassie said, laughing and blushing deeper at his every word and kiss.
"I love the way your cheeks flush with excitement, painting this lovely canvas with all the grace and beauty you deserve." he continued, tilting her head back and kissing her deeply.
"My husband, it seems you do not want me to leave here at all." Cassie said, turning around in the tub and splashing water all over as she returned his kiss with a more fervent one, her legs on either side of his hips.
"You read minds as well, my love." he panted against her lips when they broke away from the kiss.
"Only yours." she replied breathing just as heavily and pushing apart quickly when they heard a knock at the door.
"Just a moment!" Owaine called out, standing up and reaching out for the towels to wrap themselves in, disappearing behind the screen and donning dressing gowns quickly.
"Yes?" Owaine asked, more than slightly annoyed.
"We figured we'd left you two alone to your devices enough time, but apparently we were wrong." Gwen greeted with a smirk while Morgana tried her hardest not to laugh.
"My Lady, Gwen." Owaine greeted Morgana with a bow. "Just a moment longer and I will leave Cassie in your company. You may wait in the antechamber for now." Owaine said, closing the door quickly before they could reply and turning to Cassie with an annoyed expression.
"They just have the perfect timing don't they?" Cassie asked with an amused smile as she saw his expression, laughing brightly at his gruff response.
"I'll be in the training fields." he grunted as they got dressed.
"Help me with the laces first. I'll see you later, I suppose. Perhaps we'll stop by to watch you train." Cassie said, leaning back against his chest and holding his arms against her stomach.
"I think you might prefer to keep your friends waiting, my Lady."Owaine said, tightening his hold and leaning down to kiss her.
"Well, I might just be inclined to agree with you, were it not for the endless teasing. Or the ears that are most likely trying to listen in." Cassie said, turning around and gently pushing him away with her hands on his chest.
"I'll see you later, then, my love."
"Later, my husband. Don't forget, we should go see Alex and Taran, the week is up and it would be cruel to deny their answer."
"Later." he agreed, kissing her deeply once more before going out the main door while she went through the door to the antechamber.
"You two had better have a good explanation." Cassie said when she walked into the antechamber and sat down across from the two.
"We missed you," Morgana said "And we want details. All of it, every last salacious thought."
"I will not tell you every last salacious thought, 'Gana." Cassie said with a furrowed brow, looking at them pointedly. "But I will tell you some of them." Cassie said, smiling widely and beginning the gossip.
"Cassie tired of you already?" Mor asked when Owaine walked onto the small training field in the back.
"Lady Morgana and Guinevere have sequestered her for the time being." he grunted in response, taking a sword and warming up by swinging it expertly to loosen his wrist.
"So you are here to beat out your frustrations." Merlin said, looking at him like he was crazy.
"Exactly. Who's first?" Owaine said, smiling like a Cheshire cat.
"I have an idea!" Katherine called from the other side of the clearing. "Tunics versus skins."
"Are we supposed to know what that means?" Merlin asked Owaine in an undertone.
"One team wears tunics the other takes them off and the fight begins." Owaine explained with a wide smile.
"Oh, yes! We'll pick who's on what team." Alys agreed with a wink at Katherine and Ellie.
"I pick tunics, Ellie pick's skins. Alys decides the winner." Katherine agreed, "Shall you start, Ellie?"
"Yes, I pick Owaine for skins first." Ellie asid with a twinkle in her eye, spotting the Lady Morgana strolling through the garden with the Lady Cassie and Gwen not far behind.
"Prince Arthur." Katherine said, the two alternating picking the teams between peals of laughter.
"Mor." Ellie called out, winking at Alys.
"Harold." Katherine said, shooting a bright smile at her husband.
"Merlin." Ellie said, giggling at the blush that found its way onto his cheeks.
"Oh, I-I am no fighter, my Lady." he stuttered out.
"Nonsense, Merlin. Lady Cassie has told us otherwise." Alys said, holding back her giggles at his blush.
"Him? A fighter?!" Arthur cried out in incredulity.
"Cassie exaggerates, my Lady." Merlin said, looking affronted at Arthur's tone.
"You did save Price Arthur's life once." Ellie argued back, "We were there." she continued, nodding at her husband.
"A complete fluke!" Arthur cried back, ignoring Merlin's sputtering.
"Pellinore, you're tunics." Alys said, stopping their conversation and setting the terms for the fight. "Let the battle begin!" she called out as she let her handkerchief fall to the ground, her laugh tinkling through the courtyard as they began to fight.
"Guess our imaginations have come up short." Arthur teased as Owaine, Mor and he circled each other, trying hard not to laugh at the scratches and love bites all over his chest and back.
"You insult her, Sire." Owaine said, smiling dangerously before he advanced, carrying the fight for the first part before beginning to falter, only to be reinvigorated as Mor was disarmed and joined the others on the sideline.
"I can see your marriage has greatly improved your stamina." Arthur teased after five minutes of blocking and parrying with him.
"Perhaps you should consider finding yourself a bride, Sire." Owaine replied.
"I see she's given you some of her cheek as well, Sir Owaine."
"All in a night's work, too." Owaine said, disarming Arthur and holding the sword to his neck.
"Shame your blushing bride is not here to see you best me." Arthur said, picking his sword up and clasping hands with him.
"The winner, Lady Alys?"
"Sir Owaine only beat Prince Arthur and Morvydd. We have yet to see him beat the rest of you, my Lords." Alys said, getting nods from her sisters.
"You would have us go at it again?" Arthur and Mor panted.
"Yes." they said in unison.
"Sorry my Ladies, we have business to attend to. Perhaps you can have them run laps around the manor, increase their stamina." Cassie said from behind them, walking up and handing Owaine his tunic back, taking him by the hand before he could put it on and dragging him away.
"You heard the Lady. Laps!" Owaine called back, laughing heartily as Cassie dragged him towards the village and he heard their shouts-whether they be indignant or jeering.
"How was your talk?"
"About as well as your training session I assume." Cassie replied with a giggle. "Probably should have told you about all the love bites and scratches this morning."
"Well, I remember the bites, but when did you possibly scratch me?" Owaine asked her with a light chuckle.
"I know not. I was too busy trying to reign in the magic." Cassie whispered to him.
"Right, I forget sometimes." Owaine said sheepishly, quickly kissing her so she would stop talking as he'd seen some of the village girls coming closer.
"My Lord, my Lady." they greeted, throwing handfuls of petals into the air around them, making them both laugh gaily as the young girls ran circles around them, giggling.
"Hello!" Cassie said, hiding her giggles in Owaine's arms.
"Cassie!" Alex cried from the end of the street, running up and hugging them both, chattering happily about his week.
"Let's go say hello to Aldith and Col." Owaine said, patting his back gently and letting him take their hands and drag them over.
"Alex!" Aldith chastised when he dragged them in the door and made them sit down, all the while speaking animatedly.
"Sorry, Aldith." he said, his cheeks colored with a faint blush.
"Go and find Col, Alex. There's some things we need to discuss." Aldith said, getting increasingly nervous.
"He seems happy." Cassie said when he disappeared out the door.
"I hope he is. He's become great friends with my younger brother, my Lady."
"Alex said you need-"
"It's time, Col."
"Oh, Alex, bring us some more water."
"Bu-"
"Now, Alex."
"Yes, Col." he said, hanging his head and going back out the door with the bucket in hand.
"Seems you're already a father to him." Owaine observed, taking a sip from the cup Aldith had given him.
"I have grown fond of the boys, my Lord." Col replied.
"D-do you know how he feels?" Cassie asked them, twisting her pinky nervously.
"We cannot be sure." Aldith said sadly. "Not for certain."
"We'll soon find out." Cassie said gently as she saw the boy trudging closer through the window and pointed it out.
"Here's the water, Col." Alex said, leaving it by the door, "Can I talk to Cassie and Owaine now?"
"I'd like to talk with you as well, Alex. Have you found a place to make your own yet?"
"Huh?"
"When I was your age there was a place I went to that only I knew about. Do you have one of those?" Cassie clarified.
"No."
"Well, come. We must find one, then." Cassie said, standing up and offering him her hand. "I saw this perfect place last week while we walked around, Alex." she said, talking happily with him and leading him to a small hill.
"It's perfect! You can see everything from here!" Alex said looking around with wide eyes.
"It is. Alex, are you happy?"
"Yes, of course I am. Why are you asking?"
"Oh, I just wondered is all. I like to know about you. And Aldith and Col, do you like them?"
"They're nice. And Aldith holds my brother like Mother did."
"She's nursing him, making sure he eats and grows strong like you."
"She said that was what she was doing."
"You know, Owaine and I will be going with Sir Pellinore, Lady Ellie, Prince Arthur and Lady Morgana back to Camelot in a few days' time."
"I know." Alex said quietly.
"You can stay, if you want." Cassie said gently.
"But then I'll never see you again." he said, tears forming in his eyes.
"Why would you say that? Darling, you may not see me everyday like you did in Camelot, but it's only two days' ride. We can come visit every so often."
"Do you not want me anymore?" Alex asked suddenly, tears swimming in his eyes as he stood up quickly. "Is that why you left me and Taran with them? Because we don't- because you don't love us!?"
"Alex, how could you say that?" Cassie asked, calling after him as he ran away ignoring her.
"You took her from me! You took her from me and I hate you!" Alex yelled at Owaine once he ran inside Col and Aldith's house, waking the baby and beating his small fists against the knight's chest.
"Alex!" Aldith cried in astonishment of his reaction, rushing forward and wrapping her arms around his small frame while Col tried to calm Taran.
"I am sorry, my Lord." Col said.
"Let us go speak outside, man to man." Owaine told the boy, nodding at the other two in the small house.
"I'll go nowhere with you, you took my sister from me!" he yelled at him, angry tears rushing down his face.
"Alex, Cassie still loves you. And she wants you to be as happy as possible. Are you not happy here?" Owaine asked, kneeling down to be eye-level with him and placing his hand on Alex's shoulder. "Well?" he prompted after a moment of stubborn silence.
"Yes, I'm happy here." Alex admitted reluctantly.
"And do you not like them, Aldith and Col?"
"Yes, I like them."
"So do you want to stay? If I promise that I'll come visit often? And I'll bring Cassie with me. It is completely your choice." Owaine said, looking straight into his eyes.
"You don't have to answer today, Alex." Col said, having finally calmed the baby down. "But we would love it if you decide to stay. You and Taran."
"I-I don't know!" he said, running back out the door and ignoring Cassie as she reached out to stop him.
"I've broken his little heart." Cassie whispered sadly, looking after him with tears in her eyes a few feet outside the door.
"He's young and resilient, my love." Owaine said, handing her a kerchief. "Come, we should speak with them." he said softly, leading her gently back into their small house. "He'll say yes, you know." Owaine told the others when they sat back down. "I could see it in his eyes, he's grown fond of you; and if Cassie's any proof, he'll come to love you as well."
"You are kind to say that my Lord, but what if he holds any resentment?"
"He won't. His heart's too pure for that. He loves his brother dearly. He's afraid of the dark and spiders and snakes and-and magic, and he can only sleep between two people when he has nightmares. His heart is too young and pure to hold any enmity or resentment." Cassie told them, choking up as she said the word magic. "And he doesn't love halfway, he loves fully. And he will come to love you as his parents, even if he won't admit it."
"You know him well, my Lady. Would it not be better for him to stay with you?" Aldith asked quietly.
"I would love for that to be true, Aldith. But, alas, I don't believe it. I believe it would be best for him to be with you." Cassie said, tears falling down her face in thick beads that Owaine wiped away tenderly. "It's his decision whether he stays or comes back to Camelot, but I sincerely believe that you are what's best for him."
"My Lady, thank you for your trust, but what if he doesn't feel that way?" Col asked.
"Then, he comes back with us and I try to find another family for them." Cassie said quietly, returning the squeeze gently.
"May I ask why you won't keep him as your own, my Lady?"
"Because he's afraid of me." Cassie said quietly, recognising when they realized just what she meant.
"Why live in the city then? You're not…"
"It's where my family is. Where I've always lived, in the city." Cassie said, not bothering to beg them not to say a thing.
"Does everyone where you're from have it?" Col asked, thinking about the physician's son-in-law.
"No, but it's not illegal there like it is here."
"You won't say anything, will you?" Owaine asked, tightening his hold on Cassie's hand protectively.
"No, my Lord. We won't say anything." Col said, bouncing the baby on his lap.
"Why?" Cassie asked, her voice breaking.
"I knew a few people with magic before the Purge, my Lady. They were good, honorable people. They didn't deserve their fate. And from what we've learnt about you…my Lady, you don't deserve that either." Col said while Aldith nodded along.
"Thank you. We should go, Alex might not want to see us just now." Owaine said, pulling Cassie up with him and leaving the house.
"Let's just go back to our chambers. I'm not hungry." Cassie said, her voice thick with repressed tears.
"Yes, my Queen." he said gently, bringing her hand up to his lips and gently kissing it.
"Cassie? What are you doing ? It's long past midnight." Owaine asked from the bed, looking at her figure bathed in soft moonlight leaning against the window.
"Nothing." Cassie replied in barely a whisper, knowing her voice would betray her.
"Come here, lambkin." Owaine said, moving over on the bed and lifting the sheets for her.
"Okay." Cassie said to herself, leaving the window open and laying down facing him.
"He didn't mean any of it. He'll want to apologize tomorrow and you know what his answer will be." he told her, kissing the tear tracks on her cheek.
"I hope that's his answer. Aldith and Col deserve to be happy. They deserve a family and from what Adalberto told me, he doesn't think it likely they'll conceive again."
"Let's not dwell on it tonight. Alex'll tell us when he's ready, and he'll apologize whole-heartedly to you. He didn't mean any of it."
"I know. Thanks, Owaine. For being you. I love you."
"And I you. Let's get some sleep now. Unless there's something else you can think of doing." he suggested, a licentious grin on his face as his hands gently roved down her body, finding their destination and giving her pleasure in her nether region.
"My Lady, you have a visitor." a servant called through the door after knocking the following morning.
"Take them to the antechamber!" Cassie called out loudly. Burying her head in the pillow to muffle herself.
"It seems everyone just has perfect timing, does it not?" Owaine whispered in her ear, quickening his pace before rolling off of her and sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Come on, Owaine." Cassie said, rolling her eyes and using her magic to tie the laces quickly.
"Yes, my wife." he said with a sigh as he pulled on his trousers and tunic, wanting to keep them waiting all morning.
"Hello." Cassie greeted, sitting across from them in the small antechamber.
"Hello, my Lady. Alex wanted to speak with you. And you, my Lord."
"I'm sorry." he said quietly, tucked into Col's side.
"You have nothing to be sorry about, Alex."
"I don't hate you, I was just sad that you would leave me."
"Don't be sad, Alex. Do you know what you want to do?" Owaine said from the doorway.
"I-I want to stay. If that's okay with you." he said, looking at Cassie with uncertain eyes.
"Oh, Alex." Cassie said, walking over and kneeling in front of him. "If it makes you happy, then it makes me happy. That's all I want for you and your brother, to be happy."
"Do you still love me?" he asked shyly.
"Of course I do! You were one of my first friends in Camelot, and I think you a brother. One whom I want to be happy."
"I still love you too, Cassie." Alex said, hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Owaine. I don't hate you either."
"I know. Let's go play outside for a bit while Cassie talks to Aldith and Col." he said, taking the younger boy's hand and walking him outside.
"Thank you, my Lady. With all our hearts. You gave us a family."
"No, I didn't give you anything. I just asked you to nurse the baby. You two were the ones who earned his love." Cassie said with a smile. "And I'm glad I asked you to nurse him. He will be happy with you. Taran and Alex will again have what they have lost. What you have lost. I wish you four all the happiness, I truly do. Have you had breakfast, would you like some?"
"No, my Lady, thank you. We've already eaten." Col said.
"Would you like to say goodbye to Taran? I know you are leaving in two days' time."
"Thank you. I would love to spend the day with them." Cassie said with tears shining in her eyes as she reached out for the baby.
"My Lady, it is the least we can do after all you've done for us. And we'll try to ease his fear of magic. Get him to understand it's not all bad."
"I can't tell you how to raise your children, but I can tell you that he was taught to fear it above all else, seeing executions every month at the least. Tread carefully with that."
"Thank you for the advice, we'll take it to heart." Aldith said, standing up and curtsying low, while Col bowed.
"I'll take them back later tonight. Me and Owaine, I mean." Cassie said walking with them through the manor and out a door onto the grounds.
"We can't thank you enough. Hopefully, this is a beginning." Aldith said, playfully shaking Taran's small hand before turning towards the village and walking away.
"Guess what, Alex!" Cassie said when she found him playing with Owaine and Pellinore.
"What?"
"We get the whole day with you two. Now, do you want to prank Sir Pellinore, or Sir Owaine first?" Cassie asked, a mischievous glint in her eye
"How about both?" Alex suggested with a wide smile.
"Oh, I like how you think. You two had better run, my good knights." Cassie said, smiling evilly as she bent down to whisper in Alex's ear about what they were going to do.