Chapter 29 A/N I do not own Merlin Guys, I got a 97% on my biochem test, I have, like, never been this happy. Just amazing! Anyways, between studying for all my classes and just plain old writer's block, this chapter just may not be so good.

Once Cassie finished reviewing and writing down all she had seen and learnt today, she went to Morgana's chambers and finished her new duties. Gwen was in charge of the cleaning and tidying of the place, and Cassie was in charge of the hair and clothes- meaning she took the dresses to the laundress and picked them up when they were finished- and meals. Cassie felt bad that she had such an easy job, while Gwen did so much more of the work and they got paid the same, so she insisted they should divide it equally.

"Sorry I'm late, my Lady. I was attending a rather difficult birth." Cassie said, explaining her tardiness.

"It's okay, Cassie. Gwen got lunch today. How did the birth go?"

"A beautiful baby boy. Mary delivered today, though the baby was breech. I called Gaius for help. Rather a long labor, too. Makes me want to hold off on kids for as long as possible."

"I don't know. I would want kids quickly. The sooner the better to spoil them." Morgana said with a lovely smile.

"You wouldn't say that if you'd hear the screaming from the women! It's scary. When I was younger, I helped one of the villagers on Leon's lands give birth with my neighbor, and the screams were terrible. And it was actually kind of gross, the baby coming out all slimy." Gwen said, pulling a face.

"Yes!" Cassie laughed. "The babies do come out very slimy, but once they are dried and clean, that look between mother and child is one you envy. When my niece was born, a little over three years ago, and I saw Xaxie hold her for the first time, I knew then and there that I wanted to be a mother. Above anything else. That love is just so pure and complete." Cassie said, a longing in her voice she didn't know she possessed.

"So, you're not waiting? Are you?" Gwen said conspiratorial. "Suppose I'll have to make a new dress, then. She won't be wed in white!" Gwen teased, talking to Morgana with an impish look in her eyes.

"I'll just have to move the wedding up! Four more months is a rather long wait! Say, tonight?" Cassie teased back.

"What?! No, not tonight! The dress isn't ready yet!" Gwen cried out. "Next week if you must, but not tonight!"

"Two months. I'll write to Morrigan tonight! And I'll talk to Ellie. Oh! I have so much to do!" she cried frantically, getting up and going to the door. She remembered her manners and came back to apologize "Forgive me, 'Gana, but I'm just too excited. I shall take my leave and go write! I'm of no use to either of you this excited!" she squealed excitedly.

"Go, Cassie!" Morgana said chuckling

"Bye, Cassie!" Gwen called out. "She is just too adorable when she gets excited; her face lights up and her smile widens."

"True, she can't hide her true feelings, no matter how small. We would take her for all she's worth in a game of cards." Morgana commented, thinking up a girls' night in the process.

"We could invite Ellie, too. She will be Cassie's sister soon enough." Gwen said, catching onto Morgana's train of thought.

The two women made plans for a girls' night for the rest of the afternoon. They thought about everything and decided to make it a sort of hen's party. They rationalized this saying that Owaine was sure to have a buck's night at the tavern. Once Pellinore got word that the wedding was being moved up, that is.

Cassie made her way through the castle after checking up on Mary, wandering about without really thinking about where she was going. She found herself going to the Noble's Wing and decided to go say goodnight to him. She made her way over and knocked softly on the door so the others wouldn't be disturbed.

"Cassie!" Owaine said lowly, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Owaine. Can't a girl come and say goodnight to the man of her dreams?" Cassie teased, lifting an eyebrow and a smile playing at her lips.

"She can. You can't. There's always an ulterior motive with you, Cassie. So what is it tonight; a kiss, perhaps something more?" he teased back just as provocative wrapping an arm around the smaller girl's waist.

"I want children. As fast as we can. So, I wrote your Mother, told her I was thinking about moving the wedding up. I didn't tell her we were going to; I also didn't ask permission. Customs here are just so different from back in Reccopolis, but I did tell her I was thinking about it." Cassie said quickly, still standing in the doorway and looking up at him

"Well, we'll have to start trying right away! Come on!" he said leading her further in the door.

'Owaine!" Cassie whispered, effectively scandalized. "Shall I write again and tell her it was just a silly thought? I know how much work goes into planning a wedding, at least in Reccopolis, and the guests and everything. I don't really know who's going, apart from Gwen, Morgana, Gaius, maybe Merlin and Prince Arthur-I know a rather long shot, but Morgana said it would be okay if I invited him. Unless you would rather I didn't? I haven't sent any invitations out. I haven't even met your moth-" Cassie ranted, stopping Owaine in his tracks and disentangling herself from his arms. She was worrying her hands when Owaine stepped up to her and quieted her by kissing her softly.

"Don't worry, Cassie. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear you want to move up the wedding. My sister wrote to me the other day, she was visiting my parents with her husband and said that Mother was overdoing it with the preparations, especially since it was so far away. She's excited to meet you. My whole family is." he said, taking her in his arms again and leaning down to kiss her once more.

"Really? She's excited to meet me?" Cassie asked nervously, her face lighting up with joy and expectation.

"Really, Mother and Father both are. Now, can we get to making babies?" Owaine asked with a silly smile on his face. He knew there was no way she would do anything with this much excitement.

"Honestly! Is that the only thing on your mind Owaine?! We have to think about guests and-oh no. meeting your family. I know Pell, but he's just so different from you. What if the rest of your family are too. What if they don't like me." Cassie asked, growing more upset by the moment.

"Could you two take it into Owaine's rooms. Please? I have been up for the past eighty-four hours with no sleep at all, and quite frankly, you're getting pretty loud. I was having a hard enough time getting to sleep and then you two began." Sir Leon said, more than slightly annoyed.

"Sorry, Leon. Here's a sleeping draught. I usually carry one around for Mor- sorry Lady Morgana, just in case she needs it, but she didn't tonight." Cassie apologized, blushing in embarrassment and handing him the small vial. Leon took it and opened it to smell it.

"It's really not that bad. Smells worse than it tastes, I promise. You just have t-" Cassie said, cutting off when she saw Leon shrug and drink it whole. "Oh no." Cassie said, deflating a little.

"What?" Leon slurred, before his eyes closed and he fell to the ground. If Owaine hadn't been close enough to catch him, Leon would have had a nasty bruise on his bum in the morning.

"Grab his legs, help me take him into his room." Owaine instructed.

"Sure."

The two carried/dragged Owaine into his rooms and helped him onto his bed.

"He looks so much younger when he sleeps." Cassie observed, tilting her head to one side.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go back to my room, make sure we don't annoy anyone else." Owaine said, hiding his jealousy with amusement at annoying the older knight.

When they were in his room, the door closed firmly behind them, Owaine turned to his betrothed and looked deep into her eyes, hand on her dainty shoulders.

"They will love you. All of them. They love you already, from what Pellinore and I have told them. I'm pretty sure they'll love you even more when Ellie speaks to them in a few days about how you helped her through her pregnancy.""

"But they'll never love all of me." Cassie said sadly, looking down at the floor with tears dancing in her eyes.

"I love all of you, Cassie." Owaine told her, lifting her chin up to look into her eyes.

"But you don't know all of me." she whispered tearfully.

"I don't need to. I love you, Casiopea. Your talents, your secrets, all of it." Owaine told her lovingly.

"I want to tell you. Everything. I'm just afraid… I'm afraid you won't… think of me the same after."

"Come here, lambkin. I will always love you, nothing can change that." he said, kissing her deeply.

When the two finally stepped away from the embrace, breathing hard, Cassie looked up at him and took off her necklace. She went over to his table and pricked her finger with his dagger and ran the blood over the trunk, then put the trunk on the floor.

"Can you lock the door?" she asked quietly, bringing the magic forward and saying the words to open the trunk: "Be min æðeling, geopene ond forþgelæde"

"No wonder you never let that necklace out of your sight." Owaine breathed out, trying to joke and lighten the mood after his initial shock.

He was still getting used to seeing magic. Especially if it wasn't outside the city gates or in the privacy of her chambers.

Cassie knelt by the open trunk and rifled through it until she found what she was looking for. A signet ring, bearing the Coat of Arms of the royal family of Hispania and Septimania. Cassie kneeled there looking at it, memories flooding her, tears sliding down her face and hand slightly shaking. She took a deep breath and motioned for Owaine to come closer.

"This ring belonged to my father Reccared." she began, holding the ring out for Owaine to take, "He was King of Reccopolis, co-King with his brother Hermenegild until he converted to Chalcedonian Christianity. My grandfather was a great King, but he was stubborn and when his son betrayed him by converting he had him imprisoned. He sent him communion from a bishop. An Arian one, mind you, so my uncle refused to take it and my grandfather had him beheaded. You can see why I'm so wary of Uther." Cassie joked, trying not to get too caught up in the emotions.

"My grandfather died the year after my uncle, and the next year, my father died. My eldest brother, Liuva II, assumed the throne. That was almost twenty-one years ago. And then, last year… with the brute Mistovij who went in and killed every last one of my people…" Cassie said, not caring anymore to hide the tears.

"I gathered all the precious and valuable items I could. I tend to wake up before dawn to watch the sun rise, so I found them. All of them. Every guard, soldier, servant, woman, child. All murdered. I was in such a shock that I didn't even scream. I went about collecting all I could from the vaults, the jewellery from my sisters' rooms and mine. My mother's. Everything. I had to take the signet ring off my brother's finger. I couldn't-I wouldn't leave anything for them to take." Cassie said firmly.

"Last week it would have been my sister's, Ermeneburga- we would call her Erme, it would have been her birthday. I waited until it was nearly three in the morning, and I used this-" Cassie took out a bowl of copper out of the trunk and showed Owaine, "to scry. To look and see what was happening there. I know the new King. At least who he is. Witteric. My brother trusted him, gave him command of the army against the Byzantines. And he would see his seat filled, his faith returned… forced upon the rest of the-of my people. He is a cruel ruler. He sacked everything, trying to find what doesn't belong to him. To find what I have here." she finished placing a hand on the trunk.

"Cass. Why didn't you just show this to Uther. He would have accepted you into his Court. Made you a Lady. You're a princess! You shouldn't be working as a servant or an apprentice. You should-"

"Owaine." Cassie interrupted, raising a hand to cup his cheek. "What would he have done. Say 'I'm sorry you lost your family and your Kingdom. Have a place among my nobility.' He is untrusting at best, at worst, he would have laughed at me and spurned me. I don't deserve to be a noble." she muttered dejectedly

"I'm a coward. I ran away from my Kingdom, my people. And now, I have never felt more at home. Not even with my family did I feel this comfortable and happy. The citizens were only my people because it was what my mother and brother told me, not because I saw them as such. Not completely. I loved them, but not how I love the people of Camelot. It's too hard to explain." Cassie said, giving up on explaining and throwing her hands up in defeat.

"Cassie, you will be a noble. After we marry, you will be Lady Casiopea. And this nonsense, about you not being worthy, about you being a coward. I have never met a person more pure-hearted, more brave. Cassie you are worthy. Don't ever doubt that and don't ever doubt yourself again!" Owaine said with such passion in his voice that Cassie couldn't help but start to feel better.

"Here, this ring belongs on your finger, it's a part of you." he said, putting it on her finger.

"A big part and you shouldn't deny it. You don't have to tell anyone, but don't deny this part of you. It only makes you weaker if you do. Embrace it, Cassie, you will be stronger for it." Owaine said, standing up and offering Cassie a hand up.

Once they both stood, Owaine put the copper bowl back in the trunk and closed it.

"Do your magic, glowy-eyed thingy and make it a necklace again." Owaine told her, waving his hands around while trying to find the words. So she closed the trunk and whispered the words: "Be min æðeling, betȳn ond scrinc." The trunk glowed faintly, along with her eyes, and began to shrink. When it was back down to miniature size, Cassie threaded the chain through the clasp at the top and put it back around her neck.

"You'll always be royal, Cassie. No matter what you say, or what happens. You. Are. A. Princess." Owaine told her, punctuating each word with a kiss on her lips. He walked her to his door and they kissed deeply once more; Cassie's hands twining in his hair as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to the wall.

She deepened the kiss, welcoming his tongue and pulling herself even closer to him. Owaine responded in kind, holding her even closer to him, and moaning softly. His hands trailed down her back and to her legs, where she jumped up for him to hold her up. He pushed her against the wall, their lips never parting, and used the wall to hold her up while they kissed fervently. After a few moments in that position, Owaine tired of it and carried her over to his bed where he lay on his back and kept Cassie on top of him. She could feel him growing harder, and it sent a shiver of pleasure through her very core. In the moment, she couldn't care less for decorum or promises made under the stare years ago. She wanted him badly. Cassie started to increase their friction, grinding hard and never stopping their kiss.

Their moans started coming quicker as both wanted more than anything to make love then and there, but a knock on the door burst the little bubble and Cassie moved off him reluctantly, as they both got up and straightened themselves out before he opened the door. Cassie turned towards the window, opening it to allow the cool night air to clear her cheeks before she turned to see who was at the door. It was the squire Owaine was training. 'Más bien un mosso que un escudero.' she thought to herself, hating the interruption. Owaine quickly dismissed him, saying he had done a fair job and giving him the timetable for tomorrow.

"I should go now. I've to check up on Mary tomorrow morning." Cassie said rather shyly. "But we'll talk tomorrow. About what I came here for?" Cassie asked timidly, looking up through her eyelashes while she emphasized the word 'talk'.

"As you wish, my Lady. As for children, I want a big family, Cassie. It seems you do too. Mother will most likely write back saying she would love for the wedding to be sooner." Owaine whispered lovingly against her ear, his hot breath sending shivers down her spine, reawakening the desires she had been feeling not a minute ago.

"I love you, my Knight" Cassie whispered back as farewell.

"Goodnight, my Love, my Lady. Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodbye till it be morrow!" he said, taking a flower from the vase and handing it to her with a bow.

Post chapter A/N The first spell reads: By my royal blood, open and grow. The second spell reads: By my royal blood, close and shrink. Okay, with the Reccared thingy and his family and reign and all, super artistic license, like practically only his name and the fact that he converted to Catholicism is true. Hermenegild is reccared's older brother. He ruled the south, i think and he was converted to chalcedonian christiantiy and then he revolted and fell out with his father. Liuvivgild is Reccared's father- so he's Cassie's father too. And I'm assuming that reccared had more than one child, and I think I read somewhere that he also had plenty of illegitimate children, but...I got confused writing it, so if you get confused reading it, let me know and I'll try to do better next chapter! Keep that in mind guys! Also, I seriously couldn't help but add that line from the Bard's amazing tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. You've already read, so now review, tell me where I'm going wrong, what I'm doing fine and what you liked (if any of it!).