Chapter 62 A/N I don't own Merlin.
"I'm so excited for your mother's birthday, Owaine." Cassie said in the morning two weeks later.
"I know she is too. Although, it's just you she wants to see, not me." Owaine replied jokingly.
"Oh, you…"Cassie said, giggling slightly and playfully shoving his arm.
"Me." he replied, quickly grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it gently. "I love you."
"We say that a lot." Cassie said with a beaming smile, getting up and sitting on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him on the nose.
"I think we don't say it enough."
"Yes, well you're quite the romantic, aren't you?" Cassie replied glibly, looking towards the door when there was a knock.
"I'll get it."
"Okay." Cassie said, smiling lazily as she let him stand up to go and open the door.
"Oh, I can come back later, Cassie." Morgana said nervously from the door frame as she looked in to see them sitting down to breakfast.
"Please, stay. I was just heading out to training anyway, my Lady. Sir Achard would have my head if I didn't go today." Owaine said, smiling widely at her and turning back to his wife. "Dinner?"
"Definitely, I'll probably be busy with my rounds for lunch. Bye, my Knight. I love you."
"Love you too, you hopeless romantic." he said, winking at Morgana. "Morgana."
"Goodbye, Sir Owaine." she said sweetly, walking into the room and watching as he closed the door.
"Are you okay, Morgana?" Cassie asked, her smile faltering as she noticed the dark circles under her friend's eyes.
"No." she said with a heavy sigh, sitting where Owaine had previously been and looking expectantly at Cassie.
"Have you had breakfast? I haven't started mine, we could share." Cassie said, pulling the plate closer.
"I already ate." Morgana said, a thankful smile on her face, nonetheless.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Cassie asked, squeezing her friend's hand and popping a piece of meat in her mouth as she waited patiently for Morgana to tell her.
"I had a nightmare last night. It was Arthur. He was with a girl and she had her hand held up while he drowned." Morgana said shakily
"Do you know the girl? Perhaps it was just a dream. I have some really strange dreams sometimes." Cassie said, handing her a goblet of water and rubbing soothing circles on her back. "And there's always a dragon in it for some reason."
"No, I've never seen her before." Morgana replied, taking a sip and smiling at her friend.
"Maybe you just made it up. Stranger things have happened. Fancy a ride before we leave?" Cassie asked with a smile.
"No, thank you. I have other things to do. Uther wants me to finish the damn needlework by month's end."
"And you've barely started?" Cassie asked with a small, knowing smile. "I can help, you know. I'm quite good at it. Mother made us all learn. Hours on end in the garden and pinpricks on my fingers to prove that." Cassie said, standing up and holding out her arm for Morgana to take as she'd finished her breakfast.
"Are you sure? I'm sure you'll be rather busy on your trip." Morgana replied with a suggestive smile as they walked down the corridors to her chambers.
"Morgana, I am positive. Although the technique and pattern might turn out slightly differently, I've admired some of the tapestries hanging here and it's not the same as the ones in the Palace in Hispania."
"Cassie, I doubt that Uther would notice." Morgana said with a roll of her eyes as they entered her chambers and she rifled through some papers on her desk.
"You have a good portion of it done, I would just need to finish the hind quarters and the tail and then do the foliage by its feet. Not a problem. What's he want this for, anyway?"
"Pillow covering. I said it would be better for the royal seamstress or someone else to do it, but he said I had to." Morgana said, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
"Can I borrow the embroidery hoop?" Cassie asked, pointing to the discarded hoop and all the thread.
"Thank you, Cassie." Morgana said brightly, her mood giddy now that she didn't have to do the needlework. "I find this is rather like busy work. I don't particularly like it."
"I find it calming. I'll finish this and give it to you in two weeks, 'Gana." Cassie said with a smile, hugging her quickly before turning to leave.
"Have a good trip!" Morgana told her happily.
"Help me with this dress?" Cassie asked, walking over to the screen and floating one of her silk dresses over.
"Why are you changing? You look beautiful." he asked, eying her as she slowly dropped the dress she was wearing to pool at her feet.
"Well, you may like the way I look now, but I'm sure the Ladies of the Court would hate me if I were to go out like this." Cassie said teasingly, rolling her eyes playfully at him.
"I know the Lords and Knights would love you if you were to go out like this. But I'll have them know that you're all mine!" he growled playfully, his lips crushing against the back of her neck and kissing her hungrily.
"I may be all yours, Owaine, but I don't want to be branded just before going to your family's lands." Cassie said, grabbing his hands and moving them back to her laces.
"Yes, my Queen." he sighed, dropping her hair back to where it was and tying off her laces.
"Good, you've learned. No more 'lessons' in broom closets for you, then." Cassie said with a lecherous wink.
"Are you saying they'll be in alcoves now?" he asked with a comical grin.
"No, I will win our game." Cassie said with a smile, closing her trunk and shrinking it back down to size.
"You know we'll be taking a carriage, no need for that."
"Yes, but we'd still need to take two because I have too much to take, and you do too. You have way too many shirts." Cassie said with a smile quirking her lips up.
"And you have way too many shoes and dresses and chemises and nightgowns, and-"
"Okay, I get it, Owaine." Cassie said, interrupting him before he could continue and throwing one of said nightgowns at him. "You don't seem to complain when I wear them, though."
"Lambkin, you could walk around in rags all day and I won't complain." he said, throwing it back at her.
"Yes, you would complain. Remember after we had our first kiss? You complained nonstop. I would have torn it off if it weren't so cold out, but you still complained."
"Because you were obviously uncomfortable, and I hate it when my beautiful wife is uncomfortable." he said, walking up behind her and kissing her neck again, gently this time. "Besides, I knew the Knights were looking for us, and I did not want them ogling those beautiful legs of yours."
"What is it with men's obsession with legs? I don't actually see what drives them crazy. I mean the rears I can completely get, you have a nice one. But legs?" Cassie asked, throwing up her hands and turning around to look up at him.
"Well," he started to say, his gaze traveling down her body as his hands went to pick up her leg and pushed her against the bedpost gently. "It's not that complicated. It starts here, with the delicate feet, and up past the ankles and the soft curve of the lower leg. My favorite part has to be just here, teasing at what you called the 'rear.'" he whispered into her ear, letting his hands travel up her leg and under her skirt. "Although, that really does depend on the person looking, and who's leg it is." he continued, smiling as she gasped lightly at his teasing fingers working their way closer to her nether regions. "Some like it better here, but those men only have one thing on the mind... I'm lying, it's really all we have on our minds, we're rather simple beings."
"Owaine, we don't have time…" she started, biting her lip as his fingers found their target and began rubbing circles on the sensitive bunch of nerves.
"You were saying?" he asked triumphantly at her arousing moans.
"That we don't have time, Pellinore and Ellie are waiting for us." she said breathlessly, her hands reluctantly stopping him from his actions. "But we can find a moment to get away when they set up camp. I'll go for water and you for firewood?" she asked, her eyes dark with arousal and her breathing heavy as she subconsciously dropped her hands and let him continue.
"Or they could just wait?" he suggested, pumping a finger into her and kissing her passionately.
"Mmm, you are very convincing, my Knight." Cassie groaned out, letting her magic lock the door and falling with him onto the bed.
"Took you two long enough!" Pellinore said annoyedly an hour later. "We'll be late tomorrow."
"Relax, darling. They're not expecting us so early anyway." Ellie said placatingly, a delicate hand on his shoulder and a wide, knowing smile on her face. "Help me up?" she said, rolling her eyes at her husband.
"Told you so." Cassie said quietly with a triumphant smile, holding her hand out so he would help her up as well. "Oh, hand me the embroidery."
"Yes, my love." Owaine breathed out, ignoring his brother's snickers as he opened the trunk and handed it to her, making sure it was all locked securely.
"You're so whipped." he said when Owaine climbed up front with him.
"Shut up, Pell. You were worse when you married Elle."
"Still is!" Ellie called out, bouncing the laughing baby on her lap. "Isn't that right, darling?"
"How is it possible that she's gotten so big so quickly?" Cassie asked with a fond smile as they began to move.
"I don't know. It's like one day she's this small, and the next I can barely hold her." Ellie agreed, making silly faces at her baby girl. "I thought the Lady Morgana was supposed to do the embroidery for that."
"You said it, Ellie. Supposed to. She doesn't really like needlework, but I love it. I find it so relaxing."
"You'd better hope it's good enough. The King wants the pillow for his crown."
"Morgana somehow managed to forget to mention that." Cassie said with a nervous smile. "It was good enough in Hispania, it'll be good enough here."
"I can't tell if that's meant to be insulting or not?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?" Cassie replied with a bright smile.
"Telling. Definitely." Ellie said, fawning over her daughter while Cassie worked on the embroidery.
"It's time to nurse her, my Lady." Ellie's wet nurse said, holding her hands out for the crying baby a few hours later.
"Thank you, Bea." Ellie said, handing her daughter over and turning to talk to Cassie in the meantime, both of them gossiping idly as they trudged on.
The party made camp once the sun was too low in the sky for them to safely continue, Cassie and Owaine going for the water and firewood like she'd suggested before they left, coming back empty-handed and red-faced, not noticing that Pellinore had gotten the firewood and the water in their stead. The following day was much like that one, Ellie and Cassie gossiping idly in the carriage while the wetnurse worked on some knitting and the two men joked lightly while driving the carriage.
"Morrigan! Urien! How are you?" Ellie asked as they stepped off the carriage with Pellinore's help.
"Wonderful, Ellie. Let me see my grandchild!" Morrigan replied happily, holding out her arms for baby Ellie and kissing her daughter-in-law on the cheek.
"So...any grandchildren on the way?" Urien asked his son teasingly.
"No, not yet." Owaine said, grasping his father's forearm.
"Though not for lack of trying." Pellinore cut in, a smile that said 'there's more of that where it came from' clear on his face.
"Shut up, Pell." Owaine said, not meeting his glaring wife's eye.
"Cassie! Come, there's much to talk about, let's go to the pond out back." Morrigan said, taking one of her hands and all but dragging her through the manor with Ellie trailing behind and baby Ellie held in her arms.
"Good morning, my Queen." Owaine said, smiling down at her and kissing her cheek softly a week and a half later.
"Good morning, my love. Last night was quite fun you know." she said, turning around and kissing his nose.
"It was for me too. Mother really loved your present. When did you have time to do it?"
"I don't just talk all day, you know. Between my rounds and everything that happened with Morgana and Edwin I didn't have much time the last few days, but I've been working on it since before." Cassie answered as she watched his hand trace patterns on her bare stomach.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You never asked. It's not like I hid it, you just never asked what I was working on. Too busy thinking about other ways to entertain me." Cassie answered with a seductive laugh, her hand wrapping around his head and pulling him closer to kiss her.
"So, what are your plans for today?" he asked an hour later, hugging her close to him.
"I was planning on going out to the village for a bit, seeing Alex and then I was just going to go sit in the gardens and work on the embroidery with your sisters for company." Cassie answered placidly, kissing his forearm.
"It seems there are still things I don't know about you, my love." he said, nibbling her earlobe.
"So it seems, Owaine. But we need to dress for the day and if we stay like this, I'm afraid I'll never want to leave."
"Where's the problem with that?" he asked huskily, kissing the back of her neck.
"The problem is I promised your sisters we'd spend time together today. Come on, my love. Get up." Cassie commanded, gently detangling herself from his embrace and disappearing behind the screen.
"Do you want breakfast here, or do you wish it in the gardens?" Owaine asked after he haphazardly threw on his tunic and trousers and sat on the bed to tie on his boots.
"I think the gardens. Your brothers are probably expecting you for training anyways. Need to keep those skills as sharp as that sword, now don't we?" Cassie told him with a small smile as she gathered her hair and pinned it up loosely in front of the small vanity mirror.
"I think I'd be safer if my skills were as sharp as your tongue, my Lady. I've yet to find a sharper wit in all of Camelot."
"I don't know, Merlin and Morgana certainly do give me a run for my money, don't you think?" she asked, smiling when he grunted in response and tied the sword belt to his waist.
"Can't we just say you're sick or we're busy trying to give them a grandchild?" Owaine asked, stopping her from reaching the door by wrapping his arm around her waist and holding her to him.
"No, because then they'll think that's all we do. And it's not."
"Lambkin, they already think that. Why not prove them right?" Owaine replied against her ear, his hot breath sending waves of arousal to her core.
"No, we cannot. Come on, I want to spend some time with Alex and Taran for a while. You should get to training and then do whatever it is you do all day in Camelot."
"You mean other than pine for you?" he asked with a pout.
"Yes, I mean other than pine for me. What do you do all day in Camelot?"
"Training for me, then I oversee the younger squires' warm up, then I goof off with Pellinore and Bruin for a few hours, then more training, then, depending on the day, I either oversee the guards' patrols or do whatever is asked of me." he answered with a shrug, taking her arm and walking out to the gardens, telling a passing servant they wanted breakfast outside before continuing.
"Much like my day, except I spend much more time 'goofing off' with Morgana and Gwen than you do." Cassie said thoughtfully.
"Are you really going to do the whole pillow for Morgana? It is her duty, you know."
"I don't mind. It relaxes me and when I'm alone it's a good way to release my magic. Edurne taught me this when we first met, she used to say that being able to direct my magic into something so repetitive and structured would help with the control and volatility. The concentration at moving the needle so precisely is good practice and it gives my magic some room for creativity. Although I will definitely do this one by hand. ¡No voy a dar papaya!" she said, shaking her head slightly.
"I don't know what that means, but I absolutely love the way you said it." Owaine said with a chuckle, kissing her brow gently before pulling her chair out and waiting for her to be seated.
"I can't actually explain it, it's just a saying." Cassie told him with a quick smile.
"I love you." he said with a chuckle as their food arrived and they began to eat. "So, what do you think's going on in Camelot right now? Another plague? Assassin? Monster?"
"It does seem that there's an attack at least monthly. Sometimes twice a month. And I thought my brothers were danger magnets. BIG mistake." Cassie said, smiling as Mor and Alys walked over to them with a wide smile, Mor's hand playing with the healthy swell of her belly.
"I can already tell you're going to be one very overbearing father, Mor." Owaine teased, winking at his brother.
"Ha ha. I'm just here to leave Alys with your lovely wife, brother. And to drag you to training, now. See if they've whipped you into shape yet, or if all those lazy mornings in bed have gotten to you." he replied, winking at him the same way while their wives just shook their heads saying, 'boys.'
"Cassie? Can we talk? In confidence?" Alys asked nervously after a long, uncomfortable silence.
"Of, course, Alys." Cassie said with a sweet smile, putting the embroidery down on her lap and looking at her newest sister.
"I want you here for the birth. I mean, I trust Adalberto and all, but I'd still like for it to be you who delivers my child. Especially since you're a big part of how far along I've gotten."
"Alys, nothing would make me happier. Except maybe a child of my own, but that's another two cents." Cassie said with a soft smile.
"Thank you. Truly." she said with a relieved sigh, her smile wide and bright. "There's something else, though."
"What is it?"
"I-I know sometimes it's normal. And there's still three months until I'm due. I-I've been having pains. Mor doesn't know. No one does. I've only just started feeling them last night, but I thought it had something to do with what I ate. But there was blood this morning."
"Alys, come on. We need privacy for this. You should have gone to Adalberto. It's not normal to feel pains at this stage and bleeding is even less normal." Cassie said softly, leaving the embroidery on the table and taking her hand gently, going into the manor and then the nearest room.
"D-do you want me on the bed?" she asked as she saw the younger blonde begin to pace indecisively.
"Y-yes, you should lay back slowly." Cassie said, her eyes tearing up as her resolve hardened behind her eyes. "Alys, you said this would be in confidence, right?" she asked quietly, looking into Alys's eyes searchingly, sighing softly at the nod from her. "I have magic. I-I need to use it to make sure nothing's wrong, that you haven-haven't lost the baby. I won't use it if you're uncomfortable with it. Do you trust me?" she asked, her voice catching.
"You have magic?" she breathed, her eyes not leaving Cassie's as she processed everything. "D-do it, please. I can't lose another child."
"I will do all I can, I swear." Cassie said softly, her heart hammering in her chest as she let the sincerity show in her eyes.
Cassie closed her eyes, took deep breaths and placed her hand gently on Alys's lower belly, opening them to see the aura around them. She then let her instincts take over, clearing her mind and letting her magic flow into her friend to fortify her womb. "Gehælan, ymbtryme." (spell says: to heal, fortify).
"Cassie?" Alys asked uncertainly, feeling the warmth in her lower abdomen once she uttered the words. "Please tell me." she begged with wet eyes.
"Your children are safe, now." Cassie said, with a shy smile, one that didn't meet her eyes as she nervously asked, "Am I?"
"I won't even tell Mor. Thank you, Cassie." Alys said before she caught onto something else. "Children?"
"Twins. Did you fall recently?"
"I slipped going up the stairs, but nothing happened. All I did was hit my knee." Alys said, biting her lower lip as her emotions welled up inside her, leaving her completely confused.
"It might have been the shock, or the sudden jolty movement. Alys, you have to be more careful." Cassie said, sitting on the bed beside her and looking out the window.
"I-I'll tell Mor that we should stay in one of the rooms down here. Twins?!" she asked, waving off her concern as a small smile graced her features.
"I can see their aura. One of them has a dark blue, and the other one has a deep red. Yours is like those orange-y flowers near the roses."
"The ones with the fleshy petals?"
"The very ones." Cassie said with a nervous smile, her heart still hammering in her chest as her fear changed into excitement and happiness at the news.
"Twins?" she repeated, her eyes gleaming happily. "C-can you tell if they're two boys, or two girls, or a boy and a girl?"
"No, I can't. I'm sorry." Cassie said.
"Sorry?! I'm having twins!" she said happily, practically jumping off the bed and enveloping the sitting Cassie in a tight hug. "I did wonder why I got so big so quickly."
"Twins also generally come earlier. I'll convince Ellie and Pell to travel a couple weeks earlier so we can be here." Cassie said nonchalantly.
"Does Owaine know? About your…"
"Yes, he does. Unless I've forgotten something, he knows me completely."
"I guess I don't have a good sense of him, then. I thought he feared magic as much as everyone else at Uther's Court."
"He was. I mean he did. He didn't actually find out for a long time. I didn't actually tell him, though. There was too much wind to keep the fire going and the clothes were wet and we were really cold and I thought he was sleeping so I just sort of lit the fire." Cassie rambled on happily, standing up and hooking her arm through Alys's gently, leading her out to where they'd been sitting earlier and collecting the embroidery to go to the gardens, talking happily all along as she was finally able to talk to someone other than Owaine about her magic.
"Hello, you two. We almost couldn't find you." Morrigan called as she neared them, a wide smile on her face as two servants brought a canopy large enough for them to sit under so they could spend the rest of the day where they were. "I was thinking about having a small picnic out here for lunch. Just us, no men." she added as explanation when the servants had finished setting up the white canopy and left.
"We would love that. Cassie was just telling me about how she used to spend her days with the princesses in Hispania in the gardens." Alys said, not seeing the hurt flash across Cassie's face.
"That sounds lovely. I shall send for my embroidery as well, the day is beautiful and those flowers look exquisite in this light and angle." Morrigan said as she reached for a bell and rang it thrice.
"My Lady?" the young servant girl asked with a deep curtsy.
"Bring me my embroidery case and some drinks for us all." Morrigan said kindly to the girl.
"Yes, my Lady." she replied, curtsying once again and turning around slowly.
"Oh, bring me my sketchbook, and the charcoal pencils." Ellie added quickly with a smile of gratitude to the girl.
"Yes, my Lady. I will be back shortly." she said, curtsying once more and turning to go back to the manor, quicker this time so they wouldn't ask her for something else.
"She's new. She'll tire of the constant curtsying and it won't be so deep." Alys said with a tinkling laugh as she saw Cassie's perplexed expression.
"Did you ever tire of curtsying? When you worked in the palace in Hispania, I mean." Ellie asked curiously, looking at her.
"I-uh…" Cassie said, making a rash decision and telling the truth, damning the consequences. "I didn't actually work in the palace. I lived there, and I did do the younger princess' hair, but that's only a partial truth." Cassie admitted, looking out across the garden.
"Why would you lie?" Morrigan asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.
"Because the truth isn't something I'm proud of." Cassie said quietly, twisting her pinky after letting the embroidery fall onto her lap.
"Did you think we would judge you?" Alys asked softly, wondering if she was going to say something about her magic to them, and thinking her slightly foolish. Ellie did live in the city, and she wasn't sure what Ellie's thoughts were on magic.
"Not more than I judge myself, no." Cassie said, turning to look her mother-in-law in the eye. "I am the youngest princess." she said quietly, tears welling in her eyes as the memories fought their way to the forefront of her mind.
"Darling, I'm so sorry." Morrigan said softly, moving over to wrap her arms around the girl's shaking shoulders and kissing her temple.
"My oldest brother was the King, he'd promised me to another man the night he died. When I saw them all…I couldn't take it. I ran. I abandoned my people, left them without a leader, left them in the hands of a tyrant. I knew I was their Queen, I just couldn't bring myself to stay." Cassie said dully.
"Why didn't you tell King Uther?"
"Because I renounced any right I had to a title when I ran away. Besides, I didn't actually want anyone to know. You and Owaine are the only ones I told this to. And Gaius." Cassie told them with tears in her eyes.
"Why tell us? You could have gone without telling us ever." Ellie asked.
"Because I hated lying to you. Because I recently realized that having someone else to confide in was liberating." she said, looking straight at Alys.
"Why not tell the Lady Morgana and Guinevere?"
"I don't know. I suppose I wasn't ready. I only told you because you brought up my time in Hispania. It's not something I like to talk about." Cassie said, fingering the trunk and her signet ring that lay gently between her collarbones.
"Is that your seal?" Morrigan asked as if she only just noticed the necklace.
"Yes, my father's seal. And my brother's as well. I couldn't bear the thought of someone else with it." Cassie said, twirling it around her fingertip.
"I'm glad you told us, Cassie. We'll keep your secret." Alys said, taking her hand and squeezing it slightly.
"Adalberto and his family know. He recognised me all those months ago, when I first came here."
"If I had been in your position, I wouldn't have had the strength to run. I'd have stayed there in a trance after seeing so much carnage." Ellie said softly, quieting down when the servant girl came back with her sketchbook tucked under her arm, a tray of drinks, and Morrigan's embroidery case in hand. "Thank you, Beatrice."
"Yes, my Lady," she said, curtsying and walking a respectful distance away, far enough to not hear anything they were speaking about.
"Have you ever thought of going back?" Morrigan asked.
"Everytime I do I see them all. My brothers, my sisters, my nieces and nephews and all the servants and townspeople. It was horrible, I don't think I could bear going back. And I don't want to. Not now I have a family here." she said, holding her tears back.
"Cassie, I'm really sorry for everything you've been through." Morrigan said, moving closer to her and wrapping her arm around her. "I understand exactly why you left, and I'm glad you did, because if you hadn't then my son wouldn't be so happy. You're the best thing that's ever happened to him. And I love you for it."
"Really?" Cassie asked as the tears fell down her face.
"Really, you're my daughter now, and it doesn't matter to me who you were before." she said softly, giving her a gentle kiss and going back to where she had been sitting before. "You might be able to finish that pillow, we're going to be out here all day."
"I will, Morrigan." she replied with a wide smile, going back to her embroidery lighter than she'd been in months.