OffSpring | ✎

Chapter LXXII

Chapter Seventy-Two | Your Heartbeat
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"Well, I assume this leaves me to nanny duty," Kyri sounds off behind us.

My attention swings to her figure as she strides toward Delano and me from the other side of the room, her presence momentarily forgotten throughout our interaction. My cheeks flush with embarrassment at the thought of her being an onlooker. I shake a few flyaways to cover my cheeks, turning to face her fully. Cassius and Adelia were cradled together in her arms sound asleep due to the length of our practice.

"Which I don't mind," she smiles, coming to stand before us and adjusting the diaper bag along her shoulder.

I reach forward to take Cassius, our transition swift and quick, careful not to wake him. "Are you sure? If I would have known something like this would pop up, I would have summoned Audrey and we wouldn't have been here as long." I ramble.

She waves her free hand, dismissively. "It's fine! I wish to spend time with my niece and nephew."

Delano takes a step forward, urging for his daughter as Kyri passes her to him. I watch as the same gentleness that appears in his eyes when they land upon my own being forms the second she's laid into his arms; his face dips to press a kiss onto her cheek and neck, his nose flaring as he inhales her scent. My heart fills with warmth at the sight.

"Well," I start up after a moment, "we need to stop by the room for a quick wardrobe change for myself, so, Delano and I will walk along with you."

"That's fine with me."

Her words linger as we exit the training room, passing over the threshold. A coolness that lives within the manor glides over my exposed skin. Delano's wandering gaze plays a record in my thoughts as I try to configure what ideas his eyes portrayed of me at that moment. The silence granted between us leaves me to dive further into my thoughts as a hint of anxiety begins to sink in the wedges of my chest, the simple thought of actually accompanying him to a meeting with others like us.

This is something I've wished for. To be included in the commencing of how to handle the foreseen threat that hangs over the kingdom. 'So why..'

A weight that has made home on my shoulders returns. I gently roll them as if the mental weight pressing them down was physically bounded. The walk back to the bedroom didn't dawdle on for too long as we curved a corner and down a familiar hallway, the twinkle of the night-lit sky shining through the curtains. The twins woke shortly before we reached the door.

Kyri reaches the door handle before I can, ushering us inside. I make my way towards the twin's crib, Cassius coos as I settle him down, my fingers caressing the bloat of his cheek that breaks with a salvia-covered grin. Delano's presence evades the bubble between the both of us as he sets Adelia down as well. His warmth momentarily causes me to lose focus. No matter the length of time he's near me, I tend to lose a sense of reality, his smell clogging my pores.

He's becoming more and more irresistible.

"I think they need their diaper changes," I say aloud to bring myself back to planet now.

Delano suddenly cuts his gaze to glance at me all while Adelia takes the chance to declare her father's hand as a new teething toy. He sizes me for a moment, those eyes glittering with emotion. Before he could conjure any words, Kyri's smaller frame wedges between us.

"I'll take care of it, with Delano's help of course," she announces, coming around to place the diaper bag down beside the changing table.

A very unusual noise between a snort and laughter escapes at the sudden shift in his features. Though I don't fault him for the look particularly, the times he had come around to help when his duties weren't such pressing matters. The light knocks on the door in the middle of the night after enduring minutes to hours of struggling to get the twins to sleep through the night.