The moment she walked in I was glad I was sitting on the armchair; I would've dropped to my knees at the sight I saw.
A dress of royal blue hugged my mate, silk fabric wrapping around her shoulders, chest and middle before pooling into skirts, mixed with chiffon fabric the same colour. Gold stitching circling the bottom, which rested inches above the ground, sparkling slippers on her feet. Golden eyes bright, more obvious with the kohl lining her eyes, cosmetics across her bronze-tanned face, and cheeks a soft pink. Bronze hair in curly waves down her back, on either side a fancy braid being pulled together to meet, golden star combs pushed into her hair. Shadows whirring around her to finish.
Ciana never truly understood how much of a rare beauty she was. How much it shocked me to see her every damn time. The golden chains clasped onto her skin glowed with radiance, and I couldn't help admiring the fact the fabric was skin-tight, what it made me think of.
Apparently my brothers were thinking the same, because Mor and Amren let out a collective groan, before the latter said, "This year I really need to be telling you all to rein it in, this is disgusting." Rhysand chuckled, Nyx on his lap with his little babe-face scrunched up in confusion, wearing the exact same clothing as Rhys. Feyre wadded over to her mate, swiping her son into the air, the little boy giggled as he swayed, before Feyre seated herself in his earlier position, and Nyx now sat on her. Rhysand wrapped his arms around his family, joy shone in his eyes, and he deserved every second of happiness he could get.
Nesta smirked at Cassian, sticking to Elain's side, even when he offered a sultry smile. Teasing. I realised. Mor and Amren sat in the corner, picking through various bottles of wine, I didn't really care about that at this moment. I watched Ciana swallow, before making her way hesitantly towards me.
I've missed you, why do you look so shy to see me? I joked, Cia rolled her eyes, her shoulders obviously relaxing. Before she could protest I snaked my hands around her waist, pulling her towards me to sit. Ciana lay her head against my shoulder, and together we assessed the people around us, two Spymasters, through and through.
The scent of cinnamon, wildflowers and rain buried itself up my nose as I rested my cheek against my mate's head, savouring the moment while I could. Cassian leaned forwards from where he sat, hand splayed out to get the wine, but it disappeared. I moved my gaze, immediately seeing the same bottle in Rhys's hand. "Asshole." Cassian muttered, before widening his eyes upon seeing a scowling Feyre, still clutching her son and he corrected, "Twit? Is that better? Prick? Jackass?"
"Mother help you and Nesta when you have children." Elain murmured, Nesta's face turning red with laughter threatening to bubble from her lips. "Every year, Cass." Mor sighed, making a big show of rubbing her temples, "Every year."
"This year, I'm skipping arguments with Mor." Cassian replied, then said to us all collectively, "Should we do presents now?"
"Impatient much, Cass. Sure, of course." Rhysand replied, clicking his tongue, and Nyx clapped with excitement and glee.
Mor went first, throwing random clothing at everyone, mainly jumpers. I managed to catch two fuzzy lime towels, and then a pair of grey woollen socks. "Here you go." I told Ciana , putting them on her lap, she chuckled, "Am I going to carry everything?"
"Only if you want to." I replied, grinning, I could almost sense her eye roll. "Woah!" Nyx gasped, and I strayed my eyes over to him, Mor had handed him an easy puzzle set, Illyrian wings on the face. "Ouch, I'm hurt that my son takes priority." Rhys said jokingly, managing to put a hand to his chest while having two people sitting on him, their gifts deposited to the side of them, Mor gave a shit-eating grin, "What can I say, I've favourites."
Cassian stood abruptly, looking arrogant as he did so, striding out of the room to wherever his presents were. He returned almost immediately, "Females first." He announced, and went to Elain, handing her an interestingly looking flower. "Copying my earlier gift, Cass." Ciana said, snickering above me, Cassian shrugged, "Prettiest flower in the shop, you were right about the female being lovely." He then went and gave a sapphire crescent on a chain to Amren, who nodded in thanks. Stalking towards us, I tensed, gripping my mate tighter, Cassian noticed and smirked, "Hello beautiful." He simpered, I growled, not bothering to hide it. My brother cackled, before dropping something in Ciana's lap, whistling as he turned on his heel. A fine Illyrian dagger was now being weighed in Cia's hands, she admired the gripping and tip, waving it through the air a few times before dropping it at our feet, her form shifting to bend over, I had to bite my lip to stop myself from doing something stupid to her. Maybe later, Boo. Ciana said huskily into my mind, and I gritted my teeth at how my body reacted to her words, the tone.
Cassian went around everyone - I received random vanilla candles, my brother had declared he'd ran out of ideas - before going to his mate, whispering something in her air, that my rounded ears couldn't pick up. Whatever he said made the eldest Archeron's blue-grey eyes darken with lust. "Again, disgusting." Amren grouched, Feyre agreed from across the room. Nyx twisted on her lap and asked, "Can I go now?"
"Of course." Feyre said, smiling brightly.
Nyx returned and gave his parents both a card and his favourite books; the thought was what counted, the two claimed when Mor and Cass teased them. Nyx handed Ciana the sweater with the Night Court insignia stitched on that we'd bought, and he gave me a pillowcase, stars on it. "Thank you, Nyx." I said, and saw my mate beaming as she repeated my words.
Smiles glowed across the room once Nyx had returned to his seat, even Amren's eyes had softened when he gave her a ring with giant diamonds. Feyre and Rhys playfully tackled their son to the couch, before standing themselves, Rhys clicked, and everyone around the room held something. I stared in awe at what was now on Ciana's lap.
Us. A secretive smile on both of our faces as we glanced at each other, happiness flooding every single one of my features, I looked more closely at Cia. This was back before, when we were close but not mates, not true lovers. Back when she was always down, though the smile remained. As though sensing my gaze upon the artwork, Feyre said, "It was one of the first times I saw Ciana smile, and your own smiles were rare, Az. I painted that a few months back, a beautiful thing to capture."
"It's nothing of what I've seen before," I replied, looking up, "Thank you, really." My brother and sister-in-law grinned, and we continued around.
Nesta handed me a book about Shadowsingers, "For further research, if you wanted to find more about the ways you can work together with Ciana, other than your 'mind-speaking'." Then went to give Cia her favourite book series, "Tell me how you go, Gwyn, Emerie and I are going to a cafe in a week, if you've finished by then you can join us and we can chat about it." My mate smiled in thanks, and we had Elain stride to us, one side of her rosebud lips twitching up.
A jar of ground up petals was forced into Ciana's hold, along with a book. "It's to tell you how to turn the flowers into paint," Elain explained, "So you won't need to buy paints so much, and you can just collect flowers and water for your works, or whatever you need for it. I've given the same to my sister if you want to do it with her.
"This is a gift for both of you." Elain said, chuckling uncontrollably, "Though your magic works, Shadowsinger, other forces are stronger, so I have this for you two," I held out my palm, and she dropped two pieces of metal into it. A key, and a lock for it. Elain turned red as she added, "For when you two want to..."
Ciana began to cough, and brought the attention of the rest of the room. Mor sauntered over and gave her a glass of wine, which Cia gulped down greedily. "Thanks." She said croakily, turning back to Elain and I. I smirked at my mate, and she scowled at me, flicking my nose harmlessly. "Thank you, I think Az will need to use it a lot." She replied sarcastically. Still having everyone's undivided attention, Cassian snorted, and Nesta choked on her wine.
"Boo, don't be embarrassed to admit it will be you using it, seeing you can't block out guests. Alright, you win, please stop. I chuckled mentally, before replying, I doubt you'll be saying that tonight.
A thick scent began to waft off my mate, and Elain dismissed herself. I grazed Ciana's bare neck as I released her from my hold, "Your turn."
Ciana sighed, eyeing me, "I'll give you yours later." She said softly, before exiting the room. I tried to ignore the looks I was getting, but Cassian began to snicker. "What?" I snapped, just making him laugh louder, "Oh brother, you were the one complaining about having to babysit Nesta and I, after all we did... but now your stretching your legs, and letting your mate-"
"Cassian, maybe wait until after we've eaten to speak like that." Feyre interrupted, "And you can't blame Az, whatever he feels now won't be as close to how revolting the smell was when we entered House of Wind after Nyx was born, it probably still reeks." Nesta smacked Cassian's shoulder lightly from behind him, rolling her eyes at her sister playfully.
My mate strode back in, oblivious to what we'd been speaking about, apparently, because her lustful eyes met mine as she held bundles of gifts in her arms.
A/N:
Hey guys, hope you're all well, and I can't wait to do the next chapter - hopefully tomorrow !
Cassian is acting... like Cassian, ngl, sorry if stuff is a bit awkward in this chapter, hold up, sorry that basically this whole story isn't exactly how I pictured it; I try to add description, but when I write the same thing for a while I kinda forget :|
Please vote and comment lovelies xx
Ciana's dress is up the top minus the waist part <3
I'm writing another fanfic so please look at that too xx
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