Everything was perfect. It had been for over a hundred years. But now that they had their own little family, it felt like everything was complete. The final piece in Briar's life.
It was Raiden's 10th birthday
Raiden never woke up very early, which made Briar and Azriel extremely happy. Only last year on his birthday, when he had knocked on their door, telling them he was ready to train. An hour before dawn.
Briar hoped that he would sleep in this year, so she and Az wouldn't have to get up so early. Especially not on their day off.
She had been on the verge of a breakdown all week. It had been so busy. Her family had been very tiring. Since she worked with and for them, it hadn't been easy.
Nesta had been busy with Valkyrie business, so Briar decided to stay away from the House of Wind for the week. She liked to train, but preferred Az, Rhys or Feyre's company over training with the Valkyries.
Elain finally came back home. She couldn't miss Raiden's 10th birthday.
Normally, Briar would work at the townhouse whenever she needed her space, but Elain and Lucien stayed there.
Nyx stayed at the river house for the week, since he wanted to be there for Raiden's party, which they kept small.
The river house had always been the most busy house. She felt so stressed out, that she didn't feel like spending her time there.
Working alone at home and visiting Rhys every now and then was also tiring. But what made her feel the worst, was what her son had told her.
Raiden only wanted his family with him on his birthday. Briar had told him over and over again that it was okay for him to invite some friends, but he told his mother that he didn't have anyone to invite.
It shattered Briar's heart to hear him say that. He had noticed his mother's face and immediately tried to lighten her mood.
"I do have friends. I just don't want to invite them." he said softly, "I'd rather spend the day with my family."
Briar kneeled in front of him and pulled him into a hug, "Please tell me when something is wrong." he nodded. "And I think it's very sweet to think about your family."
She knew that he wasn't really like most kids, that he was more quiet and liked to keep to himself. He never complained about having lesser friends than others, but Briar knew it bothered him.
Even though he hadn't inherited his father's gifts, he liked to keep to the shadows.
His personality was a perfect mix between Az and Briar's. Both his parents weren't very outgoing. He was quieter like Az, but when being with the right people, he acted more like Briar—on her good day.
Briar and Az both knew that he didn't really think of his birthday like something special, so they had their own traditions.
They would spend the day together. Just the three of them, and they would have dinner with his favorite food and cake at the river house.
The sun woke Briar up. She hadn't closed the window yesterday evening.
She felt more well rested after a stressful week. Azriel had made sure that she wouldn't be so stressed anymore.
Sleeping next to her mate always made her feel better.
She could hear him breathe softly as she opened her eyes, meaning he was probably still asleep.
She was laying on his chest, one of his arms around her waist, holding her tightly.
Briar placed a kiss on his tattooed chest and sighed.
She shifted slightly, so that only her head was on Azriel's chest. Briar closed her eyes again, not trying to fall back asleep.
Very peaceful indeed...
She felt herself fall back to sleep again until the bedroom door creaked open. She knew it was Raiden before he climbed onto the bed.
He never bothered to come into their bedroom, only when he had a bad dream or when he wanted to look at his father's cool weapons.
Raiden always slept quietly and had almost never woke them up during the night and mornings when he was younger. If he woke up earlier than Briar and Az, he would just go downstairs and do his own thing.
Briar opened her eyes and found Raiden's big hazel eyes look at her. She carefully turned away from Azriel, so that Raiden could lay next to her.
"Happy birthday, Rai." she said while placing a kiss on his head.
Raiden snuggled against her as he said a muffled thank you.
"Are you exited for today?" Raiden lifted his head and nodded happily.
Azriel's arms wrapped around Briar and Raiden from behind. He leaned over her to give his son a closer hug. "Happy birthday little bat."
"Thank you." he said again. He jumped on top of Briar so her could lay between them.
They had moments like this when he was younger, but not very often anymore.
It only lasted a few seconds before he jumped up again and ran out of the room, "I'm going to make breakfast!" he closed the door and disappeared.
Briar chuckled and turned around to lay on her side. "He's growing up so fast."
Azriel kissed her and looked into her eyes. "Ten years." Briar smiled.
"I think we did the best job at raising a child."
"Wait until he gets a bit older."
Briar slapped his arm, "He's a sweet boy. He won't be as bad as Nyx and Lyra were."
"That's because Nyx and Lyra's father's are weirdo's." there was a wide grin on Azriel's face.
"They are your brothers Az, be nice." Briar couldn't help but grin.
"Without me they wouldn't have made it. I already raised two children."
Briar snorted, "You aren't always easy, too. Especially after drinking too much."
Azriel had forgotten how many times he had to drag Briar home. But Briar also couldn't remember how many times she had to convince Az he had to stop drinking.
They didn't go out much, but when they did..
—
Briar knew that Raiden didn't mind waiting for his parents. The ten year old boy could make his own breakfast and enjoyed the silence around him.
Azriel and Briar had decided to gift him a knife this year. It looked similar to truth-teller, but the stone carved into it was yellow.
They couldn't see why gifting a knife at the age of ten was a problem. He would only be allowed to use it during serious training.
Briar walked downstairs with Azriel on her side. They found Raiden sitting in the dining room, his selfmade toast on a plate.
He turned around excitedly when he heard his parents entering. It was still early, but that didn't stop Raiden from being energetic.
"Am I getting a gift?" he said.
Azriel grabbed the larger box from where he had hid it. It had been Az's idea to gift him the knife.
Raiden had always loved truth-teller. Now that he was going to get his own, he would hopefully stop asking Az to 'practice' with his knife.
Azriel laid the box on the table. Raiden immediately began opening it. His mouth fell open as he took in the knife. "Wow."
He ran to his dad and hugged him tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Azriel ruffled his hair and chuckled softly, "I'm glad you like it."
Next, he hugged his mom, thanking her too. "It was your fathers idea."
"I like the color and it's beautiful." he said. "Thank you."
—
Raiden decided he wanted to go play outside after they had eaten together.
With Raiden gone, and both their days off, Briar and Az could finally spend some time together.
"I'm happy he has friends to play with." Briar said out of nowhere.
They had been enjoying each other's silence for the past few minutes. Briar was laying on top of Azriel's chest, her arms wrapped around him.
"Me too." he said. They both knew very well what it was like to grow up without friends.
Azriel had found his family at the age of 11, while Briar had waited until she was 266 years old. It didn't matter to her now, she had everything she wanted.
"I think about it a lot you know." she said. Azriel hummed in response. "I'm just worried he won't tell me when kids pick on him or when something happens."
"I don't think any of them would dare. He is the High Lord and Lady's nephew and the son of the spymaster and weird lightning yielder."
Briar couldn't help but let out a soft laugh at his last words. It was something someone had said while they walked on the streets of Velaris.
It had been years since they had heard it, but Azriel couldn't shut up about it.
Azriel placed his finger under her chin, making Briar look up at him, his face softened, "Stop worrying." he said.
Briar nodded softly. She had never expected that being a mother would make you worry so much.
When Azriel started teaching Raiden how the fly, she wanted to see it, since she would worry too much if she didn't. It did hurt her heart to see him learning how to fly, but it also made her happy that he got the chance to.
"You are the best mother in the world, I know Rai would tell you the same." he said, "Worrying is part of it, but he can deal with things himself."
Briar snorted, "As if you aren't overprotective. I feel sorry for the person he will go out with in the future."
Azriel let out a soft chuckle, "That's not happening."
"Yeah, keep saying that." Briar kissed his cheek and placed her head on his chest again.
They stayed silent for a few minutes. Briar thought Azriel had fallen asleep until he spoke.
"Am I really overprotective?"
Briar let out another snort, "Yes."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No. Not at all."
—
Raiden had come home two hours before his small birthday dinner started. He came home with a big smile on his face, telling his parents about the fun things he had done.
He had shown the kids he played with his powers, and they had shown theirs. He told them that one of the Fae boys could make flowers grow out of the ground.
Briar was happy that he had a great day already. After he told them his stories, he ran upstairs, yelling at his parents that he needed to get ready.
Briar sighed and got up from the couch, "I'm going to take a bath and get ready."
"Can I join you?"
Briar didn't turn around and walked straight for the stairs. "No, you'll slow me down."
She could hear her mate chuckle before she disappeared upstairs.
—
They walked to the river house, where their family would gather for Raiden's birthday.
Briar held her sons hand as he enthusiastically walked a little too fast.
Azriel walked close to Briar. They had been mated for over a 100 years, but he still became protective over her when they were in public.
Raiden started running as he saw Rhys waiting for him. It looked like they were the first ones to arrive.
Raiden jumped on to Rhys. The High Lord lifted the small boy and ruffled his hair, making Raiden giggle. Briar could hear him wish Raiden a happy birthday.
Rhys had always been very kind towards Raiden. She knew they loved each other.
Rhys also gave the best gifts, so that was another reason for him to be excited.
Raiden ran past Rhys, into the house.
"Still gets excited over the smallest things." Rhys said, earning a chuckle from Briar. Rhys opened his arms to pull Briar in for a quick hug before she walked into the house.
Rhys was her High Lord, but he was also her brother.
After 100 years she still got along better with Rhys than with Cassian. She loved them both though.
The river house looked colorful, like always. Over the past decades, Feyre had been filling the house with lovely paintings.
Briar and Az's own house was full of them too, many of them being gifted by their High Lady and friend.
Her favorite painting was the one Azriel and Feyre had gifted for her birthday a few years ago.
She had painted her and Raiden on the couch, the two of them asleep while Azriel laid next to them, smiling.
Feyre's paintings had definitely become better over the years.
Briar found Raiden running into the living room, to Nyx. The High Lord's son was seated on a chair next to Mor, who quickly grabbed the bottle of wine Nyx was just holding.
Briar snorted as she found Nyx looking at her with an apologizing look. "You're an adult. I wasn't going to tell your mom and dad."
Raiden climbed on to the couch after hugging Mor and Nyx. Only Emerie was missing. Mor told her she was busy and would arrive with Nesta later.
Which made her wonder how long it would take for...
"Happy birthday to my favorite Illyrian!" Briar rolled her eyes as she found Cassian walk into the room.
Raiden immediately ran to his uncle.
"I thought I was your favorite Illyrian." Briar said. She could remember him telling her those exact words years ago.
Cassian put Raiden back on the ground and sat down next to Briar on the couch. He put his arm over her shoulder, "I said you and Az are my favorites."
Briar rolled her eyes as he continued, "But since he's made out of you two, he's my favorite too."
She could hear Nyx snort at Cassian's words while Mor passed him the bottle of wine.
"Makes sense." Briar said.
Briar sighed and stood from the couch, "You stay here with those weirdo's." she said to Raiden. "I'm going to make sure your cake is okay."
Raiden only nodded before starting to talk enthusiastically to Cassian.
Briar made her way into the kitchen, finding Elain and Feyre. She didn't know where Rhys and her mate were.
Elain always made cakes for everyone's birthday, when she was in the Night Court of course. During Raiden's fifth birthday, Elain couldn't make it. Raiden had refused to eat the cake Feyre and Briar had tried to put together.
"You're early." Feyre said enthusiastically while pulling her into a hug.
"There wasn't much to do." Briar said while stepping away and walking over to Elain. She hugged her too.
"I sometimes need more female companions." Briar said.
Feyre chuckled and nodded in agreement. "You see me everyday." she said with a mocking grin.
Briar rolled her eyes and leaned against the counter. "Raiden is too busy playing lately, so I'm stuck with Az or you."
"Being stuck with Feyre is a bad thing." Elain said with a grin to her sister before walking out of the room.
Feyre smiled. "I'm glad Rhys listened."
Briar nodded in agreement. Everything had been peaceful lately. No threats from the Autumn Court. Nothing from the Spring Court or Hybern. It was finally quiet.
Briar had convinced Rhys to let Az have more free time. He still worked a few days a week, but he had more time for Briar and Raiden.
There was no reason for him to spy. He was always ready when necessary.
"Come on, we need to eat cake and then pray Raiden falls asleep after dinner so we can drink ourselves stupid."
——
Dinner was great, like always. So was the cake. Raiden had loved opening his presents just like every other year.
But, after a long day of excitement, Raiden became very tired. Azriel and Briar wanted to stay at the river house a little bit longer, so they put him to bed in one of the guestrooms.
Raiden laid on his side, facing his mother. Briar was kneeling next to the bed as she pulled a strand of Raiden's hair out of his face.
"Did you have a nice day?" Raiden nodded with a smile on his face.
"I loved the gift you and dad gave me." he said.
Briar kissed his head. "I'm glad." she knew that Azriel was standing in the shadows. He had already hugged Raiden goodnight. Az always loved to see the two of them.
"Can you give dad another hug from me?" he said. Briar nodded.
"We'll try not to wake you when we go home." Raiden yawned while nodding.
Briar stood and walked out of the room.
"Love you mom." he said before turning around in the bed.
Briar smiled and closed the door softly. Azriel waited for her outside.
He opened his arms. "I'm expecting that hug."
Briar chuckled and wrapped her arms around his waist. "That's from Rai." she stood on her tip toes and placed a kiss on his lips, "And that's from me."
Azriel pulled her closer against him and sighed. "I love you." he mumbled against her head.
Briar smiled again. "Love you too."
"You two need to hurry up or I'm emptying this bottle myself!" Mor whisper yelled from the end of the hallway.
Briar snorted and immediately walked over to her friend. "Don't you dare drink that bottle or I'll tell Rhys what you did to his new wine."
——
The entire Inner Circle—except for Amren, who only stopped by a few hours ago to give Raiden a gift—was seated in the living room of the river house.
It felt like years since they had been sitting with each other, without any kids.
Nyx and Lyra had been quick to leave after dinner. They didn't know where they were off to, not that they cared. They all stopped caring after a few decades of running after them.
Only Elain was sitting alone, since Lucien had his own business to attend. He still had bought Raiden a gift though.
Briar had stopped drinking after a while, not feeling like sharing unnecessary things with her family tonight.
It was fun to embarrass all of them while being sober, knowing that they would only remember it vaguely or would not remember it at all.
Briar was sitting on a couch with her feet on Mor's lap and her back against Azriel. She decided that it was the right moment to tell them something, since Mor did drink the whole bottle herself.
"Hey Rhys, you wanna know something?"
Rhysand immediately nodded. Briar grinned to Mor. "You know those bottles of wine you bought last month?"
He raised his brows. "The ones from the Day Court that disappeared out of nowhere?"
"Yes, those." it would be even funnier with them drunk. It wasn't that big of a deal. "I remember you being very mad about it."
Rhys nodded again. "I still am. I know one of you pigs did it." he pointed between Cass, Mor and Briar.
Briar immediately threw up her hands in defense. "I'm only here to confess something I know."
"Don't you dare." Mor said.
"Mor broke them all." she said. "She was searching for something specific when I scared her and she bumped into those bottles."
Rhys pointed at her, "So it's your fault."
Briar blinked. Mor's grin only widened. "What, no! Mor did it."
"You tried." Azriel mumbled from behind her.
"You scared her." Rhys said while drinking his glass empty.
Briar crossed her arms and sighed. "Whatever. You won't remember it anyway."
"Don't put yourself in trouble because I drank your entire bottle." Mor said.
Briar found Nesta laughing at her. She knew that she and Elain would definitely remember this moment tomorrow. Azriel probably would too.
After all those decades, Nesta was still careful with drinking. Her mate wasn't so careful. In fact, he was currently passed out on Nesta's shoulder.
It was already past midnight, so Briar decided that it was time to go home.
She turned around to find Az already looking at her. "Wanna go home? I'm starting to feel tired."
He nodded. "I'll go get Raiden so you can say goodbye." Briar mouthed thank you as he walked out of the room.
"I'm going home. Thank you for the lovely evening." she mainly said it to Rhys and Feyre, since they allowed her to use their home.
Rhys raised his glass. "Always. See you tomorrow."
Feyre stood and walked over to give Briar a hug, even though she was seeing her tomorrow.
Briar patted Mor on the head. "I'll get you back." she then looked at Emerie, who was seated next to her partner. "Goodluck with that."
Emerie let out a snort.
Briar quickly thanked Elain for the beautiful cake and then said goodbye to Nesta. Cassian was still passed out.
She found Azriel standing by the front door with their coats in his hand and his arms around Raiden. She didn't know how their son stayed asleep, but he did.
Once they were outside, Azriel winnowed them to their own front yard. Briar quickly walked to the door to unlock it so Azriel could put Raiden in his own bed.
While Azriel was busy with Raiden, Briar got ready in their own room. She smelled like alcohol and food, she hated it.
She dumbed her clothes on the floor and grabbed one of Az's sweaters to sleep in before walking into the bathroom.
The bath filled quickly while she dumbed some cedar smelling soap in the bath. Azriel had gifted her the soap for the first time decades ago.
She had told him that he smelled like cedar. Since then, he decided that soap that smelled like him was a good gift. One of the main reasons being; so that you don't miss me when I'm away.
Briar loved it.
After sitting in the bath with her entire body under the water for a while—only her head above it—she heard their bedroom door open and close. Briar didn't care enough to open her tired eyes.
Azriel had probably woken up Raiden and stayed to talk with him for a while.
It only took a second before the bathroom door opened and closed. She peeked open one eye when she felt Az step into the water, sitting behind her.
"I'm trying to sleep."
"Okay, you can sleep with me." he said while pulling her closer.
"Yeah you can stay. Just in case I drown." she mumbled.
"Don't say that. Now I'll have to watch you every time you bathe."
Briar opened her eyes and turned her head, a small grin spreading on her lips. "Wouldn't you like that?"
Azriel chuckled softly. "Yes, I think I would. Though, I would care more about not letting you drown."
"Thank god." she said before leaning further against him.
Azriel only wrapped his arms around her. The last thing she felt was him kissing her head and drawing soft circles on her scarred back.
Everything was perfect.