3 months later
aelin was ten months pregnant - a few weeks over her due date. the healers had said that it was perfectly natural and that the baby would be ready to come any day now.
it didn't feel natural, though. it felt tiring and tedious; her stomach was so big that she couldn't even walk properly, let alone stand up successfully from a chair.
with the help of rowan, she stood up from the bed and walked towards her dresser, pulling on a long top that hung nicely over her bump. even though there was no way she could physically fight, she still strapped her various knives across her torso and sheathed goldryn down her back.
better to be safe than sorry.
"not long now, fireheart" rowan smiled, walking up to her and placing a hand on her belly. he rubbed it gently and laughed when he felt a small kick on her side.
"i can't wait to get it out of me" she replied. rowan frowned at her words and no doubt opened his mouth to tell her not to call their child an 'it'.
but the queen lifted up her hand and over his lips before he could talk "you try carrying a fae for ten months and then see how you feel at the end of it".
her mate just chuckled and held up his hands in surrender before walking off into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
aelin made her way down the halls and wondered about the castle - she had no idea on how to spend her time, but after a few minutes she finally ran into some company.
"morning, lysandra" the queen smiled, embracing her friend into a tight hug.
"how's big mother?" the shifter asked. aelin raised an eyebrow in confusion. big mother?
"gods, don't ever call me that again" she laughed.
"aelin, lysandra" a man greeted them from behind. when the pair turned, they almost groaned at who stood before them.
lord darrow.
even though by the end of the war he had allowed aelin her crown, he had taken it upon himself to make it the most annoying job he possibly could for her.
"i have some papers that you need to fill out for market prices" he said, extending a hand that held a stack of papers. it was almost as tall as her, she though with a sigh.
"i'll be honest, lord darrow" the queen began. the man simply listened with a stone face "i'm ten months pregnant and frankly, a bit pissy"
the lord opened his mouth to speak, most likely to spew some crap about how she needed to take on responsibility and sort her life out. however, she cut him off with her rant:
"so no, i won't do the papers. they're exactly the same as all the other ones i've done, so just give them to lorcan or something".
"lorcan?" lysandra asked "is that a good idea?"
"he's lord of perranth now, is he not?"
"i suppose so" lord darrow drawled, turning around to walk off. before he could get completely out of earshot, aelin shouted down the halls.
"write him a note from me! say in it that he's one of the greatest fae warriors and that this meaningful task will be perfect to occupy his time. add a few little kisses on the end."
at the moment, everyone was back in the castle of orynth - lysandra, aedion, rowan (of course), dorian, manon, chaol, yrene, lorcan and elide. everyone was waiting with anticipation for the day that erawan would come to invade terrasen, so they decided collectively that it would be best to stay here.
suddenly, a sharp pain shot through aelin's stomach and a pressure built up between her legs. a few seconds later, a fluid gushed onto the floor and lysandra looked at her in alarm.
"the baby's coming" the queen managed to get out through clenched teeth. another slice of agony ripple through her abdomen, but just like that it has stopped. they were contractions.
"let's go to a healer" lysandra said, gripping aelin's arm and leading her down the corridor. ten minutes later, another contraction happened and she had to hold onto the wall to keep upright.
eventually, they reached the room where yrene was sat, chaol perched at the end of the bed. their baby had been born a few months ago and was now fast asleep in his cot.
the pair whipped their head towards the two females as they entered the door.
"shit" aelin mumbled as another ripple passed through her body. she panted and pressed a hand against her stomach, trying to stifle the ache that rested in it.
"the baby is coming," lysandra said to yrene, who was now making her way over to the queen of terrasen.
"i'll go get rowan," chaol said. aelin knew that he would be looking for her at this moment of the time as he would most likely be able to feel the pain through the bond. but she let chaol be useful as the girls began to get ready.
the healer directed them to another room with more lighting and somewhere were they wouldn't disturb her own sleeping child. not soon after, rowan appeared in the doorway and rushed to aelin who was now sat on the bed, propped up by many pillows.
lysandra and chaol left the room, no doubt going to let everyone in the castle know what was happening and to stay away from this room. good. aelin didn't want anyone to witness her in this mess.
"fireheart," rowan mumbled soothingly, holding her hand and rubbing patterns on her skin.
"don't talk to me," she shouted as another contraction shredded through her stomach "you did this to me". yrene laughed at the conversation and then looked at rowan with pity.
"don't take it to heart, your majesty" rowan looked at her with a small smile "i was exactly the same to chaol".
it was about three hours later and aelin was finally ready to push. during the waiting time, the pain had only gotten worse and worse and worse. the amount of times that she had cursed was unaccountable and poor yrene's ears were probably bleeding at the foul language.
"i can see the head," she grinned "so push as hard as you can."
with a glass shattering scream, aelin heaved as she squeezed rowan's hand with her fae strength. she was surprised that bones hadn't crushed yet with the amount of force that she applied.
"that's great" yrene said, wiping her hands on a towel and squatting down to get a better view. aelin couldn't find herself to be embarrassed.
it was great. the pressure seemed to have lessened and the pain had gone down significantly. but she still had the shoulders to get out yet; one more push and she could see her child.
with a final shout and one last ripple of pain, her baby had been born. aelin threw her head back against the cushions, body going limp as sweat dropped down her face.
after a few beats of silence, a small cry sounded throughout the room that filled her with loving emotion. rowan looked at his mate, silver lining his eyes as he gripped her hand once more.
"you did it" he whispered, pressing a kiss to her brow.
finally, yrene had finished wrapping her child up in a blanket and place the baby on her chest. as soon as they made contact, the baby stopped crying and looked up at aelin with big eyes.
"it's a girl" the healer grinned. she cleaned up the bed as best as she could and moved her towels, leaving the pair alone with their child. she had said she would come back in an hour or so to help aelin with a bath and to see if she would like any visitors.
but for now,
"look at her little pointy ears" rowan laughed. a single tear dropped down his cheek as he brushed his fingers gently over their baby's head and face. rowan moved his hand down to rest over aelin's, but their little girl gripped rowan's single finger with her own.
"she likes you" the queen smiled, brushing her own tears off her face.
"i should hope so. i am her father after all." aelin just laughed.
-
about two hours later after aelin had woken up from her short nap, yrene ran a warm bath and helped the queen into the water carefully. whilst she was soaking, rowan sat at the side of the tub with their girl bundled against his chest.
his size seemed to devour her whole frame, but every movement he made was soft and gentle.
now that she had a closer look at her, she realised that she had more of aelin's face; other than rowan's structured nose and glowing, green eyes. from what they could see (as it was still quite thin), her hair was a mix between the pair's.
it wasn't as silver as rowan's, but more of a very, very pale blonde. where as the queen's was golden and bright, her child's seemed to be light and soft - almost white but with a hint of yellow.
"are we sticking with the name that we decided?" rowan asked softly, looking down at their child who let out a little gurgle at the attention. the male kept his hand raised as the baby chewed on his finger with her toothless gums.
they had decided on a name for both boy and girl and looking at the child in their arms, they both knew that what they had picked fit perfectly.
"aura" rowan smile softly; her eyes seemed to glow a brilliant green at the name they had chosen for her.
they had decided on aura because it had two meanings that fit perfectly. the fist meaning was 'glowing light' which matched aelin and her fire powers. the next meaning of the name matched rowan as it translated to 'soft breeze'. no doubt, aura would have mixed powers of both her parents, so it was extremely fitting.
minutes later, aelin got out of the bath and got changed. due to her fast, fae healing she already felt a hundred times better but she did need a good nights sleep. the queen also realised that she would have to get back on top of training in order to loose the slight bit of weight that was left behind from her pregnancy.
"are you ready for some guests?" yrene popped her head around the door.
"send them in".
-
[ a/n : next chapter will have the inner circle in again! ]