Priest exhaled. “I remember when he showed up.” He smiled, shaking his head. “He was all bright, wide eyes and a eager to please personality. When we trained, he was always apologizing when his spells went wrong, but he worked harder than any three warriors. He was so earnest that we all felt like we had to protect that.” He sat back, looking a bit smug. “It was his spell that captured two of our enemies. He created this box thing… don’t ask me about the particulars. Kendrick and Thane started rattling off temperatures, and I kinda zoned out, but it was a near impossible feat.”
“You’re proud,” she observed, seeing a wonderful shade of magenta bloom.
“I am. He has struggled for so long trying to get his powers under control that I can’t help but feel excited for him to finally get the help he needs.”
“So, updates from everyone, then what?”
“Whatever needs doing usually. Meryn will let us know.”
“Meryn? Not Aiden?”
He shrugged. “They’re kinda the same at this point. Meryn has been the one to track the warehouses and missing people. Aiden may be the one to formulate orders but make no mistake, he’s taking direction from his tiny mate.”
“She’s carrying a lot of trauma,” she said, watching his expression.
He only nodded. “I heard she watched a communication orb where she watched her parents die. She had grown up thinking they died in a car accident. She had no idea she was part fae.”
“That had to have been hard.”
“There are also rumors going around that the warriors in Lycaonia want to have her grandmother’s corpse moved outside the city for desecration as a present for her.”
Cas nearly choked on her wine. “Are you serious?”
“Evidently, this woman was an evil piece of work.”
“It’s amazing she turned out half as normal as she is.”
“Technically, she’s our princess now, so we’ve been torturing the Lycaonian warriors that we’re keeping her.”
“Anything else you want to get done?”
He eyed her, then smiled. “I may have a surprise for you, but it’s a fifty, fifty if you’ll like it.”
“If you take the time to do something for me, I’ll like it.”
“I’ll remind you of that tomorrow.”
She looked at the clock. It was just striking midnight. She held up her glass. “To our first day being mated.”
He held up his. “To an eternity of many more.”
They drank and set their glasses down. Standing he held out his hand to her. “Ready for bed?”
“I am.” She stood and followed him to the bed.
Neither of them bothered with pajamas, and both sighed happily when their bodies were tucked close to one another.
“Priest?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled against the back of her neck.
“The light.”
“Alexa, turn off light.”
She scoffed for about a second before the room went dark, and a disembodied voice said. “Okay.”
“How’d you know?”