"Marius? Marius, are you alright?" Astien asked, taking Marius' hand into his own.
Delas couldn't answer the girl, he was fuming so. It became easily apparent to him that he had two options: He could forgo his own safety and give this man the calling out he so desperately needed, or he could remain silent, and guarantee his well-being at the cost of sparing this man words he so needed to hear.
"I'm fine," Marius said as he gently squeezed his fiance's hand. "Don't worry about it."
"Oh, I hope so. I really do." Astien laid his head on Marius' shoulder. "I feel woozy. I can't really think straight right now."
"You should drink the tea and have some of the bread Wyn brought you."
Willow rushed over with some small pieces of meat. "Here. Have some of this."
Astien quickly devoured the meat, sighing. "Better. Thank you, Willow. I'll be better still when the rest of the food is done."
Delas took a seat next to Cormac, after telling little Kida to go sit with her mother, because he was about to use bad words. "I can't believe that guy. What gives him the right... He's a failure. He's a failure as a parent."
"It shouldn't be too much longer for the pieces of chicken," Willow assured him. "I'll bring some over as soon as it's ready."
"Yeah...It's pretty rough."
"Thank you, Willow. That's very kind of you." Astien said. "I'm feeling somewhat hot. I pray it's not Aiden again." Astien whispered to Marius.
"I need to think of something else to get my mind off it. Uhhh... Okay, so I thought of something about your grandfather, Cormac."
"We should wade in the water for a bit," Marius suggested.
"What about him?"
"Yes, let's." Astien stood up and leaned against Marius as they entered the water.
"Okay, so, your grandfather is a pure-blood drake, right?"
Marius kissed Astien's cheek.
"Yeah."
Astien took a deep breath. "Okay, this feels good, but I still feel hot..."
"And all of his children are pure-blood drakes, right?"
"Well, this is Crescent Bay. It's not too bad, yet."
"And your grandfather only has pure-blood drake children, right?"
"Okay, I'm starting to feel a bit hotter. Yeah, this is probably, Aiden acting up." Astien looked down and stroked his belly. "Aiden? Aiden, wake up please."
"So how does your grandfather keep having pure-blood drake babies when the only other pure-blood drakes are his own children?"
"Come on, Kiddo."
"I...I don't know."
Astien wiped sweat from his forehead. "Yes, this is Aiden. I'm, I'm getting very hot. Aiden, please wake up."
"Yeah. Think about that, Cormac."
Marius touched Astien's belly. "Wake up Aiden, you're hurting your daddy."
Cormac shivered. "No thanks."
Astien wrapped his arm around Marius as he felt his legs growing weaker. Sweat covered his body.
"Have we thought of something for Astien's birthday yet? Because I'm at a loss for once."
"Astien! Aiden wake up!"
"Baby shower?"