She shrugged. “Fae are immortal Priest. Time is different for us.”
“I guess now is as good as a time as any to tell you my sad little tale.”
“Sad?”
He winked. “Once upon a time, in the giant nests of the eagles of Éire Danu, two fae visited on behalf of the Queen to see how the eagles were doing. On that particular day, a nest was hatching.”
“Hatching? What are you talking about?” her eyes showed confusion, and he realized he might have to back up his story a bit.
“Harpy eagles are one of the only shifters that bear animal young in the form of eggs.”
“Get the fuck outta here!”
He shook his head, chuckling. “The eggs are incubated, and once hatched, eaglets shift to their newborn human form within a week. After that, they are like any other shifter, finding their animal again around puberty.”
“You were an egg?”
He sighed. “I was an unbroken egg. I didn’t have the strength to crack my shell.”
“Why do I get the feeling that is bad?”
“Because it is. Eaglets that cannot hatch themselves are left in the nest.”
“But… but that means they die.”
“Yes,” he confirmed softly.
“That’s barbaric!”
“That is exactly what my mother said.” Though he had heard the story many times, the thought of his tiny mother snarling at shifters always made him smile. “She took my egg and helped me be born by breaking the shell.”
“Then what happened?” Cassie asked, her eyes blazing.
“The other eagle shifters walked away, and my mother and father had to figure out how to hand-raise an eaglet for a week before I shifted to human form.”
“They adopted you on the spot?”
He nodded. “It was never a question if they should do it. They simply did. Decisive doesn’t even begin to describe my mother. She’s kinda a force of nature,” he confessed.
Cassie began pulling on his hand. “Hurry, I need to meet your mother.”
He let himself get pulled along. When they got to the door, he opened it wide. “Mother, Father, I’m home.”
“We’re in the kitchen, darling,” his mother called out.
He led Cas to the kitchen and had to laugh at the sight before him. Both his parents were covered in flour, and Merrick looked at his wit’s end.
His normally elegantly put-together mother looked like she lost a fight with a bag of flour.
“What on earth?”
“We heard from House Orthames that nearly twenty Vanguard squads have come to Éire Danu, we, of course, had to help, so we decided to make some food to send to Dav’s,” his mother explained, then blew her bangs out of her eyes.
His father’s mouth twitched furiously. “Yes, son, we decided it would be best to take over Merrick’s kitchen and attempt to cook things we never had before.”
Priest nodded. His whirlwind mother had struck again. He looked over to Merrick and winked. “Niamh and Ciaran Ri’Aerdan, I have someone I want you to meet.”
His mother’s light teal eyes drifted over to Cassie, then went wide as if just now noticing she was in the room. “Cassandra Vi’Illiya, my goodness, I look a fright.” She scowled in his direction. “Why didn’t you warn me we’d be having company.” She tried to brush off some of the flour from her robes.
Priest wrapped his free arm around Cas’ shoulders. “She might as well see you for how chaotic you truly are. She’s family now. Mother, Father, Cassandra is my mate.”
Priest watched for some kind of reaction. Instead, all three of them simply stared. “Mother? Father?”
When his mother turned to bury her face in his father’s chest sobbing, he froze. This was not the reaction he had been hoping for. Squealing, yes. Screeching and jumping up and down, yes. Weeping pitifully, hell no.
“Am I not wanted here?” Cassie asked softly.
That single question had his mother rushing toward them. She pulled Cas into a fierce hug. “Not want you? You are a thousand times welcome, oh Ciaran!” his mother wailed to his father, still wrapped around his mate.
Cas looked at him and shook her head at his concern. “She’s not blue Priest. She is the most beautiful shade of rose I have ever seen, bursting at the seams with happiness.”
Priest exhaled, then simply wrapped his arms around both his mate and his mother. “Momma, whatever it is, it’s okay. Do I need to kill something?”
“I know it is okay!” She sniffed. “And no, nothing to kill today, dearest.”
He looked over to his father and saw him dashing his own tears away. “Father?”
His father gave him a rueful smile. “It’s validation, son. All the centuries of the eagles second-guessing your mother’s actions…” his voice trailed off as he shook his head.
“I need more than that, Father,” he countered. Because he had no idea why his announcing his mating would have that type of reaction.
His father straightened. “You have a mate, son. You were meant to be here.”
The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. “I wouldn’t have a mate if I had been meant to die,” he whispered.
His mother took one look at him, and her own tears were instantly forgotten. “Priest, you’re pale, sit, my sweet boy.” She pushed him toward the small table and made him sit. “Of course, you weren’t meant to die,” she huffed. “Now those insufferable assholes will know it too,” she said vehemently.
Priest stared at his mother in shock. In all his years, he had never heard her speak in that tone.
His father chuckled. “Do not scare the children, my love.”
Her mother picked up one of Merrick’s towels and wiped her face with it. “We must have a huge celebration!”
Merrick palmed his face in his hand at her declaration.
His father sighed. “With what the city is facing, maybe now isn’t the best time.”
“Pish posh! My son has found his mate! I will go to the palace and ring the city bell myself if I have to.”
Priest shook his head repeatedly. “Please don’t.”
Cas came up behind him and began rubbing his shoulders. “Maybe people need a reminder that there are good things happening too.”
“Exactly!” His mother turned to Cas. “I bet Eion was over the moon at your return. I run over there at least once a week to have tea. Such a lovely squire.”
He pulled Cas into his lap, and she laughed before turning to his mother to answer. “He is. I cannot thank you enough for keeping him company. The stubborn man allowed me time to grow up, but it still smarts knowing he was by himself.” She nodded her head in the direction of House Illiya. “Right now, he’s making his Fruit Jubilee to send to Dav’s.”
His mother pointed her finger at Merrick. “I told you we should help. Those poor boys probably haven’t had a decent meal in decades,” she lamented.
Merrick shook his finger right back. “I didn’t disagree with you. I said I would make something.”
His mother looked around the kitchen. “I did make a bit of a mess.”
Merrick’s expression softened. “Your wonderfully big heart tends to outpace everything else,” he said, diplomatically.