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Within the week, Embrith’s senior physician Master Harvath confirmed Mered was indeed with child. He advised them to return to Rikara so they would have a goodly number of well trained, natural healers at hand when Mered birthed. Reluctant to cut their idyllic holiday short, they delayed their return to the capital until the last possible day Harvath deemed still safe for Mered to travel overland. A trip via translocation could trigger a miscarriage, he warned them, even at this early stage of breeding given Mered’s age and the problems he’d had during his one and only birthing.
As soon as they arrived in Rikara, Yovan contacted his nephew Eiren and requested him to visit them and confirm that the pregnancy was progressing normally. Since their house was only half a block away, Eiren showed up the following morning with his spouse Ashrian Mithani.
“We need a break from caring for Firyon,” Ashrian told an amused Yovan. “Mind you, Uncle, we love him to pieces but he’s so lively! We can scarcely catch our breaths trying to keep up with him.”
“Perhaps you should reconsider trying to raise him without the help of a caregiver,” Yovan said with a chortle. “Who’s watching over him now?”
“Aba and Ama. They asked if they could have him for the week’s end. I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to have Eiren to myself for a couple of days.”
Yovan chuckled at his reasoning which was so typical of the family and silently prayed Olriq and Kaiden Mithani would survive two days in close quarters with a rambunctious toddler.
He and Rysander watched Eiren examine Mered. At length, Eiren straightened and smiled at his patient.
“All is well, Uncle Mer,” he said. “You’re going to have a healthy babe in four months' time.”
Mered sighed in relief. “Who would have thought it possible after all these years?” he softly remarked. “I truly believed it was not to be.”
“When did you stop taking mirash and how often did you use it?”
“Some four years ago. And almost daily.”
“Daily?” Eiren glanced at Yovan with a mixture of amazement and awe. “You engaged in genital intercourse every day?”
“Nay, of course not. But I usually took mirash just in case we did.”
Eiren frowned. “And you continued using it until only lately. May I ask why?”
“I was just so afraid to conceive,” Mered shamefacedly admitted. “Whenever I recalled the pain when I birthed Rysander I’d cease to think clearly and panic if I didn’t take preventive measures. But not anymore. I’m so thankful your uncle is as capable of breeding me up as bedding me.”
He looked at Yovan with such unabashed, worshipful desire, Rysander groaned. Ashrian tittered at his cousin’s reaction.
“You’re quite the prude,” he teased.
Rysander glowered at him. “Do you constantly witness your parents all over each other whenever and wherever the mood strikes them?”
Ashrian wrinkled his nose. “Please, I’d rather not imagine them thusly.”
“I rest my case,” Rysander said with a long suffering exhalation.
“Oh shush, both of you,” Eiren scolded. He turned back to Mered. “It took this long for you to conceive again partly due to your diminished fertility, but also because your seedbed required time to recover from your over frequent use of mirash and for such a lengthy period of time. Had you not used it unnecessarily and stopped taking it even just ten years ago, your womb would have recovered sooner. And while your fertility was no longer at its peak, the chances of conception would still have been higher. Fortunately, your resurgent fertility was just enough to benefit from Uncle Van’s continued potency.”
He looked at Yovan and said, “It probably runs in your family. Both your parents were quite advanced in age when they had you. I wager you can sire more sons for a good many years yet. In any case, I’m happy to inform you that Uncle Mer and the foetus are both in very good health. His womb is robust and shows no sign of the anomaly that made Rys’s birth so difficult. And...”
Eiren impishly drew the word out leading Yovan and Mered to look at him expectantly and Rysander to tense up. “You’ll be capable of breeding for another year or so, Uncle Mer, if the state of your womb is any indication. So if you want a third child, Uncle Van, now is the time to go for it.”
That earned him a frightful glare from Rysander. “Ren! Must you give them ideas?”
Eiren returned his glower. “You should appreciate the fact that your father is now one of the oldest Deira in Ylandrin history to breed in such good health. And after so long from his first birthing at that.”
“Is that so?” Yovan beamed broadly “It appears this conception is nothing short of miraculous. Veres be praised.”
“Veres had little to do with it,” Mered quipped. “Unless you mean it’s His doing that you can still plow me like a youth in his prime.”
This time Ashrian groaned along with Rysander. “I see what you mean, Rys,” he muttered. He quickly shut up when Eiren aimed a pointed stare at him.
“It’s a miracle indeed,” Rysander conceded with a lopsided grin at his parents. “I just didn’t expect Aba and Ama to be blessed thusly.”
Eiren joined Ashrian who slipped an arm around him. “Miracles haven’t been in short supply lately,” he said. When the Seydons looked at him curiously, he smiled rather shyly and said, “I’m with child too.”
“What!” Rysander exclaimed. “How?”
His disbelief was understandable. Ashrian was supposed to be infertile after a severe bout of blight.
“The scarring in his seed sac and shaft healed enough on their own to enable him to sire this babe on me. Believe me, I was shocked too,” Eiren admitted. “I hadn’t thought it possible and I’m a physician.”
Ashrian kissed his cheek. “After he births this child, we’re going to try for another regardless of who carries it,” he informed them.
“You’re willing even if you’re now a Viarl?” Mered asked.
“I don’t care,” Ashrian said. “So long as it increases our chances of having more children.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m so happy for you both.” Mered’s eyes widened. “Ren said I can still conceive. Oh, Van, what say we try for a third?”
Yovan chuckled as his son stared at his father in dismay. Eiren lightly punched Rysander’s arm to snap him out of his daze.
“I can guess what you want to ask me,” he said to Mered with a smirk. “Yes, you may couple provided you don’t do so too vigorously. And no genital intercourse either. Your womb is sound, but with your history, it’s best we be cautious about it. After you birth, Uncle Van can have you every which way again.”
“Saints above,” Rysander muttered. “I’m about to have a brother five decades my junior and all they can talk about is how to make more.”
This time Yovan guffawed. Still snickering, he turned to Ashrian and said, “Ash, when you and Ren soul-bound, did you experience any untoward effects during or after the ritual?”
“Do you mean because I was breeding?” Ashrian clarified. When Yovan nodded, he said. “Nay, Uncle, I was perfectly fine.”
“Lassen bound to Rohyr when he was further along than Ash,” Eiren reminded him. “Indeed, the ritual appears highly beneficial for a childing Deir because of the direct contact he and his mate have with the Creator.”
Yovan shook his head. “I forgot about that,” he admitted. “Thank you for the assurance nonetheless.”
He grinned widely at Rysander and then turned to Mered. He sat down on the edge of the bed beside his spouse and took his hand in his.
Smiling tenderly, he asked, “My love, would you do me the honor of binding thusly to me?”
Mered caught his breath and stared at him. “You truly want to be eternally wed to me?” he faintly asked.
“I can think of no greater joy.”
“When?”
“On the anniversary of our handfasting next month. Preferably within a fane ceremony. And by the way, soul-binding will enable you to initiate mind-speech with me.”
“Veres almighty!” Mered threw his arms around Yovan’s shoulders. “Yes! Yes! I will bind to you! Holy saints, would that it were next month already!”
Yovan caught Mered to him and cupped his face. He gazed at him with all the love and yearning he reserved only for his mate. And then he sealed their mouths together in a searing kiss that promised so much more to come. Uncaring of the presence of the others, he slipped his hands under the waistband of Mered’s sleeping trousers and slid them down to caress his buttocks.
“I knew it!” Rysander hurriedly grabbed Ashrian and Eiren by their elbows and dragged them toward the door. “Out! Unless you want to watch them rutting like it’s the end of Aisen!”
They giggled against each other’s lips as their son shoved his cousins out of the bedchamber. Seconds later, the sitting room door slammed shut on Eiren and Ashrian’s laughter. Now that they were alone, their mirth gave way to more intense kisses and intimate touches which necessitated the shedding of their clothes. As soon as he had Mered spread beneath him, Yovan made his way down his body, marking his passage with shallow nips and hard sucks on fair freckled skin until his spouse looked deliciously debauched.
“Please, ariad,” Mered begged. “Have mercy!”
He pulled at Yovan’s shoulders until he had him between his outstretched legs. He moaned loudly when Yovan once more marauded his nipples until they were hard and swollen. But instead of pulling away, he pressed the tender peaks up against Yovan’s lips. Yovan grinned at Mered’s wantonness and raised his head to look upon his face.
The gleam in Mered’s eyes told him his spouse wanted to be buggered without delay. So he grabbed the bottle of oil on the bedside table, making a note to himself that it needed replenishing soon. He anointed his shaft liberally with the unctuous liquid then likewise coated his fingers to ensure Mered’s comfort as he prepared his arse for penetration.
Yovan gazed down at his mate, awed all over again that he’d been gifted with so glorious a creature.
“Still irresistible,” he huskily said as he bent to taste Mered’s plump lips.
Mered colored charmingly. “You’re one to talk,” he replied.
He wrapped his arms around Yovan and drew him into a long, impassioned kiss.
“Have me,” Mered murmured against Yovan’s lips. “Make me yours.”
Yovan smiled. His hand crept between Mered’s thighs.
“You are mine as I am yours,” he whispered. “And after we bind, it will be for all our lives to come.”
He caught Mered’s lips once more in a molten kiss as he readied him for his taking. Soon there were only the sounds and thoughts of true mates reaffirming the fullness of their union.
My heart, my love, my forever one.