I am not expecting Caspian to be home when I return to Aikyam Palace the following evening. So when I walk into our room to see him unbuttoning a shirt, I can't help but gasp loudly. 

“You're home!” 

His head snaps up at my gasp, barely having enough time to catch me as I launch myself into his arms. 

“Oof.” He stumbles back from the force, wrapping his arms around my waist as he steadies us. I hadn’t realized just how much I missed him until now. Any heaviness I’d felt immediately dissipates as his familiar scent surrounds me. I press my face into his chest, breathing him in. 

“Did you miss me?” He chuckles, patting my head gently.

“Of course I missed you.” I pull away enough to frown up at him.

Caspian leans down to kiss me. He touches a hand to my cheek, trailing it down to my chin to kiss me again. That small action is enough to tell me he feels the same. Nearly two weeks apart, the longest we’d gone since knowing each other.

He returns my grin with a soft smile of his own, tucking a loc behind my ear. “I heard you spent your weekend with Ronan and Gemma. Did you enjoy your time?”

“I always do. Between the two of them, there's never a dull moment."

"Ronan by himself is enough to not have a dull moment. Or a quiet one." Caspian steps away from me in order to finish changing, pulling off the shirt he's wearing and pulling on his pajama shirt. I follow suit, changing as quickly as possible and meeting Caspian in the bedroom once more. "Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Interesting? Not real...Oh! Gemma! She’s pregnant!”

Caspian hums, leading me to the bed. “That does not surprise me. I thought it would happen sooner to be honest. Werewolves are not ones to wait very long to begin having pups.” He settles me onto his lap, arms wrapped around me. His chin is tucked against the crook of my shoulder. “How do you feel about it?”

“I’m excited for her,” I answer honestly, playing with his fingers. “I’m jealous too though. I know it’s stupid but…they’ll be able to have many babies as they want. Knowing how happy Ronan is it wouldn’t shock me if they have a big family. Meanwhile, I can only have one baby. It doesn’t feel fair.”

“It’s okay to feel that way. Have you talked to Gemma about it?”

“No. I don’t want to make her feel bad.” I sigh, shifting so I can rest my head on his shoulder. “I wonder if there’s a cure.”

“A cure? You mean a way to break the curse?”

I nod wordlessly and Caspian hums again. “Perhaps. That is something we will have to ask someone more versed in curses. Is it something you wish to do now, or after you are crowned Queen?”

My answer is a shrug. I’d always thought I wanted to at least start having kids before reaching 30, but knowing I’m limited, I’m not sure if I should wait longer before trying for a baby. Besides, knowing my lifespan is different from what I originally thought means I don’t need to rush to have a child anyway.

That thought reminds me of my conversation with Riol and I snap my head up, startling Caspian who looks at me questioningly. “What is it?”

"How old are you?"

His hands, which had been trailing very lightly on my thighs, pause. I wonder if I made a mistake asking. "Why do you ask?"

"Is it something I shouldn't know? Riol told me to ask."

Caspian grips my thigh lightly before standing, setting me gently on the bed. He strides over to the door, yanking it open. Riol is on the other side, eyes dancing in amusement. 

"Don't want your wife to know how much of an old man you are?"

Caspian scoffs, gesturing for Riol to enter the room. "Did you tell her you are a good 100 years older than me?"

One hundred? One hundred? I know the lifespans in Sedalia are different, but Riol barely looks thirty. To say he has a full century on Caspian! Did that mean Riol is over two hundred years old? Three hundred? And how old did that make Caspian? He doesn't look much younger than Riol. Was he over one hundred as well? Why was I just now asking about this? This feels like something Rosedriah or someone should have told me months ago!

"I think you've broken the poor princess." I hear Riol chuckle.

Caspian is in front of me, taking my face lightly in his hands. "Dove. I am not old enough to be your father if that counts for anything."

"That wasn't a concern of mine before now!" I squeak, prompting a shout of laughter from Riol.

"I have yet to hit forty. I've only recently celebrated my 35th birthday."

“Only? That’s still such a big age gap!” Riol’s laughter grows even louder, though I don’t pay him much attention, still trying to wrap my mind around Caspian’s age. I haven’t reached my 25th birthday yet. Eleven years may not be a huge deal in Sedalia but I wouldn’t even consider dating someone that much older than me back on Earth.

“An age difference of a few decades is not unheard of, Dove, and we're not even half that.” Caspian brushes his thumbs against my cheeks, bringing my eyes to his once more. “I will live for several hundred years. You will live for at least a few hundred. Our age difference will mean very little in the grand scheme of things.”

The fact that Riol’s laughter is no longer ringing in the background doesn’t occur to me right away. I frown up at Caspian, mulling over what he just said. “My human blood means I most likely will have a shortened life span.”

Caspian sits next to me, lifting me into his lap once more. “Your human blood is only a small part of you, Dove. You will have an extended lifespan. At the very least you will live to be at least 200.”

“Two hundred? I was expecting to croak out at 90.”

His arms wrap around my waist and he pulls me so we are laying on the bed. “Ninety is far too short. I would sooner search for a way to lengthen your lifespan than lose you so early.”

I feel my breath catch in my throat. I frown again. “I’ll be old and wrinkly by then.”

“I think you are severely underestimating how slow you will visibly age.” He cups my cheek, tilting my head up with a gentle chuckle at my persistent frown. “It is much slower than you are expecting. Try not to worry about it too much.”

That’s easier said than done but I let out a sigh anyway, nodding. He was right that it wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things. We are already set to be married. Whether he's eleven years or a hundred years older than me wouldn't change that fact. But this knowledge now has me wondering about his family. From what I assume he went home to see them. Did his parents have an age gap too? They probably also look young for how old they most likely are. “How was your trip back home?”

“Hm? It was alright. Mostly work. My sister needed a favor.”

I sit up so I am leaning on one arm, looking down at him. “You have a sister?”

“I have four siblings.”

“Four?!” I sit up fully and Caspian clicks his tongue, reaching for me and pulling me back against his side. I wiggle until he relents enough to let me move away from him a bit. “What are their names? What are they like? Do they look like you?”

Caspian chuckles, seeming amused at my questions. “There are three above me, two brothers and a sister, and I have a younger sister as well.” At my silent stare he smiles. “Venn is the oldest, and obviously next in line for the throne.”

That throws me off guard. For some reason the idea of Caspian being a prince never even crossed my mind. It made sense that Rosedriah would choose someone of royalty to marry me.

“Caerwyn is the next oldest. He is over all of Eiland’s military, and as such I don’t spend as much time with him as I do my other siblings. Under him is my sister Fiona. She…actually I am not entirely sure what she does, other than work in health. She may be the head of the Kingdom’s healthcare system but I’ve never asked her specifics. I just know she is always busy.

“Then we have me, who you should know quite well by now. And under me is the youngest, Elvi. She is still too young to have a job so she spends her days learning. I am actually unsure if she knows what it is she wishes to do just yet, but there is no rush. She is still a child by Elvish standards, not yet twenty years old.”

“Is she the one who needed the favor?”

Caspian nods. “When I was still home, I was the go to for planning celebrations, balls and the like. Elvi’s birthday is coming up, and she gets overwhelmed quite easily. I was asked to go back home and help her.”

That explains why he’s so comfortable with planning our wedding. Maybe I could get him to help with the coronation too.

“Does that mean you’re going back to attend?”

“We are going to attend.”

I sit up once more and Caspian makes no move to stop me, though he has a hand resting on my hip. “We?”

“Did you think I was going without you?”

I shrug. “Kind of.”

Caspian stares at me for a moment before once again pulling me down, tucking me against him. “Dove, why wouldn’t I bring you with me? We are going to be married. I think it’s only appropriate for my fiancée to be with me.”

It feels silly, thinking that he would be going alone. There is no logical reason why I would even think something like that. We are a couple, for all intents and purposes. It made sense that I would have to meet his family sooner or later. 

Knowing he wanted me there, though, made this relationship feel that much more real. Not that it wasn’t real before. But now I can’t help but feel a little dumb, especially considering the fact that he’s more or confessed to me on multiple occasions. 

I play with the collar of his shirt, trying to ignore the fact that he’s brushing his fingers along my lower back. Taking a deep breath, I let it out in a long, soft sigh before saying, “So when are we leaving.”

“Next week. I’ve already taken the liberty of explaining to your teachers that you will be gone for the week.”

Beneath the sudden nerves at meeting Caspian’s family, I can’t help but be excited to travel. Other than the trip to Leon’s birthday, I haven’t had a chance to leave Sedalia. From the way both Caspian and Riol describe it, Eiland promises to be breathtakingly beautiful. Not only that, but it’s a chance to see where Caspian grew up. 

Next week can’t get here fast enough.