Damien did his best ignoring his sickness, but it still refused to go away. And then Anna fell ill as well and he grew even more worried.

They had barely established any kind of domestic routine and Damien would never describe either of them as housebuilding types, but now everything was falling apart. Anna was so exhausted she nearly burned the whole house when cooking dinner and Damien was not strong enough to let her stay in bed all day.

Still, when Alysanne came for a visit, Damien did his best to summon up his cheerful self.
"I see your family's going to grow again. Or at least you are. Anyway, congratulations, dear sister!"
"Thanks?" Alysanne smiled, but she could see something was off about Damien.

Still, she let him lead her to his pregnant wife and did her best to try to find a topic for conversation. All her efforts however failed. Anna didn't care to dream about their babies, talk about books or art, or anything else Alysanne could think of.
After a few more tried she gave up and settled for listening to the other woman complain about her pregnancy. "If I knew I would feel tired all the time, I would have done something. And my feet hurt and I can't even sleep with my husband!"
"It will pass... I speak from experience." Alysanne didn't add that taking care of a newborn didn't generally make one less tired. In her mind having a child was worth every worry and every moment of broken sleep.

Anna was still talking when they entered Damien's house, but suddenly Alysanne's attention was turned away from her list of woes.
She had previously thought Damien had looked rather pale and tired, but the coughing fit she saw looked much worse than she had imagined. There was something about it that brought before her eyes the image of her mother she barely remembered and for a few moments Alysanne could only stare in shock.
But this was not then. She was not a helpless baby any more. She forced herself to breathe in and out, to swallow the panic building up in her, and think clearly.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
On a second thought, they had both looked pale and tired. Anna had been so lively and shining at her wedding that Alysanne couldn't imagine pregnancy alone could change her so much.
But what was more important, she remembered an old recipe that might help.

"A soup?" Damien repeated. "How would that help?"
"It is supposed to give people strength needed to recover. Something about the herbs in it, I never really understood that part, but according to my grandmother it should work. It could help you." Alysanne tried to not really listen to herself. She knew how stupid it would sound, but she couldn't lose her enthusiasm now.
"Grandmother? I didn't know you had a grandmother..."
This threw Alysanne of her track and she stared at Damien for a few seconds. "Of course I... I mean... I found some notes written by our father's mother. She was supposed to be quite a healer. And there was this recipe..."

Alysanne's voice trailed off and left a silent question hanging in the air. But by then Damien had caught up with his own mouth.
"We'll try anything that has a chance of working. Me and Anna."
He glanced at his wife, who was by then lying in bed, her breathing rather strained. He didn't care if this mythical grandmother was supposed to be a magician or half-dragon, if her recipe was a soup or an amulet. Any chance was better than what he had and he would be a fool to refuse the offer.
"Thank you." He said and embraced his sister.

They came the next day, Damien grim but holding tight to the hope, Anna just trusting her husband and not caring for much else.

Alysanne was more worried than she tried to let on. For all her pretended faith, she had never tried the recipe before. She didn't know for sure it would do anything, or even if she was preparing it correctly.
Still, she did her best to smile.
"What was this grandmother of yours like?"
Delia had been glued to her mother and full of questions ever since Alysanne came up with the idea. She had grown up with the knowledge that her only relations in the world were the Lorimers and that it would be best not to mention this to them. She had heard hints of the history between her grandfather and Liam Lorimer, but she had no idea where her grandfather had originally come from. Any hope that there might actually be more family fascinated her.
Alysanne shrugged her shoulders. "There wasn't much in the notes. Quite a lot of it was about magic and some mental exercises I don't understand. And the rest was about politics and hideouts."

She was spared more questions when Damien and Anna arrived.
The family meal was mostly silent. Alysanne was still trying not to appear too nervous, Anna wolfed down the soup as if she was starving and even Delia was looking down into her bowl, swallowing most of her questions. The two men tried to keep some conversation going, but the air was too full of tension and expectation for it to last.

"Do you feel any better?" As her brother was preparing to leave, Alysanne could no longer hold the question.
Damien hesitated for a moment. He didn't feel any change as yet, but at the same time he didn't want to give up his hope just yet.
"It was delicious, anyway." Anna said and Damien added a smile and hugged his sister.
"Thank you." He said instead of any other answer.

The next few days proved his hope had not been misplaced.
The illness vanished and Damien was delighted to watch how Anna begun to bloom again. Her growing belly might have slowed her down and sapped her energy, but it was great to see her smile again.
Life was once again turning good.

It didn't take long and Anna went into labour.
Damien could only watch as she shrieked in pain and all his calming words sounded completely lame when confronted with reality. Anna was cursing all men and their uselessness, screaming for Damien to bring help, but he didn't really know where to find it or dare leave her alone.

And then it was over. The whole affair only lasted a few hours, but to Damien it felt like forever. Still, what was important was that Anna was safe, if exhausted, and holding a healthy baby boy.
"Who's my big man?" Anna cooed to the baby, still filled with whatever it was that helped her through her ordeal. "Will you grow up as handsome as your daddy?"
The mention of the baby's father reminded Damien of the dilemma that surrounded their wedding. The baby boy was tiny and Damien couldn't distinguish any features that would point to either him or Adrian, but he showed promise to have fair hair. Did that mean Adrian had been right?
Damien bit his lip, surprised at his own disappointment. It wasn't like he ever wanted a child.

Before he could sort out his thoughts, however, Anna's expression changed. Her giddiness drained away from her face and then she looked simply exhausted, holding the little baby as something foreign and awfully heavy.
There would be time to understand everything later. For now the baby was washed and placed in a crib and his parents returned to their bed to catch at least some sleep.