The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe

Chapter 448: Side story 3: A Normal Morning

"Understood, Mummy," Lyra said, bowing her head in that ridiculously formal way she’d copied from Damar when he was pretending to listen to tribe elders.

​She stepped forward, her posture perfectly erect, and effortlessly took Sora from my arms.

Sora immediately giggled, her pale snow-tiger ears flattening as she buried her face in Lyra’s perfectly braided silver hair. Lyra didn’t flinch, but her tail did the ’thing’ where she’s excited to be holding her baby siblings but her face doesn’t show it.

​"Come, Kaelen," Lyra directed her sharp emerald eyes down at the black-haired menace currently dangling from my left arm. "If you try to bite my boots, I will submerge you in the aqueduct pool myself."

​Kaelen blinked his wide, dark wolf eyes, let out a tiny, high-pitched yip, and immediately let his limbs go limp, allowing Lyra to scruff him with her free hand.

She turned on her heel, her long, elegant stride carrying the one-year-old speedsters straight toward the grand courtyard doors to give them their court-mandated morning snow roll.

​"They are going to burn the school down today, Arinya," Taruna remarked, a deeply amused, soft smile splitting her face as she watched Lyra lead the toddlers out.

Well, it wouldn’t be the first time.

"King Noah’s older children who are managing the gate security this morning are already laughing."

​"Well, if the kids burn it down again, Harok will just have to rebuild it again," I groaned, rolling my shoulders as the tension finally began to ease. "Taruna, go ahead and start on the morning broth for the nursery. I’m going to go wake up the sleeping giants before the toddlers decide to come back inside for a rematch."

​"Right away, Arinya," Taruna nodded, turning toward the palace kitchens with a light, rhythmic step.

​I turned back toward the stairs, dragging my feet up the stone steps. The silence in the corridor was a temporary luxury, but the second I pushed the heavy oak door of the Sovereign Wing open, the sheer domestic ridiculousness of my life hit me in the face.

​Damar was exactly in the same position I left him in—sprawled out on his stomach like a massive, pale, beautiful ribbon, completely paralyzed because Nadir had now shifted so his little head was resting directly on Damar’s throat. His thumb was still hooked into the silk of Damar’s robe.

​Noah and Fenric were no longer on the couches. They were standing on either side of the bed, their massive arms crossed over their broad chests, staring down at the serpent with identical expressions of pure, unadulterated petty frustration.

​"He did it on purpose," Fenric muttered, his ruby eyes narrowing as his tiger tail gave a sharp, agitated flick against his thigh. "Look at him. He’s pretending to be trapped so he doesn’t have to carry the firewood today."

​"The boy is four," Noah rumbled back, his deep wolf voice a low vibration that made the floorboards hum. "He doesn’t know logistics, Fenric. But the snake? The snake definitely timed his breathing to keep him asleep."

​"I am a cold-blooded creature in the dead of winter," Damar’s smooth, muffled voice drifted from beneath Nadir’s small body. He didn’t open his emerald eyes, but a smug, low purr vibrated deep in his chest. "If I move, the boy will freeze. I am simply practicing paternal devotion. Go away. Your heavy breathing is disturbing my heir."

​"Heir to what? The lazy squad?" I chimed in, leaning against the doorframe with my arms crossed, a massive smirk breaking across my face.

​The three heads snapped toward me instantly. Noah’s expression softened into a warm, relieved smile, while Fenric immediately stepped away from the bed, his broad chest puffing out as he walked toward me.

​"Arinya," Fenric murmured, his large hand coming up to cup the back of my neck, his thumb tracing the burning mating mark on my collarbone. "The little one trapped us. It wasn’t my fault the sports ended early."

​"Yeah, yeah, blame the toddler," I laughed, swatting his hand away playfully before walking over to the bed. I leaned down, gently pinching Nadir’s chubby cheek. "Wake up, little star. Big sister Lyra is already outside rolling the twins in the snow."

​Nadir’s emerald eyes fluttered open instantly at the mention of his siblings. He let out a loud, dramatic baby yawn, scrambling off Damar’s neck like a little monkey.

"Snow!" he chirped, completely abandoning his father to dive straight into Noah’s waiting arms.

​Noah caught him effortlessly, his dark wolf ears perking up as he settled the boy on his hip. "Let’s go get your boots, little tiger."

​Damar finally sat up, his silver hair cascading around his shoulders as he let out a low, dramatic sigh, rubbing his neck where Nadir had been compressing his throat.

"He definitely has your energy, Ari. It’s exhausting."

​"Well, while he has my energy, he has your dramatics, Damar," I countered, tossing a fresh tunic at his face. "Now get up, all of you. Lyra says Raiden and Phina are giving away the kingdom’s fruit reserves to the rabbit kits, and Kaito and Marina are currently plotting a mass drowning on the playground. Move it, boys. Your circus needs its ringmasters."

​Noah laughed, Fenric grumbled, and Damar smoothly slid out of bed with that terrifyingly elegant grace, his emerald eyes locking onto mine with a lingering, heated promise for later tonight.

Gosh, let’s just hope we don’t get interrupted once again tonight. I was also having fun.

​I looked at my four completely ridiculous, powerful husbands and the silver-haired boy currently pulling on Noah’s ears, and I couldn’t help the fierce, bubbling laughter that filled my chest.

Well, let’s just see.

Down at the nursery school entrance, the scene was exactly the kind of beautiful disaster I’d come to expect from my bloodline.

Raiden and Phina were practically glowing with benevolence, knelt down in the fresh powder with wide, bright smiles. Five-year-olds who looked ten, they completely towered over the tiny rabbit kits, but they were handling them like fragile glass.

Raiden was carefully peeling a winter-sweet orange, handing the slices out to a cluster of twitching pink noses, while Phina was gently patting a kit’s head, her soft laughter ringing out across the stone archway.

"They are too soft," a sharp, childish voice hissed from above.