She sighed, her arms wrapped protectively about her belly. “I don’t know where he is. I’ve not seen him since the winter. He doesn’t know about the child.”
“Then it is his?”
“Of course it is. Do you think so little of me that you imagine I would lie with any man?”
Ramón shook his head. “I no longer know what to think. You’ve done a magnificent job of ruining your life.”
“I was left with few choices. What would you have done?”
“It doesn’t have to be that way anymore. Finus is dead.”
Her chin came up. “So it’s true? Finus died of his wounds?”
“He died a month after the wounds inflicted the night you fled with Anton. His death was slow and at the end, he asked for your forgiveness.”
Alecia snorted. “I’ll never forgive him. I’m glad he’s dead. He was at the root of all that was evil in Brightcastle.”
She had changed in more ways than just her pregnancy. How had his Alecia grown into this hard woman who no longer trusted? Ramón almost gasped out loud as he realized what he had thought. His Alecia. She wasn’t his, not anymore. He had thought those feelings long dead but the woman before him still had a hold over his heart, despite the fact he had a wife waiting for him.
“Princess, all that’s left to restore Brightcastle is your return. Much has changed and the kingdom needs you.” He studied the effect his words had on her, a mixture of hope and despair. “Please come home.”
“Curious that you would wish me back when you have such a cozy arrangement with Princess Benae,” Alecia said. “Or did I misinterpret your feelings for her?”
His face heated for the second time. “You didn’t misinterpret. Benae is the woman you always said I’d find.”
Her eyes narrowed as if she was only just seeing Ramón. “You’ve changed,” she said, walking around him and stopping to peer up into his eyes. “Your shoulders have broadened, and your eyes are no longer… innocent. You move with assurance and grace and… danger. I’m glad you’re happy, but your position as lover to the princess will make it hard for our friendship. I’ll never accept her.”
“I’m her husband and joint steward of Brightcastle, appointed by the king himself, and you will accept Benae. You have no choice.”
“We shall see.”
“Come back with me, Princess. We’ll enter Brightcastle under cover of darkness and hide you away until the babe is born. One of the maids can raise it and you’ll be free to be the princess once again.” He took her hands in his, willing her to see sense.
“You talk of my child as if I can just cast him off,” she said, dragging her hands free. “Part of me is in this child. Why would I want to disown him, no matter how I feel about his father?”
“Did he rape you?”
“Ramón!” Her face colored and her eyes dropped from his.
“Tell me what happened, Alecia. Did he hurt you?”
She turned toward the farmhouse. “This is none of your business.”
“I will kill him. I’ll track him down and kill him, I vow.”
Alecia kept walking toward the house, and he followed. She spun to face him. “Leave now. I’ll send word when I’m ready to return, but I’ll never pretend this child isn’t mine.”
Her words stung him and yet again he realized Alecia had integrity he could never claim. She would never disown her child, no matter what the populace thought of her.
“You think I can leave now, knowing where you are?”
“I’m not returning with you.”
“Then I’ll bring the king here and he’ll convince you.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” she said, lilac eyes full of determination. “I’ll deliver my babe, and, after a suitable recovery, we’ll return to Brightcastle. And we shall see who is mistress thereafter.”
The door swung open and Mistress Andra stood with her arms crossed. “What’s the meaning of all this yelling? Alecia, you should know better than to get yourself worked up like this. It’s not good for the babe.”
Ramón frowned and chewed his lip, but Alecia blushed deeply. “I’m sorry, Dana.” She turned to Ramón. “This is Lord Ramón of Brightcastle.”
“We’ve met, and the last time we talked, Lord Zorba was headed north.” She turned her eyes to Ramón. “You’re now trespassing, Sir.”
“Never mind,” Alecia said. “He was just leaving.”
“Oh no I’m not, Princess. I meant what I said.”
Alecia looked at him with exasperation, but Mistress Andra frowned and stepped backward across the threshold. “You’d better come inside.”
Chapter 17
Alecia’s belly went rock hard as she waddled over to take a seat at the kitchen table. She breathed deeply, trying to disguise her discomfort, but Dana wasn’t fooled. She laid her palm on Alecia’s abdomen, feeling for the contractions.
“All will be well,” she said. “Your body prepares for the birth.”
“I wish to take her back to Brightcastle,” Ramón said. “The midwife there can manage her.”
Alecia frowned at his tentative smile. He didn’t care for the babe, only to get her back within his world. She studied her old friend, noticing the subtle difference life had wrought over the past seasons. He had grown in stature and confidence, and the quiet light of assurance glowed in his gaze. He believed in himself now, and Alecia knew he would be difficult to refuse.
Dana said. “The trip could kill her or the babe or both. It can’t be risked.”
Again, there was a tension around Dana’s eyes that spoke to Alecia of some worry she held. Pain stabbed through her lower abdomen and she gasped and clutched her stomach. Was the babe coming now? She cried out as another spasm, worse than the first, hit her.
She felt herself lifted and carried into her bedroom, laid gently on the bed. Dana’s hands ran over her stomach, pressing hard against the child. Alecia groaned. “Make the pain go away.”
Dana left and Ramón’s fingers clutched at hers, squeezing tight, his warmth comforting. “I won’t leave you, Alecia. I was mad to agree last time.”
She shook her head, but another pain hit and by the time it passed, Dana was back with her potion. She drank, propped against the pillows with Dana’s arm around her shoulders. A warm wave of lethargy seeped over her making her blessedly sleepy. The last thing she remembered was Dana slipping her arm free and the covers being drawn up to her chin.
Ramón closed the door of the bedroom quietly and watched Dana Andra as she paced across the living room, a frown on her brow.
“What’s wrong?”
“Perhaps nothing,” Dana answered, still pacing.
He stepped before her. “Tell me.”
She looked up at him. “You truly care for the princess?”
“I’d do anything for her.”
“I’ve birthed dozens of babes and I believe this child lies bottom down. He can’t be born that way and his position causes the pain the princess suffers.”
Ramón frowned, a tendril of fear curling around his gut. He couldn’t lose Alecia now he had found her! “I’ll take her to Brightcastle. There’ll be someone who can help her.
“She can’t be moved.” Dana wrung her hands. “You saw her. It would be agony.”
“Dosed up with your potion I could get her there.”
“No.” Dana’s voice was flat, uncompromising.
He drew himself up. No mere farmwife was going to stand in his way. “You have no say in the matter, Mistress. If you don’t feel competent to deliver this child and save Alecia, I must find someone who can.”
“Then find someone, but she stays here.”
Master Andra appeared in the doorway with his short bow, an arrow trained at Ramón’s chest. “I don’t want to shoot you, boy, but use that tone with my wife again and I will. The princess goes nowhere.”
He stared into the farmer’s eyes, seeing the steely determination that allowed him to survive in this hostile land. Perhaps
they were right. It might kill Alecia to move her now. Another solution must be found. He slapped his palm against the wall in frustration.
“Where can I go for help?”
At that moment Alecia screamed and they all turned toward the bedroom. Dana stopped Ramón when he would have entered. “Let me talk to her,” she said. “It’s time I spoke the truth.”
Fear took Alecia’s breath. What Dana said couldn’t be true. But the pain! She’d die if she had to face much more of this. “Are you certain these aren’t birth pains? Perhaps there’s nothing wrong.”
Dana smiled and Alecia hated the sympathy in the woman’s gaze. She felt tears smart her own eyes.
“It’s not your time yet, Alecia. Your pains are a sign the babe isn’t resting as he should be. You’re in your last month and he should be ready for birth. Instead he sits head upright. I can’t bring him into the world as he is.”
“Might he not turn of his own accord?”
“He might.”
“But you don’t think he will.”
“I pray to the Goddess every night that all will be well and that I’ll deliver you a healthy baby.”
Alecia swallowed, her throat thick with fear. “I’m not ready for death yet, Dana.” She thought of Vard never knowing his child, not even knowing he had a child and realized that her babe’s life was more important than her own. An idea grew in her mind, one that would ensure the survival of her child and provide protection for him. She fixed her gaze upon Dana and took a deep breath.
“When the babe comes, if he’s still breech and cannot be born, you must cut him from my body.”
Dana gasped and clutched her hands. “No, Princess. I won’t do it. Don’t ask it of me.”
Ramón pushed into the room, his face incredulous. “How can you say such a thing to Mistress Andra?” His blue gaze accused her and anger stood in every line of his body. “You won’t throw your life away.”
She struggled to sit up in the bed and pulled the covers over her naked belly. Ramón had hate in his eyes and it seemed directed at her child, at her gravid stomach. “If it appears the situation is hopeless then Dana must do as I say. At least the child will survive, and even I may have a chance.”
“No,” he said, the sound like the single drum stroke after a death. “You’ll have no chance. You’ll die, and I won’t allow it.”
“Better that than lose us both.”
“No!” Ramón advanced on the bed, rage contorting his features. “My sister was in just exactly this position when she labored with my nephew. The surgeon thought he could cut the babe from her womb. The child was already dead and I watched my sister die from blood loss. Do you know how that feels?”
Alecia felt an answering grief within her. “Yes, I know how it feels to watch a loved one die,” she said quietly, suddenly calm and sure of her decision. “If I am to die, I still want my child to know life.” She stared up at Ramón. “And to know his father.”
“No!” he said. “That bastard has done enough. He has no place in your life.”
She reached for his hand. “I need him, Ramón.”
“No.”
“I need him, and so does this child. Please, I need to see him one more time. Think of it as a last request.”
Ramón covered his face in his hands, his shoulders trembling. Alecia felt miserable at having to use him like this, but realization of her mortality crystallized her focus. Vard was out there somewhere and this child needed him. She needed him even if it was merely to hold her hand as she died. “Find him for me, Ramón, and bring him here.”
His head snapped up; eyes wide. “If I find him, I’ll kill him,” he ground out.
“No, you won’t,” she said, gently. “I know you’d do anything for me. I believe in our friendship. Remember that when you find Vard and do as I ask.” She knew he couldn’t resist her request.
“I’ll find him if I can.”
She drew him closer. “I know you’ll succeed. He told me he was heading east but I don’t know if he did. I have dark dreams and I think Vard… I think he may be changed.” She couldn’t reveal Vard’s secret, but neither could she send Ramón out there unprepared.
“You think he’s insane?”
“Just be careful. I see you are changed as well, and I think you’re the man for the task.”
He raised his head, eyes full of pride. Alecia wished she deserved the smile that lit his blue eyes. She could only hope he’d find Vard, that he was equal to the task of finding the only man she had ever loved. Ramón and Vard would ensure her child lived, and one day someone would tell him of her gift of life. She smiled up at him. He kissed her forehead with a gentle brush of his lips and left the room.
Chapter 18
Ramón sat by his fire, the morning cold for the summer season, sipping the last of his breakfast tea and mulling over the previous two weeks. The flames entranced him, for he hoped to see in their dancing brightness a vision that would tell him where his search lay. Time was running out, but he felt closer to his quarry by the day. Searching for the father of Alecia’s babe had truly been like trying to find a speck of gold in all the sand of Wildecoast, but as he talked to farmers and loggers and read the signs of the forest, he had started to piece together a picture. He didn’t like it.
Alecia’s parting words echoed in his mind – he may be changed. Ramón thought he knew what the princess had hinted at, though he didn’t want to believe it. Over the last two weeks he had ranged far and wide, sending his men across the area to gather information on the movements of strangers, dark elves and bandits. What he heard concerned him and would upset the king. There was certainly activity by the dark elves when it was thought they had retreated far to the north.
Bandits were no more an issue than they had always been, but a dark creature of some type, or maybe more than one, plagued the countryside over a wide area. Descriptions varied, but always the howling was mentioned. Man, monster or wolf, a creature stalked the people of these outlying farms and homesteads. There had been livestock taken, and Ramón now camped in an area where an attack had occurred the night before last. All reports said the livestock they found were mutilated, the flesh torn by giant teeth. In the last attack a huge black wolf had knocked a farmer down as he beat his son for disobedience. The man was shaken but uninjured. Ramón was secretly glad he had been so punished for the treatment of his son.
No matter the information he had gathered, Ramón knew he would have to head back to the Andras soon and didn’t want to go empty-handed. Alecia’s time was running out, and if this pregnancy must result in her death, he wished to see her one last time.
The hairs on the back of his neck stirred and he looked around the tiny clearing, trying to discover the cause of his unease.
Movement stirred at the edge of his vision. He turned as a man in ragged clothes hurtled into him and knocked him flat, before spinning to face him from mere paces away. Ramón sprang to his feet and drew his sword, waving it at the interloper. His attacker was tall with black hair that hung in dirty locks halfway down his chest. A thick beard covered his face and his eyes were feral… and familiar! Gold-flecked green eyes glared at Ramón out of that hairy face, eyes he hadn’t seen in more than eight months.
Excitement coursed through his veins, the beating of his heart loud in his ears. Anton snarled as if he were about to leap upon him again. “Captain Anton, it’s Ramón Zorba,” he said, tensed for Anton’s attack. “I must take you to the princess.”
The captain cocked his head to the side as if hearing something familiar, at least Ramón hoped that was the case. Perhaps if he kept talking?
“The princess is in trouble and wants to see you, nay, must see you. She’s dying.” Saying the words made Alecia’s situation all the more real. Ramón had not admitted his fear, even to himself. He was a coward, and her courage and sacrifice shamed him.
But now wasn’t the time for recriminations. He raised his voice, a surge of anger at the unfairness of life strik
ing him. “I said, she is dying.”
Anton snarled at the words and launched himself at Ramón, his human teeth bared and the nails on his fingertips poised to rake his skin. Ramón pulled out of a sword stroke that would’ve killed his attacker and instead hit him in the side of the head with the flat of the blade. Anton was deflected sideways by the blow and fell to the earth on the other side of the fire pit, shaking his head, eyes unfocused.
“Come, man,” Ramón said. “Will that be enough to knock some sense into you? I haven’t the time to waste fighting.” It surprised him he truly felt little fear, a far cry from the man who lost Alecia to Vard in the first place.
Anton snarled and leapt for him again and this time Ramón wasn’t quick enough to block the charge. He was knocked to the ground, his opponent’s fingers closing around his neck. He promptly returned the favor, squeezing the hard muscles of Vard’s throat with his own hands. This close, he could see the man was insane, the feral gleam of his golden irises convincing Ramón he was fighting for his life. He wouldn’t let this beast win! He had to return to Alecia, with or without Vard Anton. Desperation gave him strength, and he brought his knee up hard between Anton’s legs to crush his manhood. Hot breath whooshed from his mouth and his eyes rolled up in his head before he rolled off Ramón, hands grasping his genitals. Ramón wasted no time, reaching for his sword and smashing it down upon Anton’s temple. He slumped, his face gone slack and blood rushing from a wound near his left ear.
Ramón stood over him, shoulders heaving. Had he inflicted a mortal wound? He thought back to the night in the garden when his hired assassin had shot Anton twice with a crossbow. He had survived that, so a bump to the head should be nothing. The temptation to finish the task swept over him and he raised his sword, imagining Anton’s head sliced clean from his shoulders. But the memory of Alecia’s shining face, full of trust, filled his mind and he lowered the blade. Vard Anton might not survive the journey back, but at least Alecia could see him one last time. Ramón bound his hands and feet and slung him over his horse.
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