Summary: All Piers wanted was to find the man who had destroyed the life of his youngest daughter. But when he finally found him, it was not what he had expected to find. Character death.
A/N: Something that got into my head while listening to overly dramatic music (in the middle of the night to boot), and it would not go away. The prologue is set about 20 months after the end of Lady Knight.
A Father's Pain
Part 1: Prologue – August, 462 HE
Baron Piers of Mindelan had always been a calm person. Very few people outside of his immediate family could say that they had seen him lose control over his emotions.
There had, of course, been exceptions, all of which involved his family. And you could see that he had a particular soft spot for his youngest daughter, Keladry.
Which was why was hopping mad right now. He had let Kel go through the training for Knighthood, worrying all the while that something terrible would happen to her, he had seen her knighted at Midwinter nearly 3 years ago. He and Ilane had both wept tears of relief and pride when they received word that she and he companions had returned safely from Scanra; Kel with her newly earned nickname, Protector of the Small.
But nothing could have prepared him for this shock. Piers paced the room more as his wife and daughter looked at him through worried, and in Kel's case, ashamed, eyes.
"I'm sorry, Papa," said Kel in a small voice. "Do you hate me?"
That stopped him in his tracks. His own daughter thought that he hated her. Ilane was already at Kel's side as Piers started to talk.
"Kel, no! We don't hate you, nowhere near!" he said. "A bit disappointed, yes. But never angry, at you at least." He added.
And when I find out who did this to you, Kel, they are going to wish they were dead…
Kel frowned slightly at him, sensing what he was getting at. "I'm just as much to blame though, even…" Kel choked on the words. "Even if I was drunk, we both were." Kel looked at the floor, not even trying to hide the blush of red creeping up her cheeks.
Ilane laid a comforting hand on her daughter's arm. "You know who the father is then?" she asked gently.
"Of course I do! Do really think I'd get pregnant without knowing that?" she asked them indigently, knocking her mother's arm away.
"No, Kel, we didn't." said Ilane, who looked worried at the look which was settling into her husband's face.
"Who is the father, Kel?" Piers asked quietly.
Kel just stared at him in horror, she couldn't answer, she just couldn't. She could see perfectly well that if her father found out who the father of her child was, he would well and truly rip shreds off him. She could not betray him.
Kel struggled to regain her composure, and then looked him squarely in the eye. "Do you really need to know Papa?"
Ilane broke in here; she had guessed that Kel wouldn't say anything. "Piers, leave it be, if Kel want's to tell us, she will." The look Kel sent her mother was one of such gratitude that it made Ilane wonder what Kel thought of the baby's father.
Piers sighed, his shoulders drooping, "Fine," He said quietly. "I'll leave you two to talk a bit longer.
He lingered outside the door for a moment, only to hear Kel breakdown into tears. It was in that single moment that Baron Piers of Mindelan made a pact to him self.
He would find the man who did this to Kel, and he would make them pay.
All Ilane could do was hold her daughter as she cried. She herself was still reeling at the fact that her baby girl was two months pregnant, out of wedlock, with her own child.
As Kel started to calm down, she started to talk. "Are you sure that you and Papa don't hate me? Goddess knows, I hate me right now."
"Never, my darling, surprised is all." Ilane tried to soothe her. "And I'm glad that you didn't tell your father who the baby's father is, I don't fancy trying to keep him from doing something silly."
Kel was silent for a while after this, drawing some comfort from her mother's embrace. "I still love him, Mama," she quietly.
"The baby's father?" her mother questioned.
Kel nodded. "I'd had crush on him for years, the alcohol didn't induce my feelings for him," she sighed. "I just can't believe I was so stupid!" Kel let a few more tears roll down her cheeks before swiping them away.
Ilane looked at Kel, it was then that she realised something. "You didn't tell him you were with child, did you?"
"How could I, Mama? I couldn't even face him after that night, even before I knew," Kel said in a broken voice. "No one at the palace knew, I didn't say anything to anyone, I was too afraid."
"Kel, it's ok. Rest now, you need it." Ilane said, leading Kel to her room.
As Kel entered her room, Ilane felt her heart ache for her daughter, the sadness that had engrained it's self in to her very demeanour was going to take a long time to remove.
Months passed at Mindelan. The bulge of Kel's abdomen grew more and more pronounced as she spent a lot of her time either in her room, or practicing her archery. When the healer told Kel that she was carrying twins, both girls, she was shocked, to say the least.
And as Kel felt those twin girls move around in her belly and pondered names for them, her thoughts kept slipping back towards their father. What would he say when, if, he found out? Another niggling feeling that she kept getting as the weeks ticked slowly by, told her she herself would not be around to watch her girls grow up.
A/N: Hmm… my first multi-chapter fic. What do you think? I mean what happens to Kel is probable obvious, but oh well. This will probably only be 3-4 chapters long, unless I'm suddenly struck with inspiration for continuing it. And you'll find out who the father is eventually, so don't stress.
