The Secret Life of a Royal Bastard
Chapter Two
I tossed and turned violently in my sleep and shouted out in terror for the nightmare to end.
"Arianna! Wake up! You're having a bad dream!" Alistair's voice snapped me out of my hellish nightmare.
"I'm okay. Just a bad dream..." I told myself with relief in knowing that was all it was. But then reality hit me and I remembered what my dream was about and how it was a memory more than anything.
"Are you alright?" Alistair asked with a concerned expression on his face.
"I'm fine." I said harshly.
"Are you sure? You seem to be quite shaken." his questions infuriated me. I rose to my feet as anger consumed my body.
"Why do you care so damn much?" I screamed at him.
"I just thought tha-" Before he could finish his sentence I cut him off harshly.
"Just thought what? That you could just come to my rescue and take me away from all the pain and humiliation of being a slave?" Tears welled in my eyes as my anger grew. "All humans are the same! Especially you men! All you want is one thing! You don't even care how it affects the other person! Dammit, Thomas! You have no idea how much you make me want to kill myself because of you damn bastard child growing in my womb!" As soon as I had finished screaming my lungs out, I realized what I had said and to whom I had said it to.
Before he could react I ran off and into the darkened forest. The next thing I knew I was standing at the edge of a small pond, watching the still water glisten under the moonlit sky. I found myself wanting to relax in the cool water.
I stripped out of the filthy, torn rag that was called a dress. My stomach poked out only slightly, but I knew what a huge responsibility it would be once the child greeted the world. Slowly I dipped my feet into the calm waters, then I immersed my whole body into the cool waters. My body came to rest on a large rock in the shallow pond, I sat there for what seemed like an eternity before a rustling in the bushes behind me disturbed my blissful peace.
"Arianna...are you alright?" his voice seemed to have just the right thing to bring me back to reality. I couldn't seem to find anything to say to him. I felt horrible, I had scream at this man, who wanted nothing more than to just help me, about something that he had no idea about. I blamed him for all the problems that I had with all my past experiences with humans.
I turned around to face him. The moon made it look as though he were glowing. Slowly I stood up out of the water and I let it all drip off of my body. I saw Alistair's face start to turn shades of red, but he could not bring himself to look away.
His eyes were not focused on my breasts, nor on my womanhood, but on the small bump that was the child growing within my womb. I looked at him and placed my hands on my belly.
"If I am going to continue to care for this child, I'm going to need someone strong to be at my side to help me." I looked at him to watch his face and read his expressions. His face suddenly got very serious and he took his gaze away from my womb and looked me in the eyes.
"Arianna...I had no idea what happened to you, but now that I do know, I would be honored to help you raise your child." He walked over towards me and placed his hands on top of mine. "Let's go back to camp, it's been a long night." He wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and guided me away from the glowing pond and back towards camp.
I awoke the nest morning, in the tent that Alistair had set up for himself. As I sat up the blanket that was covering me fell off and exposed my bare breasts, I shrieked out at the sudden rush of cold air and scrambled to cover myself back up. I tucked the blanket under my arms and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I looked around the inside of the tent and could not find my clothes that I wore the day before. Then I noticed a small pile of clothe in the corner of the tent. I slipped into the tan colored dress, the sleeves fell off of my shoulders and hung onto my upper arms. The skirt was clean and hung down just above my knees, and it was made from a soft material that was as smooth as silk but as tough as leather.
I crawled out of the test to find a still sleeping Alistair. Though he was sitting up against a tree, I could tell he was still asleep.
"Alistair?" I said quietly as I poked his shoulder to wake him up. The small gesture made him wake up violently and fall over from his sleeping position and into a small bush at his side. "Sorry." I said as I helped him back up. "Can I ask you something?" I asked him as I sat down on a stump.
"Anything." He said to me as he stood up to stretch. I watched as he looked around the camp, and then stopped as his gaze fell on my body and the new dress that had been laid out for me.
"About what happened last night, you promise you won't treat me any different than if you wouldn't have found out?" I asked him as I looked down at my stomach.
"Ummm...if that's what you want." he said as he looked down some.
*FLASH*BACK*END*
"I remember buying that dress hoping my sister would like it, but it seemed to suit you better. What ever happened to it?" Alistair asks me, while looking at the outfit that I am wearing. The faded-reddish looking dress has tan colored poofy-shoulders and a slightly longer skirt than my previous attire. It fits loosely around my swollen abdomen and has pretty little flowery designs at the hem of the skirt.
I gaze down at my stomach and poke my bellybutton in a little bit. The eight, going on nine, month old bulge has started to become somewhat of a hassle lately. It is starting to slow us down lately, what would be a one day hike has now been turning into three day trips.
"Well I obviously can't wear it in this state now can I?" I say to him as I rub my belly tenderly, "I think the dress is in my pack, it makes a very good pillow." I say to him, with a small smile on my face.
"Alistair smirks at me and hands me the small bowl of mushrooms and berries. I reach into the bowl and grab a small handful of the mixture. As I eat the small snack, I pick out the mushrooms first, being sure that I leave the sweet berries for last.