Jennifer moved through the halls of the great castle like the hounds of hell were snapping at her heels. Perhaps they were; her long stride moved even faster as her heart began to pound and there was an uncomfortably painful clench in her chest. The children had refused to cease fussing for their Mama; Arwen had demanded with all the authority she had as Heir-Queen that Jennifer seek out her parents and ensure there be peace between them, and the blonde lady-in-waiting could not deny her.

Her shoes clattered noisily against the stone but she wasn't running, no – Ladies did not run, but at the moment Jennifer couldn't have cared any more for etiquette than she did for her damnably uncomfortable shoes.

She needed to get to the Queen. She knew not why, but she had to.

By the Fallen Gods, she needed to.

No sooner had the lady-in-waiting reached the doors of the royal chamber, grasped the handles of the great doors in her slender hands, the doors pulled open from the inside, and revealed the Lord-King himself.

Only he wasn't Aêron.

Jennifer swallowed a gasp in her throat as she blinked and stared hard at the Lord-King's face, peering intently at the dark hair and eyes. It was only a moment ago; one split second previously when she regarded his face and saw cold, icy blue eyes and a curling scowl stare back at her. She swallowed thickly and curtsied stiffly, bowing her head in the slightest at the man before her. "Your…Grace."

Aêron glanced at her coldly, sneering at her over his nose at her probing blue gaze and brushing past the woman impatiently. "Your Queen is resting," he uttered sharply. "She'll have no energy to 'attend' to you for a long while." Then his mouth curved into a terrifying smirk, and he was gone with a spin of his heels.

The blonde's mouth parted in surprised hurt; he gave her no further indulgence as he marched away to his study and left Jennifer's mind reeling at his words.

What had he done to Emily?

There was a weak moan from beyond the doors, and Jennifer's heart began to pound as she rushed to the royal chamber doors and pushed them open. Jennifer's gasp echoed through the room, horror clear in her voice when she saw the crumpled figure left abandoned on the bed.

"Emily!"

The Queen moaned weakly, her pale body marked by her husband's heartless hands and mouth. Blood, stark red and plenty, seeped from between her legs and spread across the virginal white of the sheets around her. Emily opened her eyes, and met the horrified gaze of her beloved friend. "Close the door, please," she whispered quietly, as she struggled to gather the sheets around her body. "They cannot see their Queen like this."

They cannot see what their King had done.

Jennifer gaped at the lady Queen in horror, as her frantic hands bundled the sheets tight between Emily's legs and hoped to stem the flow of bright red. "Emily, oh, Fallen Gods – love, what has that monster done to you?!" Panic made her blue eyes look terrifying to the Queen, made her heart pound in her chest and her lungs clench with fear as Jennifer grasped Emily, held her gently where Aêron's fingerprints rested red and purple on her soft skin.

"Guards!" she screamed – shrieked with all her soul as Emily's eyes fluttered weakly. "GUARDS, TO YOUR QUEEN!"

Emily tried her best to protest, to deny her commands, but Jennifer's loud wail carried through, and three guards burst into the chamber; swords and lances at the ready. When they saw the state of their Queen, they weren't sure what to do. Dumbfounded and struck with horror, they stood there like statues, gaping in shock for a moment until Jennifer snapped at them viciously for their insolence.

"I did not summon you to stand there like mindless pignuts!" she spat at them, eyes wide and terrifying. "Summon the Mage immediately – summon Captain Morgan as well. Have them at our feet this very moment or so help me I will have your insides hanging from a spear on the castle walls!"

They nodded their heads vigorously, quaking in their boots at the sheer power of the woman's words, but Jennifer's sharp voice cut the air when they began to hurry out of the room.

Her eyes were dark now when she spoke; her words low and harsh, spat like the venom of the most deadly dragon of the land. "You will not let the Lord-King anywhere near this chamber for as long as I command it, do you understand?" she growled lowly, and her eyes flashed when they hesitated. She was but a lady-in-waiting – could they defy their loyalties to the King for a woman her stature? "Your loyalty is placed in the monster that did this. You would allow him to do so again?"

They gulped – all three of them, and nodded obediently at her. "Yes, milady."

"Now go – go! Get me the Mage! Get me the Captain! Bar the doors once they've come! I will not have our Queen suffer at the hands of that monster again."

Mage Reid sat at the foot of the royal bed, eyes darting nervously and fingers twitching uncertainly as the bony joints ghosted the Queen Consort's skin. "I apologize if I hurt you further, my Queen," he stuttered, when Emily flinched at his touch on her knee. "B-but I must examine you to ensure that there is no further damage."

Emily swallowed the clot in her throat, the tears and the fear and the shame as she nodded once, and forced herself to let the young Mage part her thighs. Her breath hitched again when she felt his fingers brush her inner thigh, and she gripped tight at Jennifer's hand. "Mage Reid," she said suddenly, sitting up slightly to stare down at the terrified young man with her own dark, panicked gaze. "I…I carry the King's child." She inhaled sharply at the tense air in the room; the dark looming figure who stood like a brewing storm beside Jennifer who only tightened his arms around his chest.

"Please," she whispered, and her eyes began to well. She searched Reid's face desperately, shaking as she struggled to smother the sob in her chest. "Please, tell me my child lives still."

Please, tell me I can keep this child. Tell me I did not fail my child yet again.

Reid swallowed thickly but nodded his head. Quietly he pushed back the sheets around the Queen's legs, and began his examination.

Emily was quiet for the most part; the room still and thick with tense rage and the smell of blood and sex as Reid inspected the damage. There was tearing, he announced, after a long moment. He would need to stitch the tearing to heal her, and Emily had merely nodded her head and looked away, gripping Jennifer's hand tight in her shaking hand.

Swallowing nervously again, Mage Reid gathered what he needed, and began to stitch.

The Queen winced or hissed every so often, or flinched when a touch was too intense, but did little else as Jennifer stroked her hand, her hair; whispering sweet soothing promises into her ear. The blonde clung to her hand like a lifeline, pressing kisses to Emily's palm whenever the ebony-haired Queen would whimper.

"It will be over soon," she promised gently, stroking the soft skin in circles as the Mage laid aside his needle and thread, and the damp cloth he'd used to clean away the blood.

Respectfully, he pulled the sheets back over her legs, and rested a soothing hand on her knee with a wan, uncertain smile. "You will heal fast," he murmured, and his eyes darted down to her stomach; the soft swell obvious under the sheet wrapped tight around her body. "May I…rest my hand on your stomach? I can only read a life force if I am in contact with it," he told her apologetically, bowing his head when Emily tensed at the mention of her child.

Emily licked her dry lips, tasting her blood and where Aêron had bit down on her lip. "Y-yes," she uttered finally, and inhaled deeply as Reid laid his hand gently over her stomach. The Magister's apprentice moved his hand about the gentle curve of her stomach; feeling, testing, sensing the child that she prayed and wished still lived within her. Emily's dark eyes snapped to the silently fuming man at Jennifer's side.

"Derek," she whispered, and Morgan detached from the shadows readily. Her eyes met his, the flaming embers that told her his intentions of killing the Lord-King and making him feel every last moment of it. She would have none of it though – to Emily, the monster that had done this to her wasn't Aêron. It wasn't the man that she knew and loved. "Derek, you must never tell anyone – not the children, not Penelope; not Rossetti."

He nodded – he had no intentions of speaking of the incident.

"You must never – never, Derek, and I mean what I say – you must never lay your hands on your King."

His eyes blazed at her, anger and indignation rolling off his broad shoulders as he stared down at the Queen incredulously. "He took what he wanted from you and threatened the life of your child inside you!" he blustered. "He laid his mark so dark on your skin that you wear the brand under your flesh. The beast ravaged you without a thought about the sacred life you carry inside you and yet you would protect his dignity when he had no care for yours?!"

It was almost as if Emily's fire had returned to her dark eyes, but the flames didn't burn nearly anywhere as fierce. It was something though – it gave them hope. "He is still your King and my husband!" she snapped, and she felt her chest heave and her body thrum with pain. Reid laid a gentle hand on her midriff again, and Emily felt the warmth spread across her body as it healed her aching muscles. She exhaled heavily, and kept her gaze unwavering on Morgan's face.

"I cannot lie to you and say that I can look upon his face," she murmured quietly, almost reluctantly. "But he is our King, and we swore fealty to him and his kingdom. If…." She looked away, down at where Reid had his hand resting almost curiously on her stomach, peering intensely into the space beside her. "If I carry his heir still, I carry his bloodline inside me, and I will bear the beatings and the burdens of suffering at his hand, if it means that my child would have his father."

Derek opened his mouth to speak again, to rant and rave and spew curses of the Lord-King, but Jennifer's quiet voice stilled his tongue, and her hard look told him that she would not tolerate any further aggravation of the Queen Consort. He sighed, heavily, irritably, but bowed his head at the Queen. "Yes, my Queen," he uttered lowly, and his dark eyes met hers in a softer promise.

I will keep you safe. By the Gods – I will rend his skin from his bones with my bare hands if he hurts you again.

"Oh," Reid said suddenly, pressing his hand into her stomach. His young face was pulled into a frown, his mouth curved in confusion as he laid his hand wider across the span of Emily's stomach. "Oh my…."

Emily sat up in bed, panic welling in her chest and tears anew in her swollen red eyes as she stared at the man anxiously. "What is it, Reid? What's wrong with my child?" She clung to Jennifer's hand tight, so tight her hands were numb, but Jennifer merely squeezed back.

Please, please, please…. Please let my baby live.

Reid bit his lip uncertainly, darting a glance at the battered Queen and the wide-eyed, desperate hope in her face as she sat amidst the sheets of her own blood; covered in bruises from her husband. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her – honestly he didn't know how -, but would the news stoke the flames of the Lord-King's temper?

"My Queen…," he began slowly. "Your child…."