Secrets
Chapter Four: Revelations
Numair led her into the Royal Forest, to the place where he took her for her first lesson in wild magic. The clearing was exactly the same as it had been five years earlier. The pool where they had seen the undine was still there, rippling in a soft wind.
They sat on the springy grass, facing each other. Daine's palms began to sweat, and the only thing she wanted to do was run away, to take hawk shape and fly. She knew she had to tell Numair, but could she risk losing him?
"So what did you want to tell me, Magelet?" Numair asked, interrupting her train of thought. He looked into her eyes, searching them. He saw that she had a secret, one she was afraid to tell him. Just a glance a glance into her eyes and he saw all the emotions she felt. Confusion, hope, fear, and joy, all jumbled up in her mind, waiting to spring from her mouth.
"Numair, I'm pregnant!" There. She had said it. Now what?
Her lover was silent. Daine couldn't read the look on his face, which was a mass of pure emotion. His mouth was open in an "O" of shock, his eyes said confusion and happiness, yet his eyebrows were arched in disbelief.
Daine became impatient with his silence. "Aren't you going to say something? Anything?"
He looked at her and managed to stutter, "I-Is it…mine?"
She could not he had just said such a thing to her. "Numair! How could you even think I would…never mind, but how?"
Numair stood and paced around the clearing, his arms flailing in a wild pattern. "I've seen how the boys at court look at you! You're beautiful, Daine! And it's not just boys, but grown men even older than I, who look at you wistfully. And with me always gone, I figured one day you would get lonely…So, is it mine?"
Daine inhaled sharply. She had never seen the bays looking. Maybe Numair thought they did, just to find a reason to shelter her from them, to protect from wandering.
"Daine?"
She was snapped to attention.
"Is it mine?"
She sighed. "Of course, it is."
He swept her into his arms and held her close to him. She could hear him crying in her ear, why she didn't know. "I love you, Veralidaine Sarrasri," he whispered. "I have loved you for five long years. Please, marry me."
She too began to cry, but not for the same reasons. "Numair, I don't know. I don't want you to think you have to marry me just because of this. It's still a trap in the end. I love you and I always will, but maybe you should help me raise our child in a less formal way."
Numair let her go quickly, and said, "What will it to convince you, Daine? A child isn't enough, so what will it be? Perhaps you would like me to kill all your suitors or cut off my hand, because I'd do it. To prove to you that my love is true and undying, I would sacrifice my hand."
He pulled a long knife out of a sheath at his waist and held it to his wrist. He applied a small amount of pressure and began to bleed.
Acting quickly, Daine ripped the knife from him and used it to cut a piece of her dress to use as a tourniquet. After tying a tight knot, she lunged at him and knocked back onto the ground. She planted her self firmly on top of his chest. "Don't you ever do that to me again! Mithros, Minos, and Shikath, are you crazy?!"
He smiled lazily. "Crazy for you. Crazy enough to ask you again. Will you marry me?"
She was still sitting on his chest, and quickly jumped off as he wheezed the last words. He had proven his love, and there was no reason not to get married, no reason not to have the baby together, and no reason not to have more after it. She loved him and his love for her was true. That was all that mattered.
"Yes, Numair."