Secrets
Chapter Five: Restrictions
Daine and Numair walked back to the palace separately, he to the king's chambers and her to their own. Alanna, Thayet, and Onua were waiting when she entered. Alanna's face was swollen where she had hit her the day before. A large purple welt matched perfectly with her amethyst eyes. Daine blushed hotly and turned away from her to close the door.
"So? Did you tell him?" Thayet was sitting on a chair by the desk, her arms crossed over her chest in subtle amusement.
Daine sat down on the bed, while Alanna took a seat next to Thayet. Onua paced the end of the room by the door. The Lioness avoided her gaze in a stand-offish kind of determination. Daine shook away the feeling of guilt and said, "Yes, I told him."
Onua stopped pacing. "And?"
"And, maybe you should talk to him about his answer. I'd rather not talk about it." Daine held back a grin and forced herself to look completely dejected. Her charade might hold up for a little while, and she would like to see their faces when Numair told them something entirely different from what he told her.
Thayet stood up and came to sit by her side. "It's all right, we'll all be here for you. Always. No matter what Numair thinks. Gods, he can be so stubborn sometimes. Don't worry, we'll talk to him and straiten things out."
She looked furious, and that fury showed through seconds later when Numair walked in. Thayet stood and faced him, backed by Alanna and Onua. Thayet was the first to say anything after a moment or so of staring, "How could you just abandon her like this? She's always been there for you and now you just leave her in the dust when she needs you the most? You need to learn some responsibility, Numair."
He just stood in wide-eyed shock. He glanced at her and she gave him a quick wink, which he obviously didn't understand, "Ladies, you must be mistaken. When she told me the news, I asked her to marry me, and she accepted."
Daine rolled her eyes and watched as the women turned to look at her. "I told you to ask him, I never said he wasn't happy."
They obviously didn't find it so funny. Alanna flopped back into the chair and Onua continued pacing. Thayet calmed down a little and turned back to face Numair. "I'm sorry, Numair. I misunderstood Daine's words and got the wrong impression. Please forgive me."
Numair laughed. "Now I understand! Your majesty, the fault could never lie with you." He kissed her hand and turned to Daine. "Or with you, Magelet."
"So, when's the big day?" Alanna called from the corner.
"We haven't even discussed it yet," Daine replied as she stared up at Numair. "Sometime soon would be best, before I start to show." She touched stomach on impulse, and smiled at them.
"Well, maybe you think about late spring, when there's less rain," Onua suggested, pointing outside. A light drizzle that had fallen on their way home had turned into a downpour. Daine nodded in thought, then leaned against Numair and yawned.
Taking the hint, Alanna, Thayet, and Onua stood up and gave a quick congratulations to the couple before heading out the door. They stopped in the hall, standing in a tight circle.
"Do you think it'll work? Them, together, I mean," Onua asked in a hushed whisper.
Alanna shrugged. "I don't see why not. She's pregnant, he's in love. It's a good match."
***
Daine woke up the next morning, her head pounding with the voices of the People. She got to her feet and dressed quickly. She kissed Numair lightly on the cheek and headed out the door.
She followed the voices deep into the Royal Forest, her ears and eyes attuned to everything that went on around her. In the trees, a sparrow intertwined the twigs she had gathered to make her nest. In a burrow, not fifty yards away, a family of rabbits feasted on wild flowers and roots. Daine called a greeting and they came out to meet her, chattering noisily. One at a time, she said through her mind.
An older rabbit, with white fur spotting areas around his face and ears that had originally been brown, stepped forward. There's an animal, not like one we've ever seen before, somewhere in the forest, he said nervously. A fox saw it first, while it was on its way to catch the first pheasant of the morning. He said it was a small creature, with orange fur and a long tail that it used to grip the tree it was sitting in. The fox watched it move only a little, since it seemed to have a broken leg.
Daine nodded thanks, and headed into the forest. The pounding in her head lessened as she drew closer to her destination, following the blurry vision that she had in her mind. It had receded completely by the time she reached a tall tree, with pink blossoming flowers accenting the green of the leaves. It was entirely empty of animals except for a small rat-like creature huddled by the trunk on a branch about ten feet above ground. It looked kind of like a squirrel, only the tail was longer and not as…fluffy. It turned slowly, it's tiny face twisted in pure agony.
"Zek!" She immediately shape-shifted into a hawk and flew up the frightened marmoset. Daine took him gently in her talons and descended to the ground. Again, she shape-shifted and took his shivering form in her lap. She closed her eyes and saw his injuries in her mind. Not only was Zek's leg broken, but he seemed to have a concussion and several open wounds all over his body.
Daine began with the leg, and worked her way out. The concussion she did little with since it would heal itself in time. She did, however, help with the splitting headache she knew he had. She then sealed up the cuts and let him fall asleep in her lap.
Her eyes opened, but she snapped them shut again an instant later. Her arms were weak and her head throbbed incessantly, making concentration a very difficult task. Dizziness took over her thoughts and soon she just fell over onto the forest floor.
***
She awoke to a circle of familiar faces, Thayet, Alanna, and Onua. She blinked a few times to clear her vision then attempted to sit up. The three women shouted for her to lay still, and Onua ran off down a path. Numair appeared seconds later, followed by a company of the Queen's Riders.
"Gods, Magelet!" Numair cried as he swept her up in his arms. "How could you do that to me? When you weren't in the room this morning, I assumed you had gone to the stables, but when you didn't come home at dusk, I knew something was wrong. Look at you! You're nearly dead, you're so drained. What did you do, heal the whole forest?"
She didn't fight as he lifted her off the ground and carried her to a waiting horse. She could barely move, let alone argue. And Numair wasn't in the mood to hear her ramblings. She had gotten into enough trouble for one day. They would talk about it in the morning.
***
Numair watched her sleep the next morning, going over in his head exactly what to say to her. Zek the marmoset had followed them home, poking at Daine while she slept on the horse's back. He had stayed by her side all night and was now growing impatient as Daine lay in bed well past noon. He paced the room, with Kitten following his amusing game.
Numair pushed the pair out of his mind and concentrated on the matter at hand. She can't keep doing this, he thought. What will happen next time? We might not be able to find her, and then …. He stopped and stared at his love, her hair spread out on the pillow and her lips parted in a soft half smile.
I can't tell her to stop. She would never listen. He pushed a strand of smokey hair out of her face and sat down on the bed next to her. She was breathing lightly and seemed to be perfectly healthy, except for the fact that she had been asleep for almost a half a day.
As if on cue, Daine opened her eyes wearily and looked at him without lifting her head from its position on the pillow. "I messed up, didn't I? I should have told you where I was going."
He nodded in agreement. "Which brings me to what I have to say next. I thought about this a lot last night and I came to a decision about your healing." He took a deep breath and began to say what he thought was the hardest thing he ever had had to say. "Daine, you passed out last night because you healed Zek. Even though it was such a small amount of energy, you could have killed yourself or the baby. So, until the baby is born, I don't want you to heal anything. Not a single thing."