Chapter thirteen

Raoul and Kel were in the middle of a game of chess when someone knocked on the door. Immediately Raoul got up to answer it.

"A visitor is here, milord." The servant said. "He says my lady summoned him."

Raoul glanced back inside at Kel, who was slowly getting to her feet. "Send him here." She said, coming to the door.

"Yes, milady." The servant said and hurried away.

Frowning, Raoul turned to look at Kel. "Who did you summon?"

"Neal." Kel said, sitting down again.

"Oh," Raoul said. "Why?"

"I need to ask him something."

Raoul sighed, allowing her to keep her secrets. Maybe with Neal here she would go back to her normal self. He was her best friend, after all, although if the servants gossip was any indication she was still spending a lot of time with Dom. Raoul wasn't completely sure why he was still there. If he asked Raoul would happily lend him a horse- it would be a small price to pay to get him out of Goldenlake.

Within minutes Neal, cloak speckled with snow, came into Raoul and Kel's room.

"Kel!"

"Neal!" She got quickly to her feet and hugged Neal. "How have you been?"

"Splendid. The question is how are you, and what was so urgent that I had to leave my wife- my pregnant wife, I might add- to rush over?"

Kel looked uncertainly at Raoul, and he looked right back at her. He was just as curious as Neal.

"I'll tell you in a minute. You must be hungry, though. Come on."

"Kel," Neal stood his ground, despite the fact that she was tugging insistently on his arm. "I'm not even the faintest bit hungry. So if you wouldn't mind..."

She looked from Neal to Raoul before finally saying, "I think I'm pregnant."

Neal frowned. "Then why call me? There must be a midwife here."

"There is." Raoul said.

Kel shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Raoul, I need a moment alone with him. Please?"

With a heavy sigh Raoul nodded. "Go ahead."

"Thank you."

Raoul got to his feet and left the room to wander aimlessly around Goldenlake castle. He had never been so tempted in his life to eavesdrop, but he restrained himself. If Kel caught him bad, bad things would be sure to happen. Raoul took a few steps away from his room, then stopped, standing in the hallway uselessly.

"You WHAT?" The silence was broken by Neal's shouting. "How could you... How could he... Did you tell him?"

Kel's quiet, unintelligible voice spoke quickly to Neal and he quieted down, also speaking quietly.

Raoul decided that he should never, ever eavesdrop again. He always heard things that he really, really didn't want to. Before he could leave Neal burst into the hallway. "You, in, now." He motioned wildly inside. Raoul followed silently.

Kel was slumped in one of the chairs by the fire and Raoul took the other one while Neal paced back and forth. No one said anything for several seconds, until Raoul finally took the initiative. "Is there anything wrong?" He asked Kel.

She looked like she wasn't going to answer, but Neal glared at her until she started talking. "I... I'm pregnant. But..." She trailed off, staring at her lap, unconscious picking at the armrest of her chair. "I've been sleeping with Dom and I don't know who the father is." She finished in a rush. "I'm sorry."

Sorry? Sorry! That's all she had to say? Raoul buried his head in his hands and tried to make sense of it. He'd known there was something going on between the two of them, but he had thought it was just kisses, he'd thought it had already ended.

The room was quiet, only the crackling of the fire and Neal's soft footfalls as he left the room broke the silence.

"That's why I called Neal." Kel said, sighing, obviously resigned to telling the whole story. "I thought he could help me, and I trusted him not to tell. I should have known he would have made me. But he couldn't help. And now you know."

"How could you?"

"I don't know." She was crying, he could hear her. Part of him still wanted to comfort her, to tell her everything was going to be all right. Raoul couldn't believe he still wanted to protect her after all this.

"Was I not enough for you? Was I a bad husband? Tell me, what did I do wrong?"

"You left me alone with Dom!" She shouted. "You left, and you left me and I..." She whipped her eyes with her sleeve, then shoved it up past her elbow, pushing up the other one to match.

"What's that?" Raoul snatched her hand before she could pull away. Bruises, like fingerprints, speckled both of her arms. Without a word Raoul took off Kel's shirt and tunic to find her skin molted with old and new bruises. "Kel, what happened?"

"I..." She was shaking, shaking so hard. Her lips quivered and tears leaked out of her eyes. "He said you didn't love me, that you would hate me and think I was weak if I told you. I thought I could handle it, but when you left... I had no one to turn to. It was just... I didn't want to fight him anymore. He's right, I am weak."

"Did Dom do this to you?"

She nodded mutely.

"And what about Neal? Did he know?"

"No," Kel shook her head. "He didn't bother examining me because he knew there wasn't anything he could do to help me with the baby."

"How long has this been going on for?" Raoul asked, his voice calm. Too calm.

"I don't know." She shook her head. "A long time. Too long. He didn't really do much until you left."

"I'm sorry." Raoul stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"Don't worry." He said. "I'll be back soon."

"Are you going to..."

"Kill Dom? Maybe. We'll see what he has to say for himself first." Raoul strode out of the room and started a search of Goldenlake castle. How could he not have noticed? He kept remembering things, little bits and pieces that had never totally made sense, like the little bruises he often found on Kel's arms, or Dom's unreasonable jealousy. At the time he had brushed them off, thinking he was paranoid.

Where would Dom be? Raoul had already checked the great hall, now he headed for Dom's rooms. When he got there he burst inside without knocking, startling a maid in the middle of tidying. "Where is he?" He roared.

"Y'mean Dom?" She maid asked nervously, backing away and holding a bundle of sheets against her chest.

Raoul nodded curtly.

"He left, milord, a little bit after that other gentleman came."

Blast. He must have known Neal would find out the truth. Raoul left and hurried to the new stables to see which horses were missing, but none of his were. Dom's horse must have survived the accident after all.

"Are you going after him?"

Raoul turned to see Neal standing in the shadows.

"Yes."

"What about Kel?" Neal said. "I healed her, but she's still a mess. You can't leave her again."

"What am I suppose to do?" Raoul demanded. "I can't just let him go!"

"I'll go after him." Neal said simply. "Or rather, I'll go home and alert the King's guard. He won't get away with this."

Raoul slumped against the stable wall. Neal was right, he couldn't just go and abandon Kel like that. "How did he do it?" Raoul asked, listlessly. "How could she let someone do that to her?"

Neal shook his head. "I have no idea. But even the strongest women can be broken. You've seen it before, we all have." Raoul nodded, remembering Onua's ordeal. "He... he probably seduced her, blackmailed her, who knows, and when he started hurting her she didn't want to tell because she had been cheating on you."

"Oh, Gods." Raoul cursed. "This is all my fault. She told me- she told me and I said she shouldn't have. She didn't tell me because I told her not to."

Neal was silent for a moment. "Go to her." He said. "She needs you."

Raoul nodded and swallowed hard. Neal was right, he couldn't abandon Kel now, couldn't abandon her again. Dom would pay, but it would have to wait.

He turned and went back into the castle. Kel needed him, and for once he would be there for her.

THE END

Whew I never expected it to turn out so long. Well, I hope you enjoyed it, and no, I don't think I'll be writing a sequel. I do, however, have a few plot bunnies, so you never know, I might actually write another fanfic one of these days. Thanksto all of my beautiful reviewers! Showers reviewers in chocolate