Chapter Five

When a kingdom's economics are busy due to harvest and foreign traveling caravans, it was easy to forget about a seemingly drunken elderly-induced episode. Well, maybe for King Glower. Rolf could if the days went by, really busy, but left to his merits, he could get lost imagining scenarios of the one day heir to Sleyne being kidnapped by some strange old man. And then he would have a council meeting with some financial advisors and forget about it again. After two months? Nearly forgotten about.

His relationship with Kalys was still a bit odd. After everything that happened with Casper, she seemed very closed off. Neither of them were affectionate with each other unless they had to be, and their nights were awkward. Both of them were too exhausted to talk, or really do anything, by the end of the day besides get ready to sleep and then crash on opposite sides of the bed. He knew she was strained, but he also didn't know how to deal with it.

That particular night had been a rough closing. He was tired, with a headache from hearing petitions all day, and calculating numbers. One of the advisors had recently been fired, and since Rolf was quick with mathematics, he had been put on the job until further notice. And then he snapped at her.

"I'm sorry," she clipped. "I thought it would be inconsequential to leave the candle on whilst I pull off my socks, but now I see how unreasonable that is."

"Kalys, wait, I'm sor-" He tried, but rather unconvincingly, considering how fast his eyes were drooping.

"Forget about it, it's fine," she said curtly, blowing out the candle, swinging herself onto her side of the bed, making it clear that she was not going to continue conversing with him.

Rolf sighed, heeding each and every warning and joke he'd heard about women, and letting his head hit the pillow, drifting off into bliss.

When he awoke next, Kalys was shaking and rocking. He scrambled to sit up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He'd always been a rather light sleeper (something that had been a good thing during most of their adventures), and the slight movements already had him awake and alert.

His hand hovered. Would she appreciate this? Or would she hate him for waking her and never talk to him again? He shook his head, quickly rubbing his hand over her back to (hopefully) comfortingly awake her from a nightmare.

"Kalys? Kalys, it's alright," he whispered, as she gripped his arm, her eyes blinking open, unshed tears in them. "You're safe, it's alright."

"Everything was gone," she sobbed, her nails biting into his forearm. "Just like before, just-just gone."

"Kalys, it was just a dream," he whispered, pulling her against him. She cried, mumbling something into his tunic. "I can't hear what you're saying."

"Rolf, it was him," she said, lifting her head from his chest. "We made a mistake."

"I don't understand," he said, unknown guilt seeping into his gut as he ran a hand down the back of her head. "Who?"

"Casper," she explained, her voice hushed, eyes dropping. "He destroyed everything. There-there was a child, and, and he killed everyone for it. It was just us, and it-it was so, so awful."

Rolf realized he was shaking when he reached to touch Kalys's hands, which were gripping her head tightly. Shame gnawed at him, knowing there could be a legitimate fear about it. He swallowed twice, trying to remind himself this affected her in the same way; it wasn't just him that had to pull it together for the rest of them.

"We made it out of the Well," he started. "Damnit, we've all survived too much to die here. This could be very real, Kalys, but we aren't going to just lay down and die. To hell with Casper, we'll make it through."

"I hope to the gods we will."

"We shouldn't have done it." Kalys stated, her hands shaking. "I-I just can't understand how stupid I was to bring myself there. It wasn't worth it."

Guilt pooled in her gut when she saw Rolf's jaw clench. She realized she was crass in saying it, but now it was too late. He ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, yeah, looking in on it now it was moronic to sleep with me," he said softly, the hurt evident enough in his voice.

"Not what I meant Rolf,' she responded. "It's just, well, it's just…"

"What?" He asked sharply, running his hands through his hair. "It's just what?"

"Well, it's just that the thought of certain risks weren't even running through my mind in the moment. Now it seems like the most obvious thing, but then? Well, in the moment it was just forgotten about."

He stayed silent after that, something that annoyed Kalys out of her mind. She wanted him to say something, anything, but instead she just watched him sit heavily on the bed.

"I don't really think we have that much to worry about," he finally spoke. "There was only twice that we, er, well had intercourse, and that was about two months ago. If we're careful, it shouldn't be a problem."

"I still think we need a plan in place," Kalys argued, running a hand to slick back her braids that were coming undone. "This is a big deal, Rolf."

"I know, my mother already grilled me about it when Casper left," he snapped. "Just let it rest, we're fine."

"Well, if your mother thinks it's a big deal, then it must be," Kalys snapped back, both anger and guilt rising quickly.

"Considering all she asked was if we had intercourse or not, it wasn't too bad," he responded, standing back up.

"What did you tell her?"

Silence was her answer as Rolf started pacing. He looked back at her with both defiance and guilt, leaving her with a sinking feeling in her gut. He turned back to place his hands on the windowsill staring into the morning sky.

"Rolf?"

"I told her she had nothing to worry about it."

Kalys just blinked. "So you lied?"

"I lied."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want to worry her. We're probably blowing this completely out of proportion," he said, rubbing a hand over his face.

Kalys let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't think we are. You should've just told the truth, and let them help us figure things out."

He scowled at her, starting to pace again, something that was really starting to drive her nuts. "They would've been unhelpful. I would have gotten a lecture, and then they would probably go ask Bran, or Celie to ask the Castle on how to clean up after my next mistake."

"Why would they do that? To be honest, I don't think they would. Now you either have to admit you lied, or we're stuck trying to piece this together on our own,"she replied, grabbing her hairbrush and harshly undoing her braids.

"If you think they'd be respectful and understanding about all of this, then you don't know my parents. Sure, they might be all nice and kind to you and Cecelia, but with me, it's all duty. I don't get off the hook easily with them, Kalys."

"They would realize that they have to help us, It's not like-" Kalys stopped when Rolf held up his hands.

"You're overreacting. There's a rare chance anything will come of this."

The words made her angry, but also afraid. Her stomach twisted with guilt, and she buried her face in her hands as tears welled up in her eyes. How could she tell him now? She was embarrassed that this was how she was reacting, but she didn't know how to do it any other way.

"I haven't bled the past two months," she whispered. "My breasts ache, I'm exhausted with plenty of sleep, and I've thrown up the past three mornings. Rolf, I think I'm pregnant."

He opened his mouth, and then shut it again. The annoyance and anger left his face, and for a second he looked like he might cry. Then he went so pale that Kalys was afraid he might faint. Tears started rushing down her cheeks, and she flushed, feeling completely and utterly bare and humiliated. She closed her eyes, the sick feeling in her stomach not going away, and she didn't want to look at him at all.

She opened her eyes when she felt his arms around her middle. It was an awkward hug, him on his knees by the chair, forehead against her ribcage, but she dove to greet him. She nearly tackled him when she launched herself out of the chair, but he caught her, and she buried her head into his shoulder, crying so hard she was shaking.

"It's going to be okay, Kalys, we'll get through this."

Breakfast felt sickening after that. Rolf was bouncing at the table, his hands shaking. Normally he'd be worried someone would notice, especially because Kalys looked like she was going to be sick the entire time, but his parents and Lilah (Celie and Bran were off in their own little world to notice anything unless it involved them), were discussing the Holiday Feasts.

"Rolf, be a good lad and work the numbers on a budget," King Glower said offhandedly.

Rolf rolled his eyes, annoyed. There were financial advisors for that, not to mention Rolf already had extra work piled up. Work that King Glower didn't want to do. But he nodded submissively, gulping down the rest of his water before grabbing a stack of papers his father had slid towards him. Breakfast was always rather informal when there was work to be done, and Rolf had no plans on lingering.

"I'll take a private lunch around noon," he whispered in Kalys's ear. "Let's figure out what to do next then."

They had been rushed out by Lilah who had insistently knocked on the door in the midst of their tears. Rolf had rather sharply told her they'd be down in a minute, and Kalys had rushed to rinse her face from tear streaks. It had been a very chaotic morning to say the least.

Now, set an hour behind due to budgets no one would actually follow, Rolf was annoyed. He wanted to scream or yell or do something that could fix this. He was an excellent fixer. He fixed many things; things unknown to most people, but slaving away trying to keep the kingdom out of war. Not that anyone would know except him and his father, since his father had some apparent conviction about protecting the rest of his siblings from any knowledge of conflict whatsoever. Was Ian Guttenheim, who had been charged with multiple cases of murder and war crimes still stuck in the Sleyne City prisons because they hadn't decided whether he could be executed? Yes. Did anyone else know but the council? No.

"And who's stuck with all the fucking paperwork?" Rolf muttered to himself, writing down the final numbers of how much money should be used for the Holiday Feasts.

Hours went by of Rolf angrily signing things and writing rigidly neat letters, and filing things. Of all the money he budgeted out for his father, he thought a royal secretary would be an excellent hire. Maybe one that actually did his job so Rolf wouldn't have to do a thousand other ones. He was already behind on forging his father's signature on Guttenheim trials. He had been instructed to do so, something that his conscious didn't really bother him about anymore. He knew what his father would do.

"Dammit!" He nearly shouted, trying desperately to pick up the ink pot he'd knocked over, and salvage the work he'd done. "Why is everything going so wrong today?"

Someone cleared their throat above him. Rolf looked up to see Kalys raising her eyebrows holding a tray with his lunch on it. He gestured to the ink pot raising his eyebrows back. Kalys rolled her eyes; it had been a rather rude gesture on his part.

"So you think you're, er, you know?" he stammered out, staring at ink stained paperwork on his desk. It somehow seemed much less significant. "Pregnant."

Kalys sat on the seat across from him, and he suddenly felt as if he were conducting an interview to hire someone. He sat up a bit in his chair, and Kalys shot him an odd look before sighing heavily.

"I was hoping that it might be my body getting used to a new place," she said softly. "But I can't deny that all the signs are there, Rolf."

"I have council meetings after this all day," he said. "But I'll arrange to go into to the village if I can get out of petitions. You technically haven't been there to meet the people since we've been married, and then I can probably pay off the midwife or something. And then we can be sure."

Kalys nodded. "You don't feel like we should ask anyone else what to do?"

Rolf did his very best not to roll his eyes at her. He was tired and cranky, and very done with the whole day that they had had, and it was only noon.

"Kalys, you've survived on your own by yourself since you were eleven. When I was fourteen I had to run a Castle, keep up the hopes of my people, lie to my sisters so they wouldn't do anything rash, all while being physically tortured. I think we're both at a point where we can handle a midwife's appointment." He had tried not to sound too condescending, and his wife simply shrugged.

"I was just making sure," she said, only a touch tart. "I wasn't going to argue with you."

"I'm sorry," he said, rubbing his hands down his face. "I-I, just, I'm tired. Of everything."

Kalys surprised him by coming over to him and kissing him gently. He didn't realize tears were coming to his eyes, but she rested her forehead against his, and he closed his eyes, feeling a tear slide down his cheek.

"I know we barely know each other," Kalys whispered, "but I still don't want you to be alone."

He kissed her again, this time sliding her into his lap, her skirts bunching as her legs slid around him. She buried her fingers in his hair, and he gave a moan as she pulled on his bottom lip with hers. Their lips sliding against each other's felt natural. But soon enough her tongue was in his mouth, and his hands were going down her sides, squeezing her hips, fingers splayed at her lower back.

Kalys's fingers crept up underneath his shirt, and Rolf's hands moved to rest at the front of her bodice, just below her bust. He sighed as she kissed his jawline. He didn't remember her being this bold before, but her confidence was attractive. He winced as her hips came down on his lap, and his most sensitive parts very alert and hard. Maybe her being pregnant would be a good thing; then they wouldn't have to worry when they wanted to do things like this.

Pogue didn't consider himself naive; especially when it came to things people did alone. But he was a bit surprised when he went to summon Rolf for King Glower.

He never knocked on Rolf's private study. He was used to just coming in on the prince scribbling and filing, usually sleeves covered in ink. It's not that he thought Rolf and Kalys hated each other, but based on what Rolf had said about the past two months he didn't expect this.

This, as in walking in the door to find Rolf's chair pushed away from his desk, Kalys in his lap. Her hands were obviously up his tunic, and Rolf's fingers were loosing her bodice ties. All while they mouthed each other seemingly hungry.

Pogue cleared his throat loudly, trying to keep the smirk off his face as they jumped off each other, flushing bright red. Kalys murmured something about griffins, pushing past Pogue, head down, and hurrying out the door. Rolf awkwardly cleared his throat, and Pogue raised his eyebrows.

"This is the first time it happened," he said, rubbing a hand down his neck.

"Uh huh," Pogue laughed. "Maybe in your desk chair. Your father wants to discuss security measures about the festivals. You going to want to smooth out your hair first though."

Pogue eyed Rolf's strategically placed hands over his lap, laughing. Rolf scowled back, inching under his deck before smoothing his hair down. Pogue was no stranger to the predicament, though he'd been quite abstinent the past few months. Casper gnawed at the back of his mind, but he pushed it out of the way. They'd been married for two months. It was bound to happen sometime.

They were on their way in a bit, Rolf griping a folder full of files he needed to give his father. He was a bit grouchy, something that was happening more and more. Celie complained about it, and Pogue definitely noticed it.

"I'm not going to tell anyone if that's what you're concerned about," Pogue said gently. "You've caught Lilah and I plenty of times without telling anyone."

"I'm not worried about that," Rolf responded. "I just don't want you to think Kalys and I are always doing that sort of thing. It's been a rather emotional past few days, and it pushed us further together in the heat of the moment."

Pogue wrinkled his nose. "I don't think that, Rolf. And even if you did, it's not like I would freak out. Do you know how many sisters I have? I'm not naive to what goes on in the world."

They stayed silent after that, though Pogue wondered if Rolf was withdrawing something from him. If he did, it was his business; Rolf had never really been one to share what was really going on behind surface emotions.

Their meeting was long and boring; just about security for them and the village during the winter festivals coming up in a couple of weeks. Pogue inserted his ideas, and Rolf just sat there. Security was security. Wasn't much to it.

"Father," Rolf began after the meeting. "Tomorrow I would like to take Kalys to the village. Do you need me for petitions?"

King Glower grunted, and then shrugged. "She should make an appearance before the festivals I suppose. You can go, just make sure Pogue goes with you."

Pogue inwardly groaned. After any sort of security meeting, something that he was apparently greatly needed for, King Glower then went on a security rampage, demanding it everywhere. Rolf complained about it all the time, and Pogue didn't really feel like going with Rolf and Kalys into the village.

"Is that really necessary? I'll bring Dagger along," Rolf said. "Besides, it's not like anything has ever happened in the village."

But arguing with the king was pointless and Rolf gave up for sake of not getting yelled at. Pogue sighed, while he loved the Glower family, sometimes they drove him crazy.

Celie wanted to scream. Bran was being extremely annoying, and not letting her know anything of what was going on. Rufus stood nobly beside her as she fumed, walking in circles around her room.

"It's really just unfair," Celie said to her griffin. "It's not like I'd go and tell everyone in the village like Bran thinks I'll do. Besides, I've always brought him great ideas before. If he'd just help me research with him, then this whole process would go so much faster."

Bran had shooed her out of his workroom for the third time this week, something that Celie found inexcusable. Other than the whole Casper thing two months ago, he didn't have anything urgent to work on, other than research in the Castle and griffins. Something that Celie planned on doing for the rest of her life. She knew wizards were secretive, but she was bored. Lilah would only talk to her about wedding planning, or going shopping, or how Kalys didn't wear shoes, and Celie thought all of those topics were annoyingly mundane or dramatic. Celie wanted to be in on the good stuff. Like wizardry and the Castle.

Kalys was busy with the Queen, otherwise Celie would go find a reason to make Kalys tell her Hathelock legends, and the griffins had had their rounds of training and grooming. Maybe she could work on her drawings. No, she was too antsy about something.

Everyone bustled getting ready for the winter holidays, and technically Celie had dress fittings to be done, but she cast the thought of those aside at the beginning of the day. When she thought Bran, who seemed to be in a much better mood, would let her help him.

"Cecelia, it's time for your fittings."

Celie groaned when she heard her mother's voice through her door. She rolled her eyes and stick her tongue out at Rufus, who just squawked. She let him into the griffin tower and opened the door to her mother. Kalys was also behind her, looking annoyed. Maybe Queen Celina was playing jailor for not just Celie.

"Is Lilah going to be there?" She asked. It was a reasonable question: she'd been avoiding Lilah recently like the plague.

Queen Celina shook her head. "Delilah and I had our fittings this morning. I just need to make sure you two actually go."

Kalys made a face at Celie when the Queen couldn't see and off they marched to the tailoring room. Celie let out a long sigh as she pulled off her gown.

"I have all the gowns I need," Kalys complained beside her, smoothing down her girlish braids. She twisted her wedding band, sighing. "Lilah said I needed certain colors, but I have a gown in all the colors."

Celie appreciated that Kalys wasn't concerned with such things. Perhaps it was because she had grown up not having many things, but Celie had a feeling it was because she just didn't care for it. Heck, the girl wore her hair in practical braids and was barefoot most of the time.

"Excuse me," her sister-in-law said to the head seamstress. "Can you make sure that the gowns for the feasts have been a bit let out in the bust and middle?"

Kalys shrugged for an explanation, but Celie still thought it was weird. Then again, Celie always bloated during feasts and then tighter gowns were so uncomfortable.

"We can always tighten your corset if the gowns are too small, though I haven't noticed anything," Queen Celina commented. Celie thought she was going to leave, but apparently she wasn't.

Kalys blushed a little. "It's not that. I-I just need more movement in the shoulders and waist is all."

Celie let it go, though her mother was wearing her subtly suspicious face. Maybe she was just annoyed at Kalys's announcement of having enough dresses.

"You should come griffin riding with Rolf and Pogue and me after this," Celie said. "Dagger can carry two riders now. Rolf said he'd come if he got out of council meetings before dark, and if he doesn't, I'm sure you could just take Dagger."

"We don't have any duties to go over after this," Queen Celina permitted, nodding her approval at Celie.

"If it's alright with Rolf, I'll go," Kalys agreed.

Celie was about to ask why she needed Rolf's permission, but she knew it was less about Rolf and more about Dagger. Kalys was very respectful towards relationship between griffin and rider. Dagger was probably especially because the griffin was attached to Kalys nearly as much as Rolf.

Their fittings were interrupted when an out of breath maid burst into the room, her cheeks red.

"Your Majesty, Your Highnesses," she let out. "There's been an assassination attempt."

Celie admired her mother's composure as Celie and Kalys yanked on their gowns still tying their bodices as they ran out of the room with the queen. Guards were running everywhere, Sergeant Avery shouting orders. Celie had to rush to keep up with her mother's strides.

When they reached the throne room, Queen Celina nearly leapt at the King, who caught her easily.

"Oh, you're alright, oh, Owen," she sobbed, all composure lost.

"Yes, love, I am," King Glower said softly. "But Rolf's not."

Celie turned to see a panicked look on Kalys's face and Queen Celina let out a little shriek. The King explained that an arrow had come through a window during the council meeting, and Rolf had been the one who caught sense and shoved King Glower out of the way. He'd gotten an arrow stuck in his arm for it, but Bran was with him now.

Celie's heart sunk. This seemed like the beginning of another adventure.