In this final moment, my blood pounded like drums in my ear. Everything seemed to slow down into this very instant. Jonathan's blade glinted in its arc as it swung down to meet me, the fire blazing off the steel. Without thinking, without feeling, I dodged to the side.

His hit missed.

But only barely.

I slid my own sword out of its scabbard and turned to face him. His eyes glared, two black pools of contempt but I held my own. Everything counted on this fight. Whether I win or lose, life would forever be altered.

"Stand up like a man. Matters little. Peasant you were born, peasant you will die." he said, pointing the tip of the sword towards me.

I didn't think he deserved a response.

I slashed out at his right flank and steel bit steel. I trained a little with the Circle before this revolt, but nothing could have prepared me for this fight. Jonathan was strong. He was fast. He also had the advantage of sight from two eyes. Yet I had something he didn't have. I wanted this more than he could ever know.

Blade bit blade as we danced across the tight foyer to the castle. My feet and his played a deadly dance as we both tried to strike the other down. With all my heart and all my strength, I fought on. Death no longer bothered me as I already knew the cold taste of it, locked down in that dungeon hell. My sun, my love was being rescued. This outcome mattered little for she was safe.

Jonathan swung low; his blade skimmed the marble floor with a screech. I stumbled back to avoid the hit. He came faster. Swinging like a madman, his sword came from the right, the left, and overhead. It took everything I had just to hold him off. I could feel my strength wavering.

"Getting tired, Wayland? Had enough?" Jonathan sneered, "It will be over soon."

I gritted my teeth and swung hard. My blade cut into his and we stood face to face, neither of us wavering in our intent. His blade skittered a little lower on mine and I pushed against his force. He struck his leg out, connected with my shin, and sent me crashing to the floor on my knees.

In one instant, I lost.

His blade came to rest on the underside of my chin, his grip unwavering. In one single flip of the wrist, my lifeblood would be on the floor. He looked down at me, calm and proud. "Do you know your worth? Finally? After everything, have you not learned your place?"

I spit into his face.

"My parting gift," I smiled into the face of death.

With his free hand, Jonathan wiped the spit from his cheek. He shook his head, "You know, I expected that." He gripped his pommel tighter and I knew my time was near. "Death shall be a gift to you. I grant it with favor."

I closed my eyes and imagined her face. Clarissa. The only thing that mattered.

The cold steel kissed my skin, a pinch and blood began to flow.

Yet death did not come.

Jonathan cried out in agony. I flicked open my eyes to see a crossbow bolt sticking from his sword arm. Someone had just saved my life. Jonathan's blood began to form a puddle underneath. In this moment, I saw fear for the first time enter his face. He no longer could hold his sword; it fell to the floor with a clang. I watched him eye the condition of the room.

The Morgenstern Guard was failing.

Men were dying all around him. Bodies littered the enclosed space like weeds. He was losing and I think he knew it. With a final look of contempt, Jonathan retreated further into the castle. I watched the main door shut with a clang.

My knees felt weak and my heart drummed. I had witnessed death once again and lived to tell the tale.

Jonathan and I's dance lasted only a few crucial moments, yet to me, it felt like hours. I turned my head to see an unknown man nod his head at me. I was saved by a stranger. A nameless man, in this one moment, saved me from death.

I got to my feet and shouldered my sword. The Morgenstern Guard were dying or already dead around me. Tessa came towards me. Her grin cut through the blood and grime that covered her face and hair. "Did you get him?"

"No. This guy—"

I turned but the archer was gone.

Tessa groaned. "Dammit. This was the best chance we had. Surprise. Now that he knows our strength, he won't be easy to get to now."

"What of Tessa?" I didn't care about this battle. I only cared about her.

"She should be safe. Back at the camp."

"Should be?"

"If everything worked as it should. Nothing indicates to me otherwise."

I scanned the room filled with death and destruction. I just wanted to see her. Hold her. Feel her.

Tessa could see the desperation in my eyes. "Go on. Head back. We have done all we can do here."

I didn't waste any time.

Without a backward glance, I ran from the hall. My thighs burned, my head ached, but all I could think about was her.

Clarissa

They loaded me by wagon during the tension of the battle. I wore an old servant's dress and a hood covered my hair. If I was captured, I was done for.

The man with no name barely spoke as he hopped onto the saddle of a brown mare. I covered in the back of the wagon; my arms held over my swollen belly. The smell of hay permeated the rotting wood. It was slightly making me feel sick. This baby was coming. Sooner than I would have liked.

Inch by inch, the wagon wobbled down the dirt path and outside the town's limits. My back hurt. My feet hurt. Everything hurt. Especially my heart. I worried about Jace. I worried about my baby. I worried about all the innocent people who died this night. All for the sake of me.

"How much longer?"

"Not long now. Just over this hill here."

"How many of you are there?" I asked.

"Enough."

He ended the conversation.

I pondered the weirdness of his attitude. Manners were a customary thing for most people in these parts, and yet he displayed little of it. Still, I couldn't complain. The air was crisp and the night seemed long. I had to believe that Jace was coming back to me. I couldn't believe otherwise. I needed him like I'd never needed anyone before. I considered myself an independent woman, but I was broken. The pain, the terror, the hurt was too much for me.

The princess was dead.

The Queen had been born.

Born from the ashes. Born from misery. Born from the coupling of an unwanted lover.

With Jace, I could mend, fix these broken pieces. Come together, rise stronger than the storm. Be the Queen I knew I always was. Be the storm that drowns Jonathan Morgenstern.

The wagon tilted violently, shaking me from my thoughts. I jostled in the back and a terrible pain radiated from my stomach. I cried out in shock.

"What's the matter?" The man said, turning in his saddle. "Just a hole in the road. Nothing too bad."

I could barely breathe. My midsection cramped violently, and I felt the need to vomit. I tried to speak, tried to shout, but all I could do is wheeze.

The man on the horse stopped and swung down from the saddle. "Are you okay? Is it the baby?"

I nodded; my teeth clenched. "He's coming. He's coming now. I can feel it."

"Blimey, we're only a few yards from camp. You think you can make it? I don't know nothing about child bearing." He wrung his hands together, his eyes full of panic.

Pain coursed through me once again, dampness spread down my thighs. Bright red blood poured from me and onto the wagon floor. I couldn't suppress my cries of pain any longer. My baby was coming, whether I liked it or not.

"Get me… to the camp…now." I said between gasps of pain.

I held on the best I could while we moved slowly towards the camp. My only focus remained on holding together my pain and my thoughts. Every few intervals a sharp, sudden pain wracked my body in waves. I couldn't take this much longer. I needed help. I needed Jace.

In the end, I had neither.

Before I knew it, I was being loaded onto a bed of straw. A woman with kind eyes spoke to me, not that I heard a word. The pain was becoming eternal. I couldn't escape it. I yelled out and her hands found mine.

During the birth, I didn't exist. This might sound like an odd thing to say, but it was the truth. I was pain. It was all I knew. Each spasm brought more pain and more pressure. The woman assisting me helped me the best she could.

"Push. Don't push. He's coming. I can see the head. Try to remain calm."

With one final push, the newborn was thrust from my body and into the woman's hands. A sharp wail filled the tent as my baby took his first breath. She quickly wrapped him in a spare piece of linen. Yet the pain did not cease.

Spasms rocked my body once again and I thought for sure I was going to die. This pain, so much of it. It couldn't be possible and yet I still lived. The woman gasped and knelt between my legs.

"Dear lord, there's another one."

Authors note:

Sorry for the long wait guys. I started this story in 2015, I can't believe how the time has flown by. I hope you enjoy!