9. Love Lies Bleeding
The cool morning air breezed through Lonán's long raven hair as she looked out over Camelot and its surrounding villages. The square Keep that housed the Royal chambers was newly finished and from her vantage point high up on its battlements, the view was spectacular. The rolling hills spread out before her, right down to Darkling woods and she could even make out the ant-like movements of peasants and village folk going about their lives in the dwellings and the marketplaces. The new stone felt cold and smooth beneath her hands and there was the fresh scent of spring hanging on the wind.
As her eyes drank in the pleasant ambience of the castle and its proud land, Lonán began to hum softly to herself, her fingers delicately tracing concentric circles around the large swelling of her belly and an amber light trailed lazily in their wake. She spread her hands wide across the taught flesh of her pregnant stomach and smiled as she felt the child kick back against her palms, relishing the peaceful solitude of the moment and the growing link between Mother and baby.
In the courtyard below, the discord of clashing metal rose to meet her keen ears and Lonán peered carefully over the edge of the ramparts. A raucous training session was underway with Uther at its head, leading the men in their practice thrusts and parries with obvious relish.
The delicate tune that Lonán had been humming faded and died upon her lips as she watched her would-be lover laughing jovially with his men. A sharp pang of jealousy rose like bile in her throat and it was all she could do not to cry out in despair. His promises to her had seemed so full of zeal in the beginning; firstly his assurance that he would plead with the King and beg the council to reconsider their decisions, then that he would stand by her no matter what the outcome… and lastly that he would love her and their child until his dying breath. It seemed that every word had turned to rot as soon it had been spoken. As the weeks had slipped past, the distance he had put up between them seemed to swell on a daily basis.
Uther's heart had hardened itself toward her, of that she was sure… now there was just the waiting. Waiting for her child to be born, waiting for the limbo in which she now found herself to finally be over… waiting for Uther to officially reject her…
Sinking to her knees, Lonán allowed herself to weep for everything she had lost, silent sobs that burned like acid in her throat. If she closed her eyes she could feel the pressure of the pain the future held pushing against her eyeballs… oh, she could see so many things. The tumultuous mixture of agony and unbridled joy in the birth of her child, the dark look that would pass across its Father's face and the chilling cold of the night into which they would both be cast. She could see it all… and the grief she felt for the poor prospects of her child cut like a knife in her heart.
A plaintive cry slipped uncontrollably from her lips as a sharp pain stabbed in her belly. Clutching her side in agony, Lonán gently began rubbing her stomach soothingly; taking up the steady rhythm of the tune she had been humming earlier. The magical orange glow that emanated from her fingertips transferred to the taught skin of her belly and slowly the anxious child within began to calm.
With a deep breath, Lonán wiped the fallen tears from her cheeks and carefully pulled herself to up onto her feet, clutching at the battlements for support. Her ice green eyes were steeled with determination, one hand held protectively to her distended belly. No matter what her future held, she would ensure her child was safe and loved and cared for. She may have been abandoned but the life she nurtured inside her would not be, she would see to that.
The Princess turned from the walls of the parapet. The sound of clashing metal and the shouts of the men faded at once from her ears as she began to descend the winding steps of the tower, her own melodic voice filling the darkened stairwell as she went, rising up resonantly into the ether and joining in perfect harmony with the songs of the birds that flew across the April skies above…