Unfortunately, I still do not own the Protector of the Small series. Even more unfortunate, summer's over and I have less time to write.
Nealan of Queenscove stalked through the halls, lithe body moving with all the grace of a predator. The other knights he passed along the way, as well as the average guardsmen, the many servants scurrying to and fro, and a handful of nobles would all say that the way he moved reminded them of a lion.
When word would finally reach Neal's ears, he would laugh and think it quite appropriate, since he did train under the Lioness.
The tall knight arrived outside one of the numerous council chambers in the palace, and paced four paces up the hall and then back to the door. He didn't have the authority to simply enter the room, not without being summoned or some state of emergency. Alanna would have his hide if he barged in and wound up on trial for misconduct, never mind that she was notorious for it. She was also the King's Champion still, which gave her the by your leave to do so protected her from a lot of legal and political backlash.
Neal did not have the same protection. So he paced steadily as he waited for the King's meeting to conclude, using the time to put together a pretty little speech that would send the King running to Kel's side where he belonged.
Or to the library to look up some ancient rule that would allow him to have two Queens. For Mithros's sake, Roald could make a new law. Anything as long as it meant his best friend didn't have to lie, be shamed, or give up her baby, because the current situation was obviously, to anyone who spent more than two minutes a week with Kel, causing her an unhealthy amount of stress.
He lost track of the time he spent walking up and down the small length of corridor before the door. His knight master's strict sense of justice must have rubbed off on him, because it was all Neal could think about. How unfair this agreement between Kel and Their Majesties was.
Soon, Kel's steady life was going to have to be uprooted again. She and Queen Shinkokami would have to disappear from palace life until the babe was born. It would have to be soon, before Kel got too big.
For two reasons. First, so that the female knight could travel safely. And second, if there was going to be any chance of passing the child off as the Queen's, the whole palace had to believe it was Shinkokami that had been pregnant. If they left it too late, everyone living in Corus would question why their Queen had never announced her pregnancy or appeared to be with child. The deception would only work so long as people thought she could have been in the early stages when she left.
But it meant that the easy going lifestyle Kel had settled into in the last month would be disrupted. She was only two weeks along now, but by the time the ten to twelve week mark came around she would probably be sporting a tiny baby bump. As fit as Kel was, it would be extremely noticeable when her child started to grow.
The whole plan was vastly unfair to Kel. All of the costs and consequences without any of the benefits. Neal still couldn't believe their friends would ask this of her. Toying with her emotions like that. Relying on her to give them an heir but giving her nothing in return. Blatantly using her because Kel was always fighting for those that couldn't not protect themselves, pushing aside her own needs so she could help others.
It disgusted Neal. Especially when he had to look into Kel's brown eyes and could see how much it hurt her. Because, despite everything, she still loved the fool.
The door opened, old men in formal dress spilling out into the hallway. Roald was unusual in that regard. Traditionally, the King was supposed to leave first. It was symbolic of his power, a sign of how busy he was running the country that he did not have time to wait for everyone to leave before him. Roald, black haired, sapphire eyed, and majestic, exited last with his wife on his arm.
His friend and liege took one look at Neal, and his neutral mask slipped away. "Are you well?" he asked.
Neal blinked at the question. He imagined that he must look a real fright if rigidly polite Roald asking after his health. He didn't look his best, he'd admit that, but it couldn't be as awful as Kel and Roald were thinking.
He jerked back when Shinkokami ran soft fingers down the side of his face. She calmly dropped her hand back to her side, not offended in the least by his reflexive reaction. "You do look rather ill, Sir Neal."
"I'm fine. Just used too much magic."
"Then is there something we can help you with?" Roald asked tentatively.
"Yes," Neal said shortly. With a silent prayer to Mithros, he punched the King right in the eye. The young ruler doubled over, clutching at the left side of his face. The Yamani Queen hurriedly dropped to one knee beside him, a necklace falling out of the top of her bodice and dangling between them.
"Graveyard's hag, Roald. What are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" he exclaimed incredulously. "I'm not the one that punched his King. What were you thinking?"
Neal took a menacing step forward. "I was thinking," he started lowly, "about Kel. About her health and wellbeing and that of her babe's. Which is what you should be doing. Instead you are letting her bear the burden allow."
Roald could only stare at him confused. He had not been to see the Lady Knight since two days past, but aside from some concerns about how much food she was eating, Duke Baird had not spoken of any other complications.
"You should be asking if she is okay. Not myself. Goddess knows Kel is strong, but she cannot have a child alone. My father says her condition has not improved. If anything it has worsened. You need to do something, Roald. Or I will."
All composure gone, his friend stared at him, stunned. Neal was generally an easy going person. He didn't often get upset or involve himself in matters that were not his business. But he did not balk at threatening the monarch.
"The two of you are being inexcusably unfair and cruel to Kel. She is currently lying in her bed, sick to her stomach, and neither one of you has bothered to check in on her." Neal held up a hand when Roald made to interrupt, already knowing his excuse. "I do not care that you cannot publicly decry that the child is yours. The rest of her friends still visit her and ask after her. You can do at least that much. If you find that you cannot afford the risk of discovery, I will claim the child as my own and you will never see him."
Neal scowled at his friends, who had gone wide eyed at his blatant threat. He would not hesitate to follow through. His and Kel's relationship, while unusual, was exceptionally strong. When she prodded him to eat his vegetables, she was more like his mother, but Neal cared deeply for her and knew that she felt the same.
It was not romantic love, but they could live a comfortable life together should they choose. And Kel would be a wonderful mother. Neal would have no issue raising another man's child. Not if it meant Kel did not see herself destroyed.
"That will not be necessary." Roald regained his feet, back stiff with misplaced pride. Neal arched a single eyebrow, a trick he knew his best friend was jealous of, as if to ask the King what he was still doing dawdling here in the corridors.
Shinkokami did not follow after her husband, who took off like the Black God himself was behind him. Roald wasn't outright running, as that was too undignified, but his brisk walk took him out of sight quickly.
"That's an interesting piece of jewelry you have there, Your Majesty," Neal said flippantly, pointing one long finger at the small gold pendant hanging from her neck. As a healer, Neal would recognize a pregnancy charm when he saw one.
Shinkokami looked at him wild eyed for a moment as she frantically returned the charm to its place between her corset and her dress. Once properly concealed again, Neal could not even spot the chain from which it hung.
"I am sorry for the deception, Sir Neal." She apologized. "But it was a necessary evil. I regret that the ruse was required, but I feel no grief for my falsehoods."
"You are not barren, then?" the knight probed.
"No, I am not," Shinkokami confirmed.
"Then why the elaborate scheme? Why pretend?" Neal inquired. "Does Roald know?" he added on as an afterthought.
"No," she denied. "My husband is blind to the lies I have spoken and the duplicity I have enacted."
Neal's frown lessened. The rage that had been growing within him quelled when the Queen claimed Roald to have no knowledge of his wife's deceit. While that news gladdened him, the man was wishing just for a moment that he was neither a knight of the realm or a noble, because it was wrong to hit a lady. And right now he wanted nothing more than to make Shinkokami feel some of the same pain and suffering that Kel was experiencing.
The lies were stacking up on each other, much like a house of cards. On more was always being added to the top. And, just like a house of cards, it would easily crumble and fall apart.
And Kel, his best friend who was only trying to help two friends in need, or so she thought, would be caught in the middle. All the blame lay entirely with Shinkokami, which the woman appeared to understand by her downcast eyes. She had yet to look him in the eyes.
"Why do you have the charm? Why convince Roald that you are unable to have your own children?"
"Because he would never follow his heart otherwise," the Yamani native answered. "So long as there was a chance for his seed to take hold in me and grow, for us to have a child together, Roald would have denied his love for her.
"My husband is a good man, Nealan of Queenscove. He argued with me for the longest time, wanting to do right by me. He did not want to marry me, for his heart already belonged to another woman, but he tried to love me as a husband should. He felt guilty for being unable to do so. For pining and wishing for another woman's embrace. For desiring a different woman in his bed.
"But he also felt guilty for choosing me over Kel. His duty as prince before his heart and his love. Roald would have never agreed to sleep with her had he been aware of the truth. But I've seen him when he's with her. He is more honest and open. Happier than I have ever seen him. Roald loves her but could not be with her. I merely provided him with the opportunity to do so."
Shinokami was surprised by the next question he asked. "You are fine sacrificing your own children so that Roald may have one child with Kel?"
"I am," she affirmed softly. "The women of my family have lost many a babe before it was born. There is a high chance for the same tragedy to befall me, and I would not wish to cause Roald the grief of losing a child. This way is better, so it is not really sacrificing my children, for I am unlikely to be able to birth them."
Neal executed a low bow and hastened away. There was nothing more to be said. He had learned all his answers. For the third time that day he offered up a prayer to the God of the son. He prayed, for Kel's and Roald's and even Shinkomai's sake (even though the blame rested on her head), that all the lies that had been told in the last month remained hidden.
Kel's heartbreak should she learn the truth was unimaginable. Shinkokami was a childhood friend, and she had only agreed to this insane deception because she believed her friend to be barren. The biggest lie of all the ones that had been told. There was no knowing what Kel would do should the truth come out. She might go as far as to run home to Mindelan.
One thing Neal did know was that she would not hear the truth from him. He himself wished he did not know it. But he refused to be responsible for causing his best friend any form of pain.
The knight shook his head to clear it of unsavory thoughts. He did not have time to think about the various repercussions they might be facing in the future. Right now, he needed to return to Kel's side. He had promised to be there when she awoke.