Inspiration is finally striking again! I hope you enjoy this update! To be honest, I'm not sure how I see it playing out after this one. So let me know your thoughts! Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve (Na'man)

"Your Majesty?"

I looked into the doorway of the nursery where Fisrah and I were sitting on the floor with Amir to see my chief advisor.

"This had better be an emergency," I said sternly.

"I would not bother you otherwise," he assured me.

"Then what is it?"

The man glanced at my family.

"You may speak in front of them," I said impatiently.

"We have received word that Her Majesty, the Queen of Rohan, crossed our border this morning."

"Mareke?" I asked, getting onto my feet quickly, Fisrah doing the same behind me.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Why? What is she doing here?" I demanded.

"We do not yet know," he replied. "The Rohirric guards turned back at our border when she was in our care. The King is not with her."

Hearing that, my hackles were immediately up.

"I would expect her to be at the palace by nightfall," the man said, giving a bow before leaving our private chambers.

"What do you think that is about?" Fisrah asked, stepping up and laying a hand on my arm.

"I have no idea, but I do not have a good feeling about it."

ooooOoooo

I was distracted so much that evening that Fisrah shooed me out of the nursery as we were putting Amir to bed for the night.

My time with my family was nonnegotiable, and so it was odd for me to not be a part of our nighttime routine, but all I could think about was my sister and whatever had brought her back to Harad.

I left the nursery and found myself going to the balcony of our bedchambers that faced West, where Mareke would be coming from when they turned off the Harad Road.

As the sun was setting, I could see the sand being kicked by the group headed our way.

I headed for the entry hall, dragging Fisrah with me as she stepped out of the nursery. "She is here!"

We waited inside for my sister for another half hour before Mareke entered. I had made sure that we were alone and I was glad I did.

My sister handed her son to the nurse who had accompanied them before she took shaky steps toward me, falling to her knees, her forehead to the floor.

"I am so sorry, Na'man," she sobbed.

Fisrah and I exchanged alarmed glances before I bent to draw my sister back to her feet.

"Sshh," I murmured, pulling her against my side. I could feel her ribs beneath my fingers and as I got a closer look at her, I could see how drawn she was.

Mareke's chambers had been prepared earlier that day when we had discovered that she was on her way and so I led her there.

A servant met us when the door was opened. "Prepare Her Majesty a bath, please. And bring her a serving of raki." I looked down at Mareke once more. "Perhaps two."

"Take your time," I bid my sister as the servant led her away. "Fisrah and I will be right here when you are through."

We waited in silence until the door to the bathing room closed.

"What has happened to her?" I asked rawly.

Fisrah shrugged. "We know of her loss, but this seems like more."

I nodded. Mareke had written about the loss of her second child. "Did she write to you of other struggles?" I asked my wife.

Fisrah shook her head. "Never. Her letters did not seem particularly happy, but she never wrote out right of anything amiss in Rohan."

"Well something is quite off," I sighed, sitting on the low sofa and sending a servant for my own drink.

Though I sat, I could not keep still. My legs were bouncing and I was wringing my hands when Mareke entered in a deep blue silk robe. It was clear that she had been crying since she had left us.

"Sister," I murmured, once more opening my arms to her. "Whatever is the matter? You are always welcome here, but something cannot be right."

"He sent me away," she said against my shoulder.

I glanced over her head at Fisrah, who was looking on with brows furrowed.

"What happened?"

"I do not know, Na'man. I truly do not." Mareke pulled away and wiped her eyes. "Where is Theomund?" she asked, looking around.

"I had his nurse shown to Amir's nursery for the evening. He is safe."

Mareke nodded.

"He is beautiful, Mareke," Fisrah said warmly.

"He is perfect," Mareke agreed. "But not even he was enough to warm his father to me."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Mareke shrugged. "Nothing I did worked. I could not make myself agreeable to him." She would not look at me. "I know how important this alliance is, Na'man, I truly do. I took it seriously. I tried everything I knew to do."

"Of course you did," I consoled her. "There is no doubt in my mind. Tell me everything."

Mareke took a deep, shuddering breath and began the tale of her marriage to Eomer-King.

From the beginning, my temper rose. The description of the paltry morning wedding and lack of celebrations had my fists clenching in my lap. My sister was a princess and she had deserved due honors, but as she continued it appeared that things had only gotten worse for her in Rohan.

Despite her best efforts, Eomer had resisted in all things. He had not wanted her to be close to his daughter even though the little girl liked Mareke and needed a mother figure after losing her own. He had betrayed her time and time again at the bawdyhouses and he had left her to spiral into a deep depression after the loss of their daughter.

"I would have his head," I growled.

"No, Na'man," Mareke pleaded. "I fear the treaty could already be on shaky ground despite what he promised before I left. If at all possible, my failure should not condemn our people. We need Rohan, even if Rohan does not want me."

The woman sitting next to me was nearly unrecognizable from the one who had accompanied me to Minas Tirith more than two years earlier.

This version of my sister did not look as though she had laughed or smiled in months.

I hated the position I was in. I knew as much as she did that my Realm was not in the position of power, that I could not punish Eomer as I truly wished to.

"You should rest, Mareke," Fisrah said gently, rising from her sofa. "Theomund will be fine until morning," she assured her.

Mareke merely nodded and stood as well.

At the door to her bedchamber, she turned and looked at me once more. "I am sorry," she whispered.

"Mareke," I murmured before she was gone.

I paced around the sitting room until Fisrah appeared once more.

"We should check on the boys," she said, looping her arm through mine.

We walked back to the nursery attached to our rooms in silence, both processing all that Mareke had shared.

When we entered the nursery, both nurses stood to greet us, but we waved them away and bid them to remain quiet

Amir was sleeping peacefully in his bed and so we stepped over to the crib that had been brought in for Theomund.

Mareke had written extensively to Fisrah about her son and I smiled softly as we looked down at the babe. While much fairer, he was still Mareke's son with his dark, wild curls.

"What kind of man sends his own son away?" I whispered, trying to keep the heat out of my voice.

I glanced over my shoulder at my own son. Willingly sending him away was unthinkable to me. Amir was at the center of everything I did; how I ruled and how I lived my private life. Even if Fisrah and I had not married for love, I could not imagine being separated from my son even if his mother was not my ideal match, though luckily she was.

Knowing my sister, I struggled to understand what had gone so terribly wrong in Rohan.

ooooOoooo

The weeks turned into months and there was no word from Rohan. Mareke continually stayed my hand when I wanted to write to the other King and let him know of my displeasure, nay my outrage.

To that point, there had been no indication that our treaty would also come undone and wagons continued to go back and forth from both Realms.

If there was any balm to my conscience during that time, it was that Mareke became more and more herself in the safety of her childhood home. As the days passed, she laughed and smiled frequently and spent a great deal of time with Fisrah and Amir, the way she had before being sent to Rohan.

One afternoon, Mareke popped her head into my study, Theomund on her hip. "You have been in your study too long, Brother," she said. "Come for a walk with us." It was not a question.

I glanced at all the paperwork yet on my desk. She was right. I had been locked away for nearly the entirety of the previous three days, working through numbers to strengthen our still very weak military.

"It will still be there when you get back," she promised.

With a sigh, I stood and joined them, headed for the shaded gardens only accessible to the royal family.

"I have been trying to keep myself busy to quiet my mind," I admitted.

Mareke did not look at me. "What is so loud in your mind?"

"Guilt," I responded. "I cannot assuage my conscience that it was not my fault that this happened to you."

Mareke shook her head. "It was not. You are not the first king to solidify an alliance with a marriage."

"I should have known better. I should have judged his character better."

Mareke signed. "Eomer is a good man in his own ways."

"How can you say that?" I demanded, turning to look at her though she still did not meet my eyes.

"Because I lived with him. He is a good and fair ruler, a brave leader of the eoreds, a wonderful father to Artanis and Theomund."

"So wonderful that he sent his son away?"

"For now," Mareke whispered.

"I do not think a good man would separate a mother and her child. That is worse than sending you both away from him." I could feel my temper rising. "There will be some agreement made," I promised. "You will not be separated from Theomund forever."

Mareke nodded, but remained silent.

Already the days were slipping by quickly and I understood that the future would race toward her bringing the point when her son would be old enough to return to his father's lands.

"We could approach him for an annulment," I said quietly.

"What grounds for an annulment would you give? Surely King Elessar would be curious?"

"Duress."

Mareke looked at me then, sharply.

"I would tell him that I forced you into the marriage, that you did not consent."

"Na'man, that is not true. I consented. What would people say if they thought you forced me to marry?"

"I do not care what anyone says. I want to fix this. Do you not? If it would set you free? If you could keep your son?"

Mareke sighed and looked down at Theomund who had remained mostly quiet on her hip throughout our walk.

"He is the rightful heir of Rohan. Even if there was an annulment, he would still be legitimate."

I nodded. "He would be, but we are not in the wrong here. You can petition for whatever you like in regards to your marriage and child. The King of Rohan is on unstable footing due to his actions and decisions."

ooooOoooo

Eventually, the summer heat gave way to the cooler, by Haradrim standards, temperatures. Our family had easily settled into having Mareke back with us and my wife and son had embraced Theomund with open arms.

It was morbid thinking, but I did think about Theomund being in line to the Haradrim throne after Amir if he was not to return to Rohan.

For Fisrah and I, there had been no sign of another child after our first. As a man, I was content with what I had been given. As a king, I worried about the line of succession.

One morning, when I did not have anywhere to be early, Fisrah and I were sitting on our private balcony after we had sent Amir to his tutors.

There was a knock on our bedroom door.

Rolling my eyes, I bid the person to enter.

"Forgive the intrusion, Your Majesties," a serving girl said with a low bow. "But the Chief Advisor is in the sitting room. He says it is urgent."

"I will be with him momentarily," I grumbled.

"The last time we were interrupted, your sister was arriving," Fisrah said when I gestured for her to join me.

"Your Majesties," my advisor bowed when we emerged from our private chambers. "I am sorry for bothering you, but I needed to tell you at once that Eomer-King crossed our border before the sun rose this morning."

Fisrah covered her gaping mouth.

"Eomer-King?"

The man nodded. "How will you receive him?"

"I will not be receiving him. He is to be told that I am indisposed and will be for the foreseeable future."

"Are you sure, Your Majesty?"

"Positive."

"Lady Oyna is also with the Rohirric party," the man said.

"Very good. I will see her once the King has been shown to his rooms." I glanced at my wife. "I suppose we cannot just send him packing back to Edoras immediately."

"What will you do about Mareke?" Fisrah asked.

"Have extra guards sent to her chambers. She is to remain there until I tell her otherwise. I do not want the King to see her at all."

"I will see to it, Your Majesty."

ooooOoooo

The next morning, I was sitting in my study, unable to focus on anything. Word had been brought to me that the Rohirric King had been irate when he was told I would not be seeing him; that he was welcome to rest and refresh his horses and men for a few days, but after that he would need to return to his home.

My study door opened without anyone being announced. I was so on edge that I was prepared to thoroughly dress the person down, but I was greeted with the familiar face of my closest friend, Baran.

"I return from the South and this place is in an uproar," he said by way of greeting.

I sighed. "It is a nightmare," I replied, standing to grasp his forearm and then hug him.

"Mareke is here?" Baran asked. I knew he was trying hard to sound casual.

"And her husband, as of yesterday. Things did not go well in Rohan and the blame falls squarely at my feet for sending her in the first place."

"Will she be staying here?"

"I should think so. We have discussed petitioning to have her marriage annulled."

Baran nodded and I saw his eyes light up. "I would like to see her," he said.

I hesitated. The two had shared something after the War, but I was not sure exactly what it had been. My friend had been sullen for months when I had returned from Minas Tirith without my sister.

"Very well," I finally acquiesced. "For the time being she is to keep to her chambers with her son, so you will have to go there."

Baran nodded. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I have ordered for extra guards to be placed near her rooms. I do not want him finding her. That would seem to fall under your purview."

"Indeed it would," Baran replied.

After the War, I had declared Baran to be the General of all Haradrim Armies. It was a difficult role to fill when we had lost so many men and munitions in Gondor, but if anyone was up to the task, it was my friend.

He turned to leave. "If you need anything else, let me know," he said, before leaving.

ooooOoooo

That evening, I sent for Lady Oyna after everyone had had dinner. I knew the noblewoman had gone directly to Mareke when she had arrived and so I had waited to summon her to enlighten me in on what my sister would not.

"Lady Oyna," I said, as she rose from a curtsy to Fisrah and I. "It is good to see you."

"Your Majesties," she said, taking a seat when I gestured for her to join us at our private dining table. "I wish the circumstances were better."

"As do we all," Fisrah replied, watching as a servant poured raki for us all.

"Your husband is not with you?" I asked.

Lady Oyna shook her head. "He remained as regent in Eomer-King's stead. I would have liked to have shown him my home, but we all bend to more dominating wills."

I studied the woman for a moment and I knew she knew more about my sister's husband than Mareke had shared.

"Tell me of him," I said. "Mareke has told me of what happened, but I cannot but feel that she left certain events and character traits out of her tale. I am not sure why she is still interested in protecting him."

"I am not either," Lady Oyna replied, venom rising in her voice. "The man is a brute at best. Intentionally cruel at worst."

She launched into her own telling of their time in Rohan as Fisrah and I listened in silence. Lady Oyna gave more specifics in regards to Eomer's treatment of my sister and my temper rose with each new facet of the story.

"When the men arrived in Helm's Deep, I cannot be sure," she prefaced, "but I believe His Majesty used Mareke very badly. She never said what exactly happened, but I am almost positive that is when they conceived their daughter. It was less than a month after Theomund's birth and that had been…difficult for your sister. And of course she had been in a saddle leading the women and children to the fortress."

Lady Oyna was trying to be delicate, but I waved her concerns away. "Why do you think that is when they conceived their second child?"

"I came into the room the next morning to find her bloodstained nightgown and sheets. I thought nothing of it until we returned to Edoras and the midwife told her she was likely expecting again. The timing seemed to make sense."

I could not speak around the rage in my throat.

Lady Oyna continued to speak of the distance between Mareke and Eomer-King after the loss of her daughter. "I do not know what happened after Eothain and I left. Mareke was tight-lipped throughout, so I only know what I saw whilst in their presence."

"I can only imagine what happened," I managed to get out.

ooooOoooo

Over the next couple of days, I continued to hear how Eomer raged that he was being kept from his wife and denied an audience with myself. I did not care. I wanted him to know powerlessness.

I sat smugly at my desk one afternoon, after another report of Eomer's anger had been brought to me when there was a light knock at my door.

I looked up to see a little girl with fair skin and deep chestnut hair hanging long around her shoulders.

Lady Oyna lingered in the doorway

"Your Majesty," she gave a flawless curtsy and I raised an eyebrow.

"And who might you be, little one?" I asked, though I had an inkling.

"Princess Artanis of Rohan."

I inclined my chin. "Welcome to Harad, Your Highness. What can I do for you?"

"I would like to see my stepmother," she said directly.

"I see. And did your father send you to soften me to his cause?"

Princess Artanis shook her head. "He does not know I am here," she replied.

"Really?"

She nodded. "I snuck into a wagon that was departing Edoras and only revealed myself to Lady Oyna. She has kept me with her.

"I imagine your father will be quite angry when he learns of that."

The little girl shrugged. "I am not much interested in what he thinks at the moment."

I tried to stifle a laugh. "You came all this way to see your stepmother?"

She nodded again. "I miss her very much."

"Will you talk to me for a moment?" I asked, gesturing for her to sit across from me at my desk.

Princess Artanis scooted into the chair and folded her hands in her lap.

"Was my sister kind to you while she was in Rohan?" I asked.

"Very," Artanis replied. "Some of my friends have stepmothers and they told me that they are wicked and mean, loving their own babies much more, but Mareke loved me." She paused. "I think." She shook her head. "No, I know she did. She was not afraid of my father when he was mad that I wanted her to do things with me, like the Yule festivities. And she always made time for me even after Theomund was born. And she fixed my shoulder when I fell off my horse!"

"I see." I stood. "Well I think she would like to see you as well. I shall take you to her myself."

We walked down the corridors until we reached Mareke's suite of rooms. The guards stood aside when they saw me and I entered without knocking.

"Mareke?" I called.

She emerged from the nursery, holding a finger over her lips, but when she saw Artanis her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped.

The little girl hurried from my side into her stepmother's arms.

"What are you doing here?" Mareke asked, holding Artanis at arm's length and stroking her long hair.

I could not help but smile to watch the tenderness that Mareke bestowed on the little girl or the clear affection between the two of them.

"I wanted to see you. I did not know if you were coming back to Edoras so I came to you."

"Eomer does not know she is here," I said quietly.

"Oh Artanis," Mareke sighed.

"He would not have let me come with him. You know that."

"I do, but-"

"I am not afraid of him," she said stubbornly.

"Very well," Mareke said. She looked up at me. "Would you like to spend the afternoon here? You can see your brother after his nap."

"Could we swim?" the little girl asked.

"I should think so," Mareke replied, rising to her feet, one hand remaining on her stepdaughter's head. "Would you give me just a moment with my brother?"

Artanis nodded and wandered away to look at the paintings in Mareke's sitting room.

"Now what are you going to do? This will enrage him if he finds out you knew his daughter was here."

"He is already angry and to be honest, I do not much care."

ooooOoooo

The following day found me back in my study bright and early, but it was not to be a peaceful morning.

"I have had just about enough of this!"

The door banged open and slammed into the stone wall. I jumped and looked up to see Eomer-King in all of his rage. He had brought a contingent of his own men to get past mine.

"You cannot keep me from my wife!"

I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms across my chest. "I cannot imagine what you would want with her since it was you who sent her here, was it not?"

"It was a mistake," Eomer replied, losing some of his fight.

"I would say so," I agreed. "Be that as it may, it is not one that I will allow you to make twice."

"That is not within your control, though, is it, King Na'man?" Eomer practically growled. "When you signed our marriage contract, you basically gave your sister to me. Now you are in contempt of that contract in keeping what is rightfully mine away from me. King Elessar is the overseer of our contract. I would hate for him to find out what you have done here."

I actually laughed. "Oh, on the contrary. I would relish a conversation with King Elessar about what has happened here; what you have done to my sister over the last couple of years. How you have treated her. What would your friend think of the neglect? The trips to the bawdyhouses? The rough handling of a royal woman?"

Eomer faltered. "I said it was a mistake."

"It certainly was. Mostly mine for trusting you with someone I love so much. I had hoped you would cherish her as I do. Perhaps I was not plain enough. Should I have asked you directly to act honorably and nobly in regards to my sister?" I stood up so I could look him directly in the eyes. "You have a sister. What would you have done if someone had treated her so cruelly?"

Eomer remained silent.

"What are you even doing here?" I demanded, taking his silence as guilt. "You feel ashamed of your actions now? I doubt it. I sincerely doubt it. If she could not please you before, why would you come back for her? Your pride? Your ego? Your son?"

The other man did not speak.

"You have already sacrificed her on that altar. I will not let it continue to happen. I will be suing for an annulment to your marriage. Theomund will remain legitimate, but will be taken out of the line of Rohirric succession."

"On what grounds?" Eomer demanded.

"Duress," I responded evenly. "I forced my sister to marry the great Rohirric brute. She did not want to. She wanted to return to Harad and marry within her own borders, but I coerced her to go to Edoras with you instead and I regret it terribly."

Eomer looked at me dumbstruck. The beauty of the plan was that he did not know if that was actually true or not. Only Mareke and I did and I intended to keep it that way.

"I want to hear it from her own mouth. I want to see her," he demanded.

"Over my dead body."

There you have it! I enjoyed writing this one from another character's perspective for the first time in this fic. I'm not sure how often it will happen, but it was refreshing. As I said above, I'm not sure what happens next. How should Na'man, Mareke, and Eomer handle this? Looking forward to your thoughts. Again, don't forget to turn Email Opt-in on in your account settings!

Happy reading,

Avonmora