by Monica Hahn
“Arati, my dear,” her father said.
Arati felt increasingly uneasy. Her father never addressed her in any sort of affectionate terms. She tensed, waiting for his next words.
“You met Prince Chargin last night.”
“Your Highness,” she said, not caring much about his name, or him.
The prince bowed to her.
“Prince Chargin has been gracious enough to offer for your hand in marriage,” the king said, “and naturally I accepted his flattering offer.”
Arati felt panic stab through her. Marry this…this person! She contrasted his portly, short frame and his unattractive face fringed with a bit of remaining hair, to the image engraved in her mind of Tarik, forgetting for a moment that she hated Tarik now. Tarik was tall and handsome and charming, and she just couldn’t possibly do it. She opened her mouth to tell her father so, but Chargin had already advanced to her side and was taking her hand in both of his clammy ones to pat her clumsily and insist that they would be very happy together. When he made a move to kiss her, she quickly turned her face so that his slobbery lips landed on her cheek instead and cast pleading eyes toward her father. But he was beaming with self-satisfaction and ignored her unspoken request.
“Your betrothed will unfortunately have to leave today to attend to matters in his kingdom,” Saras said. “But he’ll be back in two months for the wedding ceremony.”
“I will think of you every day that I’m apart from you,” her betrothed said.
Arati shuddered and took a step back, shaking off Chargin’s hand and curtsying to both him and her father before practically running out of the room. She barely made it to a basin before emptying the contents of her thankfully nearly empty stomach. Her father couldn’t possibly expect her to marry someone who made her physically ill.
*****
But he did, and Arati continued to feel sick. She lost interest in all of her usual activities and lay around the castle moping for the next month. Finally, Saras invited his son and daughter-in-law to visit, hoping that Vana would be able to talk some sense into his daughter. Saras hadn’t realized when choosing Panc’s wife that Vana would be capable of successfully defying him, or of encouraging Panc to attempt to, but he would never deny that she was effective.
Arati actually smiled at the news that Panc and Vana were coming. She assumed that Vana was supposed to cheer her up, but welcomed the visit all the same. She felt as though she rarely got to visit with them, and although she loved Panc dutifully, she enjoyed Vana whole-heartedly. They exchanged letters frequently.
Vana took one look at Arati and frowned. “You look horrible,” she said, with her characteristic candor.
“I know,” Arati said, not even cracking a smile. Usually Vana’s unvarnished pronouncements amused her, being so far removed from the polished words she was used to hearing in court. “My stomach has been bothering me lately.”
“You’re not making yourself sick over an arranged marriage, are you?” Vana asked. “I never thought you were one to go for drama.”
Arati winced at the faintly disappointed tone in her sister-in-law’s voice. “I’m not doing it on purpose,” she said. “But I don’t know how to reconcile myself with this. I get ill every morning when I wake up and think of it. Prince Chargin is a disgusting toad of a man.”
“Who is the sole heir to a very wealthy kingdom. Between the two, we could potentially take over eighty to ninety percent of the trade traffic coming through the islands. You know your father is renewing most of the treaties this year, and it will help Tibercon. It’s a good alliance, your personal feelings aside.”
“But it is personal,” Arati said, sinking down into a chair and tucking her legs up underneath her. “For all the good it might do Tibercon, I’m still the one that will have to move to Port-au-Nexum and live with the toad.” She shuddered. “And be expected to bear his children, and I really can’t stomach that thought.”
Vana pursed her lips. “Arranged marriages aren’t all bad, you know.”
“I’m sorry, Vana. I know that’s what you have and I should have been more sensitive.”
Vana laughed heartily. “If you seriously think that I have a problem with my life, you need to have your head examined,” she said, cheerfully. “I have more freedom than I ever did as a single woman, a household to run, and a husband to influence. And, I’m expecting a child, which should be quite fulfilling.”
Arati smiled at that, and rose to give her sister-in-law a hug. “Congratulations!” she said. “You are going to be a very competent mother.”
“Of course, I am,” Vana said, patting her shoulder fondly. “And Panc is very pleased with me, and himself, so it might be a good time to redecorate the dining hall.”
Arati laughed.
Vana patted her again. “See, child, there is always something good in the world. Don’t let one bad thing discourage you. Besides, the wedding is still a month away, and why would you waste that time being sad about something that might not even happen?”
Arati perked up a bit at that.
“I just mean that plenty of these affairs never work out,” Vana amended. “Not that you should necessarily count on that. But it’s ridiculous to be sad about something that hasn’t even occurred yet. And if it does occur, it makes more sense to make the best of it than it does to depress yourself to death.”
Arati started to sway a bit, and grabbed her stomach. Vana helped her over to a basin and held her hair back as she puked again.
“I’m glad that so far my pregnancy has not caused anything more than some occasional queasiness,” Vana said. “Although out of the two of us, I’d be the one who could stand to lose the weight.”
She rinsed a clean cloth and wiped down Arati’s face.
“Wait a moment,” she said, and studied Arati’s wan features. “When did your stomach trouble start?”
“The minute my father told me that I was going to marry Prince Chargin,” she said, wryly.
“That was about a month ago,” Vana said. “And when was it that your pirate rescued you?”
Arati straightened up and stiffened in an attempt to regain her dignity. “Not my pirate,” she said, with an admirable amount of disdain.
“You seemed to like him well enough in the letter you sent me about how he saved you,” Vana said.
Arati tightened her lips.
“What did he do to upset you?” Vana asked. “I thought you had written that you never saw him again.”
“I did write that,” Arati said. The need for a confidant was overcoming her tendency to not reveal the painful and embarrassing truth—that the pirate had left her, and she could feel tears prick her eyes. Which wasn’t all that unusual lately. It seemed like along with the queasiness came a ridiculous urge to cry frequently. “But it wasn’t true,” she said. “I loved him, and he left me.” She started sobbing, the hurt now racking her slight frame.
Vana sat beside her with a troubled look on her face and drew Arati into a comforting embrace. “Hush, child. It will be okay.”
“No, it won’t,” Arati said. “It really won’t. He’s gone and now I have to marry that toad and I feel so sick.”
Vana smoothed Arati’s hair and hugged her tighter, letting her cry. She was fairly certain what Arati’s stomach problems were caused by, and dreaded her father-in-law’s reaction to the news. She knew that some pregnancies, in more delicate people than herself, of course, could manifest in the kind of symptoms that her sister-in-law was exhibiting. This was much more serious than what she had thought when her Panc had suggested that they visit the castle and she try and talk some sense into his sister, who was acting like a silly girl. Vana, who preferred to not interact with her father-in-law at all, although she had won some epic battles with him, did have a soft spot for Arati, and so she had placidly agreed. If what she suspected was true, this would be different than just getting Arati to brace up, though.
“Arati,” she said. “Do you think that you might be in
the same condition that I am?”
Arati stopped crying and looked confused. “The arranged marriage?” she asked.
Vana shook her head. Arati really was adorable. “Being with child,” she said, bluntly.
Arati shook her head vehemently, and then stopped as her eyes widened. “Oh, hell,” she said.
Vana, who had been hoping she was wrong about this, furrowed her brow. “Does your father know?” she asked.
Arati turned a horrified face to her. “I don’t think so,” she said.
“You’re probably right. I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t know if he did. The entire castle, and kingdom, would probably hear him bellowing about it. This is dreadful.”
“I know.”
“Which means that your arranged marriage might actually save you,” Vana said.
“How so?”
“Convince your father to move up the wedding, and hopefully the baby will be small.”
“You mean deceive the toad into thinking that this baby,” her hands flew protectively to her stomach, “is his?”
“Calm down and think it through,” Vana said. “It’s the only way this is going to end well for you. You’ve never wanted to stay here, right? I imagine you were planning on running away with your pirate?”
Arati nodded.
“Marrying Prince Chargin will get you out of here just as well. Away from your father and his temper. Prince Chargin will be pleased that you’re having a baby as long as he believes that it’s his, and you’ll already have one child and thus less of a marital obligation.”
Arati was miserable, but Vana’s presence had always calmed her. She trusted her sister-in-law’s practical nature. “That could work, I suppose,” she said.
“If the wedding is going to happen anyway, then use it to your advantage,” Vana said.
“But my father will never believe that I want to move it up.”
“He might,” Vana said. “Perhaps you could convince him that all of this is just nerves and that you wish to get it over with as soon as possible, but that you’re going to need him to present that to Prince Chargin in a much more tactful manner.”
Arati smiled wryly. “You really are good at manipulating him,” she said.
“I’m a little ashamed of you that you’ve never tried,” Vana said. “I’ve learned there are two things that men respond well to, and neither of them involves nagging. They like comfort, and they like admiration. There’s my marriage advice to you—figure out how to provide those two things, and you’ll at least get some of the things you want.”
Arati was looking thoughtful, and tired. Vana got her tucked into bed. “Now get some rest, and tomorrow work on getting what you want.”
“Which is really just making the best of a bad situation,” Arati said, on a yawn.
“Situations are neutral. Don’t judge them,” Vana said.
Chapter Three
Arati spent all night trying to convince herself to take Vana’s good advice, and after a few hours of restless sleep, she had decided to try it. Tarik wasn’t coming back to save her, or he would have done so already. Vana was right, she needed to make the best of her situation. Having decided this, she rang the bell to inform one of her ladies in waiting that she was ready to be dressed. She wasn’t very surprised that it took a while for her summons to be answered, since it was much earlier than she usually rose these days, but that the woman who finally came had obviously been crying came as a bit of a shock to her.
“Mariel, what’s wrong?” Arati asked.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” was all Mariel said, over and over.
Arati eventually lost her patience. “Tell me this instant!” she finally had to insist.
“I told your father,” Mariel said, crying. “I didn’t intend to, but I was overheard talking to Keena about it, and the guardian dragged me right into the throne room and insisted I tell the king, and so I did.”
“Tell him what?”
“About you,” Mariel said. “About you being …”
“With child,” Arati said, a bit grimly.
Mariel nodded.
Arati sighed. It didn’t make sense to plan anything now. Her father had the next move, and it was certain to be unpleasant for her. Her bad situation had just gotten worse.
At least she didn’t have to suffer the uncertainty of her fate for long. Mariel was still crying at her feet when Saras stormed into her dressing room. He was livid with rage, and this being the one and only time in her entire life that he hadn’t waited for her to be brought to him did not portend well.
“Get out!” he bellowed at Mariel, and she fled the room.
Saras barely waited for the door to close behind Mariel before he condemned his daughter repeatedly for being a whore. Arati winced, but kept quiet and tried to make herself as small as possible. She knew from experience that answering back was never a wise choice. “It was that pirate, wasn’t it?” her father finally asked, in an unguarded moment.
Arati looked at him suspiciously. “You knew about him?” she asked, surprise goading her into a response, and bringing her to her feet.
“Don’t speak to me!” he roared, and slapped her across the face.
She fell against the chair and cowered on the floor. Now that she knew she was pregnant, she cared about the child, and whereas before she wouldn’t have minded her father killing her in a fit of rage, now she did. She hugged her mid-section protectively, and kept her head lowered and her eyes down.
Saras said nothing for the next couple of minutes, but paced the room. Finally he spoke, and he sounded much more in control.
“You are to get out of my sight,” he said, “while I figure out what to do with you. We’ll have to postpone the wedding, of course.”
Arati’s heart sunk at his mention of the wedding. She had thought for a brief moment that the only good thing about her father finding out about her pregnancy would be that she definitely wouldn’t have to marry the vile toad, but apparently she wasn’t allowed even that little bit of mercy. “Of course,” she said, meekly. She thought briefly of mentioning Vana’s plan to him, but now that she knew her father had been responsible for Tarik’s desertion, she no longer doubted that her pirate had loved her. It would feel disloyal not to fight for her future.
Her father scowled at her and bellowed for her ladies. They came back into the room quickly enough that it was obvious they had been waiting right outside the door. Not that it mattered that they knew. Everyone else would soon enough, especially after the king instructed them to pack for Aperune immediately.
“I’m tempted to just dismiss you all,” he told her attendants. “But, this will be worse.”
Aperune was the farthest inland holding that they had, and was so small it barely qualified as a castle. Arati had never been there, but had heard tales of it being haunted. It was also said to be surrounded by forests full of wild beasts. Then again, she doubted that her father would be accompanying her, and she was more than willing to take her chances with those horrors rather than with him.
*****
Two weeks later, at Aperune, Arati received a furious note from her father. The paunchy prince had not been pleased when he had heard that she was laid down with a serious illness and the wedding would have to be postponed. He was so not pleased, in fact, that he had transferred his unwelcome attention, and all of his kingdom’s advantageous attributes with it, to another princess in a different kingdom. Arati felt nothing but extreme relief, although her father closed his note with a rather forbidding command that she remain there.
A second note from the king was given to Zanth at the same time, as he was the guardian that had accompanied Arati to Aperune. Arati was convinced that it held strict instructions to ensure her compliance as well as her safety, but she didn’t care enough to ask Zanth about it. If anyone was to be her jailor, she would prefer Zanth out of all of her father’s men, since she had fond memories of him. Zanth’s father was the current Minister of Defense, a
nd Zanth had grown up at the castle along with Arati and Panc. The castle cook had always had a soft spot for Zanth, and would ply him with kitchen delicacies that Zanth would then sneak to Arati. But now he took his role in the Guard very seriously, and Arati knew that their former relationship wouldn’t sway his performance at all. If the king ordered Zanth to assassinate her, he would probably do it without a second thought, which was depressing. As was being banished. As was being pregnant. Arati took to her chambers and lay around, eating sweets.
But then Fiern arrived at Aperune, luckily three days after the message from King Saras, before Arati could do too much damage to herself or the baby. Fiern was a nurse that Vana had found and hired and convinced to go attend to the pregnant princess. It didn’t take long for Fiern to ascertain the state of affairs, and she was not the sort to let any charge of hers, princess or not, work themselves into a depression. She didn’t have a great deal of imagination herself, and saw no reason for Arati to be using hers to make herself miserable.
“Why not take your needlepoint to the drawing room today?” she asked Arati, the day after she arrived. “The light there is much better, and you won’t strain your eyes.”
Arati looked at the half-finished project that she hadn’t put more than a couple of stitches into each day and sighed. “The settee in there is so uncomfortable,” she said. “And it’s cold.”
“Surely there’s more comfortable furniture around this place somewhere,” Fiern said. “And we’ll light a fire and make you cozy.” She held out her hand. Arati unwillingly let herself be helped to her feet. She was still too skinny, Fiern thought, and her stomach was more prominent than it should have been at this stage because of the lack of other fat.
“Where are we going?” Arati asked suspiciously, as Fiern marched her down the hall.
“We’re going to find a comfortable seat for you,” Fiern said, motioning at a hapless footman that was nearby. “And we’ll move it to the drawing room.”