by Nina Monroe
"You're in pain," he whispered as his hand left her face and pressed lightly on her belly. "Your stomach is as hard as a rock. Should I call for Jacque?"
"You have more pressing issues than the Princess, Your Grace!" The Bradford advisor said as his shadow loomed over their bodies. "You no longer have the option of hiding away in your chambers and shirking your responsibilities to spend another day between her thighs."
Will stood up abruptly and grabbed the man by the shoulders and rammed him into the wall. Tamzin heard the sickening crack of bone, the yells of the men, and watched as Garrett pulled Will off the man.
In his thick Northern accent, Will yelled, "The first thing I will do as King is remove you from your post. That is if I don't kill you first!" He struggled against Garrett's arms before he disentangled himself completely. "She is my Queen and is carrying my child. If she is in pain, I want to know about it!"
"The yelling is not helping me," Tamzin groaned as she pressed her hand over her eyes to block out the light. She could feel the discontent looks from the men as they stared at her.
"It is bad luck to have a woman in the study while planning for war," the first Bradford advisor said as he tried to hide the slight sneer on his face.
"I don't trust the idea of her out there alone without adequate protection," Will said as he sat down on the lounge next to Tamzin and gently combed his fingers through her hair.
"I can escort her back to her chambers and stay with her," Quincy offered but Will shook his head.
"I need your council on security and the state of the Realm. This is the first we have heard that my father has been down in the South," Will said and took a deep breath before he stood and walked to the battle strategy table. "What do we know?"
"The most recent information we have is that Douglas Johansson invited Gregory and the Thurston soldiers with him to his territory. What exactly was the nature of their discussion, we don't know, but we know that they are allies. Our spies have told us that the Northerners arrived nearly a month ago and none of the people have seen Douglas Johansson in that time. We have no idea what that explosion just was," Quincy said as he took the Roth figurine and put it in the Bradford compound. "My King is aware of the situation and is sending reinforcements. All he asks is that you allow a few days for more soldiers to arrive."
"What of my men?" Will asked.
"The Thurston soldiers that fled are not in good shape and your aunt fears for her children. Many have arrow wounds or direct contact wounds. Do you know how many Thurston soldiers traveled with your father?" Quincy asked.
"Between fifteen and twenty thousand men. He wanted to begin to rebuild the North immediately," Will replied as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Only six thousand men have made it to Roth. The men who were well enough to speak said that Gregory allowed the Johanssons into the camp and tried to convince them to turn on you; when the North refused to attack you, the Johanssons attacked. Some have said that some soldiers did stay with Gregory while others were killed. As of right now, we have no idea the exact number of Thurston and Johansson soldiers," Quincy said with a frown. "We are safe here, but know that a fight is coming to you."
"We will be ready," Garrett said confidently as he crossed his arms over his chest. "We have the smartest battle strategist in the North and the South. Your father can't compete with you."
"My father taught me everything I know," Will said as he felt his best friend come to stand next to me. "It is not a level playing field."
"For him, it's not," Garrett said. "Your father's number one flaw and downfall is his arrogance and belief that everyone will side with him."
"What do you mean?" Will turned and looked Garrett in the eye, trying to decipher what Garrett would say.
"Gregory does not know that the information being funneled to him is not true. Sometimes, people make you believe something that is not true," Garrett said as he placed the Thurston figurine into the Bradford compound. "Gregory's greatest council has been lying to him."
"What do you know?" Aidan asked as he approached the table.
"The Johanssons have a lot of men, but we had an idea about that. The estimation is roughly thirty thousand, but they are all untrained, a good number are convicts, and we know Gregory is not the strongest trainer, especially with severely undisciplined men. Obviously, the Bradfords have sided with us, as have the Roths, and the rest of the North will join you, Will. If we called all the banners, that will give us twenty thousand men, possibly more. Gregory is going to come to Bradford and demand that the Bradfords submit to him and turn you over," Garrett said as he continued to move the figurines.
"This is very distinct information. How do you know all of this?" Quincy asked as he backed up to stand next to Tamzin and slowly unsheathed his sword. "Have you betrayed your Prince?"
"Since we left Thurston Territory after the burning, Gregory Thurston has been writing me and asked me to spy on Will and Tamzin for him. Every bit of information I have given him has been a lie. He thinks the Bradfords have shunned you, that your relationship with Tamzin has deteriorated, and that she has given birth to a sickly daughter that should die any day now. I also told him that the Roth soldiers were ready to turn against you. I made it seem like you were the worst possible leader," Garrett said as he felt the eyes of all the men on him.
"You have been lying to me this entire time," Will said as he felt his hand clench into a fist at his side. "You put my family in danger. You put my child and my wife in danger. What if your false information spurned my father to attack while we were traveling?" Will yelled as he grabbed Garrett by the collar of his shirt.
"I haven't been lying! I have just been not so forthcoming. That's why I have kept my distance," Garrett said as he made Will unhand him. "I don't know exactly when Gregory will arrive, but it will be in the next three days. He is bringing less than a thousand men. I told him Aidan Bradford would open the door to him and meet little resistance. Tamzin would sign an agreement to end your marriage and join Gregory to save her family. Gregory thinks everything is going his way."
"You're joining the councilman on his way to meeting my blade," Will growled as he shoved his friend away from him. "We need to plan."
"The tunnels would be of great use. No one else knows about them," Aidan said as he pointed to them on the map. "Did Paul show them to you?"
"I did," Paul said just as he entered the room. "The people have moved into the underground bunkers and the passageway in the mountain has been closed off. If someone still wanted to get through, they could, but it will buy us some time."
"What exactly are the tunnels?" Quincy asked.
"Underground, there are tunnels that go miles from the compound to the woods on the outside. They are large enough to be able to have hundreds of soldiers travel them at once. There are breaks in the tunnels that can lead to different pathways," Will said as he inspected the map. "I have an idea."
As Will explained his plan to his men, Tamzin was in silent agony on the lounge. Her cramps were so intense that she felt her toes curl in her sandals. She gritted her teeth together so hard that she was sure she cracked a few and her fingers left tiny tears in her dress from her nails. She stared up at the ceiling as she tried to control her breathing. Her back had begun to burn and her thighs quaked from the pressure in the lower portion of her body. Unconsciously and with no control, she sat up and felt her legs slide open. The pressure in her belly increased over the minutes and Tamzin knew she had begun labor. She screamed "NO!" in her mind, but it was something that couldn't be stopped.
"Willem, Paul, and myself will cover the three corners from the tunnels and Rolf will command the archers from the perimeter. We will let my father think that only the Roth soldiers will be defending the area and on my count, arrows will cease and the sides will collide onto the battlefield. My father won't see it coming. Maybe you weren't so stupid after all," Will said as he looked to Garrett. "Can we safely bring horses up from the tunnels and
into the woods?"
"The exits we have found slope up, so yes, that is possible," Paul nodded as he pointed to the exits they would be taking. It was mostly quiet in the study with only the soft murmurs of the men until Tamzin let out a loud groan, followed by a scream. Will turned from the table to see Tamzin sitting up on the lounge. Her legs were open, but her dress covered her modesty, but it didn't cover the wet stain forming on her dress and the fabric of lounge. Tamzin's mouth opened but she made no sound as she looked to him, with tears streaming down her face.
"Tamzin!" Will yelled as he ran to her and collapsed to his knees next to her. He stared at the stain between her legs, water mixed with a slight bit of blood, before she grimaced again. "Is this it?"
"Yes, this is it," Tamzin said as she felt Will lift her up from the lounge and cradled her in his arms.
"Find Jacque and Nicola!" Will yelled as he carried her out of the study and into the hallway. He shoved his way through the servants clearing out the rooms and brought her into their chambers. He laid her gently on the bed and watched as she strained through another contraction. Her fingers curled around the sheets as she let out a grunt of pain. It sounded almost inhuman to Will as he sat down on the bed next to her and uncurled her fingers. He took her hand in his and felt her clench.
"I'm so hot," Tamzin said as she pulled on her dress. Will watched, helplessly, as she pulled her dress down and tried to pull it down her torso and legs before another contraction racked her body. "Will," she cried again. "I feel like I'm going to die."
"You are not going to die. I will be right here, sweetness. When you bring our son into the world, I will be right next to you. We will get through this together," Will said as he gently pressed a kiss to her mouth. "You aren't going to die."
He heard the chamber door open and watched Jacque come in and then Nicola. They didn't say a word to him as they worked, in sync, to pull Tamzin's dress down. Stripped naked, Jacque and Nicola cleaned their hands and Will watched Jacque spread Tamzin's legs and set a grim look on his face.
"This isn't going to be easy," Jacque whispered to Nicola.
Will set his jaw and took a deep breath. He felt Tamzin's hand clench his again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Will thought he understood suffering before. He endured his own injuries, physical and emotional, watched men he trained become injured or die in battle. Their screams would never leave him and Will was sure that nothing could top that pain. He had been wrong, so wrong.
Tamzin did not scream often, but when she did, it was deafening and consuming. Her skin was flushed red and sweat covered her brow and the skin between her breasts. He wanted to join in her screams, to roar at his mother and Jacque for literally sitting by as Tamzin suffered. This was normal, they said. Birth is the most difficult moment in a woman's life and the pain is to be expected. Will pressed a cool rag to her forehead and watched the droplets sink down her skin of her face. It mixed with her tears.
Before, she would have a few moments of peace, but now, her pain was constant. Will tried to continue to hold her hand until she pushed him away.
"Don't touch me. Everything hurts," she moaned in the worst way possible as she turned to her side, her back to him. Everything in Will told him to touch her, to comfort her, but he resisted as he watched her shake and listened to her teeth chatter.
"Are you cold?" He asked as he watched Jacque jump to his feet and pressed a hand to her forehead.
"This happens sometimes in birth. It is normal," Jacque said before he gently ordered Tamzin to lie on her back. She obeyed and Jacque and Nicola inspected her between her legs. "There is still time before the birth."
"How will I know it is time?" Tamzin croaked out before Will offered her some water.
"Your body will tell you. It may seem hard to believe, but when the time comes, you will know exactly what to do," Nicola said as she offered Will a new cloth for Tamzin's face. Will took it and dipped it into the water basin. He ran the cloth up her arms and across her chest.
He wondered if she felt awkward about her nakedness in front of Jacque and Nicola, but realized the pain blinded her from every emotion except agony. He helped her sit up and brought the cup of water to her lips, where she drank greedily. He prepped the pillows and kept her elevated as she gritted her teeth through another contraction.
She rarely made a sound, but when she did, it made Will's heart ache more with each passing breath. He should have been consumed with battle plans, but he couldn't tear his attention away from her. Will would have given anything, his crown included, to have her pain abate but the longer her labor went on, the more she cried.
It was the worst when the screaming began.
Any self-control Tamzin had literally went out the window as she grabbed her water goblet and threw it against the window. She sat up and her body seemed to freeze as Jacque and Nicola jumped to their feet. Will had watched them discuss something in the corner of the room and Will was angry that they didn't find it necessary to share it.
Tamzin's fingers curled around his shirt as a contraction passed and another one started in its wake. It was like the pain was crawling on top of each other and Will closed his eyes to hold back his tears. This was retribution for something; a bad past act Will had committed was being passed onto Tamzin. There was no way that birth could be this painful. Something had to be wrong.
Jacque returned to his place between Tamzin's legs and she screeched as he checked to see how far along she was. His lips was set into a grim line as he turned to look at Nicola and nodded.
"What are these secret messages you keep sending to one another?" Will asked as Tamzin pressed her face into his shoulder. All he felt was her warmth and sweat.
"I had suspected before, but now I know," Jacque began as he wiped his sweat from his brow, his eyes downcast. "The baby is breech."
"What does that mean?" Will asked, his voice rising to a frantic tone. "Is the baby fine?"
"When a baby comes out of the womb, it is supposed to come out head first. The mother will push the head and shoulders out and after that, the baby slips out. A breech baby means the baby will come out feet first. It is much more difficult birth, but some women do survive it and go on to have more children..." Jacque's voice trailed off.
"I was a breeched baby and my mother died," Tamzin whimpered as her body locked up from the pain. "Jacque, if it comes to it, save the baby over me."
"Are you crazy?" Will nearly yelled at her. "We can make another baby. This baby is lost without you as its mother."
Tamzin reached out and slapped Will clear across the face.
"How can you say that? How can you say that we can just make another baby after having felt him? It's a boy! I know it is. I have had dreams about him and he is going to look just like you. I can't just make another baby. If I live and he doesn't, I will follow him in death. I can't live knowing my baby died. Jacque, if it comes to it, save him, please," Tamzin said as the tears slipped down her cheeks. Will felt the red mark forming on his face as his hand took hers and laced them together. He realized that this may be the last times he held her hand.
Tamzin settled back into the pillows and stared up at the ceiling before she cried out again. Her hands rested on her belly, like she willed the baby to finally be born. Anything for this pain to be over.
"You still have a few more hours of this, Your Grace," Jacque said sadly. "You are not quite ready to push."
"Is there anything she can take for the pain?" Will asked as he ran his free hand up and down her arm.
"No, she has to suffer through it," Nicola said as she gently pushed Tamzin's hair out of her face. "Obviously, we would prefer the baby not be breech, but since it is, the baby is in the best position for a breech. The baby's bottom will come out first and while it means that you will have extended healing time after the birth, we expect you and the baby to survive."
"Expect? I need more than just expect!" Will yelled and Tamzin jumped from his volume.
> "There is no better word in birth. You both knew that if you wanted a child, there is a chance she will die. The only thing more unnatural than a woman dying in birth is her child following her. If you have never prayed before, today may be a good day to start," Nicola scolded before she took a cloth and began to wash Tamzin's skin down.
Will watched as Tamzin's head lulled to the side, her desire to sleep outweighing everything else. She seemed to receive a few minutes of sleep before the pain awoke her and that is how she spent her hours.
"Will, can you hand me a quill and parchment?" Tamzin asked as her voice strained while she extended her hand out to him. For a brief moment, Will walked to their desk where he pulled the drawer out of its hinges and grabbed an inkwell, a quill, and a few pieces of parchment. He returned to her as quickly as he left and watched as Tamzin took the quill and parchment and placed it on the bed.