by Summer Lee
“So, what brings you here, Gad?” asked Kenana.
“Ah, yes,” he said, sitting up a little straighter. “First, I want to thank you again for giving me my father’s music business. Whether or not my father will be considered a great ruler remains still to be seen. However, there can be no doubt that he left behind a rich music legacy, and his instruments are proof of that. I am honored to be part of that legacy.”
Kenana beamed. “It is what the Prince wanted.”
“And second, I want to thank you for the honor you bestowed upon me yesterday, to rule until you recover from your child’s birth. Even if it is a temporary honor, I am grateful for the chance to serve our people in such a capacity.”
She patted her rotund belly. “Well, I am hardly fit for matters of the court. You are the most qualified. And very just in matters of such importance.”
He laughed nervously, and Kenana looked at him curiously. The young prince was behaving strangely. Indeed, he was acting almost…shy?
Just as the thought entered her mind, Gad surprised her by suddenly reaching out and taking hold of both her hands. “And how have you been faring, little stepmother?” That was their private joke, for although Kenana had indeed been his stepmother, Gad was actually a few years older than she was.
“Doing well,” Kenana said cautiously, discreetly slipping her hands free of his too-eager grip. She used the awkward opportunity to absentmindedly pat her swollen abdomen. “Considering it is almost time for my baby to come.”
“And who will help you deliver your baby?” he asked.
Kenana shifted her weight, relieving pressure from her lower back. “I had hoped Tall and Sarah would return by now, but they have not.”
Gad was studying her intently, and Kenana was suddenly, inexplicably uncomfortable. She looked away, but could feel his eyes on her. Once again, he took her hand. But this time, gently, tenderly.
“Kenana,” he said softly, almost a whisper.
Kenana suddenly had a very bad feeling where this was headed. Don’t say it, Gad, she thought. Do not say it.
“Kenana,” he said again, his voice gaining some strength. “I love you.”
“What?” She pulled her hand free and stood abruptly. Too abruptly. She felt dizzy and nearly fell. Gad was instantly behind her, hands on her shoulders, stabilizing her.
“I said that I love you.”
With her back to him, Kenana said, “You mean that, of course, in a very honorable way.”
“If loving another is honorable, then yes.”
“Honorable in what way?”
“I want to be with you.”
That message she understood and she had to stop this before it went any further.
She spun around, her massive belly causing some separation between herself and the young prince. “You are my deceased husband’s son and my sister’s husband. You are so far out of line that I do not know where to—”
He cut her off, placing his fingers gently over her lips to shush her. “I have wanted you for myself ever since my father passed away.”
“I will pretend I did not hear—”
“Hear me out. Please.”
Kenana shook her head from side to side, frowning.
“I want to be with you when you deliver my father’s baby, and then continue to care for you.” Gad looked intensely into her eyes. “Under the law of Cain, a close relative of Prince Jubal should take his widow as wife. I want to be that relative. I want to marry you, my queen.”
“You are already married.”
“I will leave her for you, my queen. Anything for you.”
“You will not put aside another woman and turn her out into the street for my sake—brokenhearted and hungry, without a protector. I will not have it. It is scandalous and dishonorable. I do not want to discuss this matter any further. We shall consider the topic closed.”
Prince Gad had the grace, at least, to look ashamed.
“And please bring my sister to assist in the birthing. I will need someone I can trust in the days to come.”
“You can trust me,” he said humbly.
“I am trusting you to run the business affairs of Adah. You have a full day, every day, with matters of court. Now, send someone responsible to fetch my sister and accompany her back to Adah with her midwife supplies.” She looked at him sadly for a brief moment. He was a good man, and she did not doubt his love for her was real, but he had crossed the line.
He was married. And besides, Kenana’s heart belonged to another.
“You will excuse me now.” Kenana turned and left, leaving the young prince standing alone by the massive hearth. She could feel his eyes on her, could sense his longing and confusion. She had not sought his love, nor could she stomach it.
The oversized door opened and slammed shut. She assumed Gad was angry with her. But what could she do?
She had just reached the landing to the floor above when a massive pain ripped through her stomach.
Chapter Seven
Kenana doubled over, gasping. A young slave appeared instantly at her side, looking confused and terrified. Kenana ordered her to fetch her trusted field hand, Gauss. The young girl dashed off down the stairs.
A moment later, the pain abated and Kenana was able to stand upright once again. She took a few deep breaths, and continued down the long hallway to her room. One or two guards made to help her but she waved them off, irritably.
She slipped inside her room, shut the door behind her and crawled into bed.
My baby is coming, she thought, and it is coming now!
*
Kenana was in her bed, sweating and nearly delirious, silently begging for her trusted slave to arrive soon.
This babe will surely burst me open.
She needed a good midwife, but there were currently none on hand at the palace. Her trusted field hand, Gauss, would be as good as any midwife, for he had spent a lifetime delivering livestock.
I am not a cow. Or a sheep, she thought in anguish. I need Asher. Where is that blasted man?
But wasn’t her once-trim waistline now bulging with child? Kenana was the first to admit that she was not as comely as she had once been. Perhaps that was why Asher had not returned.
If so, then perhaps it was best he was gone. She was surely not perfect. If perfection were what he was looking for, then he would have to look elsewhere.
However, that did not seem like Asher’s nature. The man was so kind and gentle, and yet fierce when he had to be.
Kenana moaned in pain. She hoped Prince Gad would return soon with her sister Mara. And with her here, perhaps Gad would abandon his foolish notions of marrying Kenana.
Foolish man.
Just prior to the conception of her baby, Kenana had been raped by the fallen angel, Malluch, her supposed guardian angel. Yet she had been with her husband, Prince Jubal only a month earlier. Was the baby her deceased husband’s child? Or was it sired by the fallen angel? Kenana did not know. All she knew was that the baby was enormous.
But she would know soon. Very soon.
Babies sired by fallen angels were the Nephilim, those with half-human blood and half angel blood. The Nephilim were generally a wicked lot, although a very few did go on to do great things.
Kenana prayed her son was not a Nephilim. If so, his would be a difficult life. And thereby, so would hers.
Lying in her bed, the pain hit her again, hard. It started in her lower back and surged through her pelvis. Kenana arched her back, screaming.
And then it stopped completely.
Kenana gasped, falling back to her bed. She lay there panting like a dog.
She understood why her trusted friends Tall and Sarah had not returned after she had freed them of a lifetime of slavery. Having fallen in love, they would seek out a place where they could establish their own home. They, too, had hopes of finding lost relatives.
The pain came again, and this time with a vengeance. Her stomach felt as if it was ripping in half.
Kenana cried out, screaming. If the baby came now, she would have no one here to help her deliver it. She would surely die.
Again, she thought of Asher. He was different. Why had he not returned? Did he not care about her? Was not he her Goel? Her trusted protector? He had told her that El provided him to care for her throughout her lifetime. Did he not know she needed him?
She missed Asher so much. Just thinking about him brought sadness to her heart. Had he now forgotten her? Perhaps in his travels he had found another woman. He truly was handsome enough to easily find female company.
That thought alone made her feel even more miserable.
A wave of pain swept over her again, and it continued sweeping over her. Pounding hard. Kenana wept, expecting to die in a pool of blood, a newborn sealed inside her womb.
In that instant, her door burst open and her trusted slave, Gauss, out of breath and covered in dirt, dashed to her side. He took her hand and felt her forehead.
“You will be okay, madam,” he said. “I promise.”
She wept with gratitude, and then swore that she would kill him for taking so long!
Chapter Eight
The pain spread from her abdomen to her lower back. Searing white-hot pain. Kenana screamed and reached for Gauss, grabbing hold of his dirty tunic and pulling him nearly on top of her.
“I am going to die!”
“No, madam. You will be fine. In a day or so, once the babe is in your arms, you will remember nothing of this pain.”
The slave’s words were more reassuring than he could ever possibly know. She loved the man right then, and would have gladly shared her throne, her bed, her anything with him. He gently pried her vice-like grip from his tunic.
“Please help me,” she said. “Tell me what I must do.”
“You are going to be safe, madam. I promise.”
And that’s when the door flew open a second time, and a man entered—one whom she thought she might not ever see again. But at that moment, Kenana could not think of him. She could only think of survival—and of pushing this massive thing out of her womb.
As Asher rushed to her side, concern on his handsome face, Kenana passed out.
*
When she came to and opened her eyes, she saw that Asher had her feet in the air and his hands between her legs.
“The head is too large,” she heard him say to Gauss. The field slave nodded grimly in consent.
Something appeared in Asher’s hand. Something metallic. Something sharp. A knife.
“But you will hurt her!” Gauss protested.
“It is the only way to save both of their lives,” he said. “If I do not act soon, they will both perish.”
Gauss, his face ashen, nodded again.
Asher, his jaw set with severe determination, raised the glistening blade and swept it across her belly. Blood sprayed his face.
Kenana tried to scream but could not, and just before she passed out again, she felt as if a tremendous pressure had been released from her.
Bless you, Asher.
*
Now she heard other voices in the far distance, as if they came from a deep well. One sounded like her sister, Mara. Had Gad brought Mara back so soon? Or did the voice belong to her dearest friend, Sarah? Confused, she tried to think, but could not. She fell back into a deep sleep.
It was not a peaceful sleep.
Her dreams were filled with horrific images: Of an impossibly large baby with red, glowing eyes. Of evil, winged creatures hovering over her bed, laughing at her, just waiting for her to move. In her delirious dreams, she fought them, clawed them, but the more she fought them, the more they appeared, until her room was filled with the screeching, laughing, venom-dripping demons.
They seemed proverbial to her. The more familiar they appeared, the more frightened she became. Had these demons followed her around all of her life?
Soon paralyzed, she was unable to even fight back, for the creatures were restraining her, pinning her arms to her side, until in walked a man—a being, a creature—who was truly straight from her nightmares.
Malluch, her alleged guardian angel who had raped her nearly one year ago—stepped through her open door, holding a newborn baby. The baby was grotesquely big, misshapen, not fit for this world or any world.
He thrust it toward her and laughed.
“Take it!” His voice was low and cruel.
“No! That’s not my baby.”
And in her dreams, Kenana screamed.
She awakened, trembling. She could only think one thought.
Not my baby!
Chapter Nine
“You have friends here who would like to speak with you,” said a familiar voice, wiping perspiration from her brow. “You’ve been asleep too long, dear Keni. It is time to wake up.”
But Kenana could not move.
“Try saying something to her. She has been unconscious too long. She must awaken.”
Kenana heard the love and concern in the man’s voice, and knew she loved him, too. Whoever he was. The name Asher appeared in her thoughts, swimming up from the black depths, and she held onto it like a lifeline, for she instinctively knew the name was good, for it resounded in her heart.
Asher. My love.
“Like what?” asked another male voice, also familiar.
“Oh, get out of the way, you oaf,” said a woman’s voice. Kenana knew this voice, too, and her heart sang. More importantly, the voice sounded nearby and did not appear to be coming from a great distance. The cushions of her bed shifted with the weight of a person sitting next to her. Kenana felt a gentle hand on her face. “Kenana, my princess, my queen, my friend, I hate to see you like this. Please come back to us.”
Another name floated up from the black, empty depths: Sarah.
Sweet, dark-haired Sarah! Her good friend. And the man with her was…Tall. Yes, Tall! A strange name for a man, but he certainly looked the part with his tall, long-limbed body.
Kenana was delighted to hear their voices. More, she was delighted to discover that she was not dead. At least, she did not think she was dead.
Maybe I am, she thought. Maybe that’s why I still can’t move.
“You have a beautiful—and very large—son, Queen Kenana,” said Tall. “But you must open your eyes to see him.”
“Asher did a great job bringing him into the world,” added Sarah, patting her cheeks. “I’m concerned about you now. I want you to wake up.”
“You do remember Sarah and Tall don’t you?” asked Asher. “Your two servants you set free? They have come to assure you of their loyalty.”
“El does not want you to die,” Tall said kindly. “I do believe that. You must raise your son.”
“I love you,” Sarah whispered, kissing her cheek. “Don’t leave us now.” She heard sniffles and a few mumbled words and then, finally, footsteps. She was alone again.
More time passed. Kenana slept deeply. Her dreams were filled with swirling, amorphous black shapes.
When she awakened, she discovered that she could open her eyes.
At least I can do that! she thought.
Sitting on the bed beside her was her sister, Mara. Next to her was her brother-in-law, Gad, but they were both fuzzy. Standing behind them was a gorgeous angel, slender and tall and full of radiant beauty. Kenana guessed that she was dreaming, but she did not care. The feminine-looking angel smiled down on her and she felt her deep love.
“You are a good angel.”
“Yes.” Her voice was soft and sweet.
“Do you know how my baby was conceived?”
“Yes.” The angel nodded.
“Since you are here, does that mean El loves him?”
“Yes, dear. El loves you both.”
“Are you going back to Heaven now?”
“Yes.” The angel smiled.
“Ask El to help me and my infant. Nothing is working right,” Kenana said to the gorgeous one. The heavenly visitor nodded, touched her face gently and rose
swiftly out of the room, through the ceiling.
Did I just have a vision of my son’s guardian angel? Kenana’s thoughts were too fuzzy to tell for sure. Surely, I am just dreaming.
But the voices she now heard were in the room. They were indeed Gad and Mara. They were discussing her infant, marveling at his great size. Kenana sensed Asher was near, somewhere in the room. She also sensed that he was always near, that even when she thought she was sleeping alone, that he had been in the room, with her.
“She will need help,” said Gad. “She is a very sick girl.”
“I’ll be here for her,” said Mara. “If she needs me.”
Mara and Gad soon left, and next, she felt a calloused hand stroking her cheek. “Greetings and welcome back to this world.”
She tried to say something, but no words came out.
“Hello, beautiful one.” It was Asher.
Her eyelids fluttered.
“Yes, open your eyes for me.”
She tried to open her eyes but could not.
“I remember the first time I saw you. I had never seen such beauty. You had just arrived to marry Prince Jubal. El had sent me to protect you because the prince had already overstepped his boundaries with you. My job was to keep you safe. I was to make sure that your husband did not harm you.”
Kenana wanted to tell Asher that she could hear him, but her brain was stuck. Her lips would not move.
“I love you, Keni dear.” He stroked her cheek and smoothed the hair from her face “I’ll brush this for you soon. When you can sit up.”
She wanted to let him know she could hear him, but she could not do so.
“I truly love you,” he said. “With all my heart.”
Kenana wanted to tell him how much she loved him, too. She wanted to return his touch. She tried to smile.
Instead, she fell back into a deep dreamless sleep.
Chapter Ten
Birds were singing outside her window. Surely, it was morning. She opened her eyes momentarily. The bright sun beaming into her room hurt her eyes, so she shut them.
When next she opened her eyes, she was looking into the face of a very handsome, dark-haired man. Asher.