by T.M. Nielsen
***
“Am I showing?” Kyrin asked, looking sideways in the mirror.
Creteloc shook her head. “You’re not far enough along to be showing.”
“When does that happen?”
“Later on.”
“How do you even know?”
“I pay attention. So you’ll start to show with a bump down low on your abdomen. It’s easy to hide with thick clothing.”
“Okay,” Kyrin said, sitting down to eat.
“Unless you don’t stop eating. Then you’ll get fat too. That’s harder to hide.”
“I’m always hungry.”
“It doesn’t matter. Your body will change in other ways before the baby starts to show.”
“Perfect”
“Eating a lot will make it worse.”
“So I just have to wear thicker clothes for a bit?”
“When you start to show, just lift the waist on your dresses, and then when that doesn’t work anymore, you start wearing thicker clothing and layers.”
Kyrin nodded and took another bite.
“My god, Kyrin,” Creteloc said, pulling the plate away from her.
“I’m sorry. I’m hungry,” she mumbled with a full mouth.
“Use some control.”
Kyrin sat back in her chair. “It doesn’t matter how to hide it. You’re going to get rid of it.”
“I have to, or you’ll ruin what Daemionis has planned.”
“I’ve been saying sorry for a week, Creteloc!”
Creteloc just shrugged.
“If this doesn’t work, when am I going to start showing?”
“You still have a couple of months. Just be glad that Alric isn’t a twin.”
“Why’s that?”
“Twins make twins.”
“So?”
“So, with two babies, you show earlier and get much bigger. The bigger you get, the less anyone will want you after.”
“Well Alric isn’t a twin.”
“Good, then at your age, you should bounce right back, even if you have to actually deliver the little terror.”
“I can’t have a baby,” Kyrin said, frowning. “Alric will toss me out, and that royal elf will have my husband.”
“It’s only a matter of time.”
“I know, but I need more time to figure out how to get him back.”
Creteloc walked over and stirred the poison. “You should be able to take this tonight.”
“Oh good.”
“You’ll be in excruciating pain for about two days before your body will get rid of the abhorrent little creature.”
“Well that sounds like fun.”
“Two days of pain is better than the disgusting process of pregnancy.”
“I agree.”
While Creteloc was stirring, Kyrin reached over and stole another roll from her plate and ate it quickly.
“Okay, it’s ready,” Creteloc said as she filled a mug with thick, chunky brown liquid.
“That doesn’t look like the stuff you put into a vial a while back for me,” Kyrin said, wrinkling her nose.
“This is more potent. You could possibly be almost two months pregnant by now.”
“Oh, okay. Well, let me have it.”
Creteloc handed her the mug. “Sit down when you drink it. The pain starts immediately.”
Kyrin sat down and then brought it up to her nose and inhaled.
“You have to drink it, not smell it.”
Taking a deep breath, Kyrin put the mug to her lips and then gasped and looked around when Creteloc’s house disappeared, and she was sitting in Daemionis’ palace.
“Kyrin,” Daemionis growled angrily.
She looked up at him with wide yes.
“Give me the mug.”
Her heart was racing when she realized that Daemionis wasn’t going to let her get rid of the baby. She thought quickly and tried to drink it before he could take it.
He roared and knocked her back into the wall as he took the mug. “Do not defy me!”
“Please,” she said, getting to her knees. “Don’t do this.”
“Do you need reminded who is in charge?”
“No”
“Then do not make to defy me again! You are not to get rid of this child.”
“Daemionis, Alric will banish me from Valhara, and the child will end up getting killed by the Consortiums anyway. It’s not worth it.”
“You will return to Paragoy and see if Alric will keep you.”
“He won’t! That’s why he did it, to get rid of me. I want to change his mind, but I can’t do it if he is disgusted with me.”
“Do as I ask.”
Daemionis advanced on Kyrin and angrily grabbed her arm. When he dropped her into Paragoy, she landed on her butt on the lush lawn, in front of all of the knights.
Finn walked forward and looked down at her when she looked around for Daemionis.
“Welcome back,” Finn said, putting his hand out to her.
She sighed and took it, so he could help her stand up.
“I have a bone to pick with you,” he told her.
“Not right now,” she whispered, and then looked around again.
“Yes, now. If you ever freeze me again, I will put you over my knee. Is that understood?”
She turned to him with wide eyes. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“But…”
“No! You are not to freeze me again.”
She’d never seen him that mad, so she simply nodded.
“Good, now that’s out of the way, the king will want to know you’re back.”
“How mad is he?” she asked, adjusting her skirt. She wasn’t showing, but she was afraid about what Creteloc had said. Creteloc mentioned that your body changed in other ways but hadn’t yet told Kyrin what she meant.
“Go find out for yourself.”
Kyrin sighed and then headed inside. She was glad that she was facing Alric when he didn’t know she was pregnant yet. She still had the old poison up in her room, tucked away safely, and hoped it would do the job.
Kyrin knocked on Alric’s office door.
“Who is it?” he asked, not very happy.
“It’s me.”
She heard him stand up and move to the door quickly. When he opened the door, he pulled her into a tight embrace. “You scared me to death.”
“I’m sorry.”
Alric moved back and looked at her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes”
“You look different though.”
“How?” she asked, looking down.
“I don’t know. I just… why did you do that? Why would you take off all of a sudden and shift?”
Kyrin sat down and looked up at him. “It was a misunderstanding, and I’m sorry.”
He knelt down and took her hand. “Tell me why.”
She hated to lie to him but couldn’t lose him yet. “Daemionis… he’s looking for a wife.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“I thought, well. I thought I saw Ginito.”
“Who’s that?”
“He finds Daemionis’ wives for him.”
“So you thought Daemionis was going to take you for a wife?” Alric asked, shocked.
“I didn’t know, but I was wrong. He found a wife already.”
“How many does he have?”
“Just the one. They don’t live long.”
Alric was getting mad. “So instead of letting us kill off this Ginito, you ran? Why would you do that?”
“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t have time to work through it. I had to make a split-second decision, and I chose to run from him.”
“When will your split-second decisions include me?” he asked, standing up.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m tired of you disappearing. When you do that, I have no way to find you.”
She just nodded and watched the floor.
&
nbsp; Alric walked over to look out the window. “I love you, Kyrin, but I can’t keep doing this. We don’t work like a married couple. We’re practically strangers, and you keep going off and doing your own thing.”
“Do you want me to leave then?” she whispered.
“No, I want you to trust me and act like we’re together.”
“I’m trying.”
“You scared me to death. You cast on Trox, Finn, and I. You made Azimeth think I was going to kill her.”
“Did she stay with the elves?”
“No, she returned, hoping you would too.”
“I’ll try harder,” she said quietly.
Alric sighed. “It’s not just the last thing either. You’ve been acting strangely for a while now, and I don’t understand why.”
“What do you mean?”
“The dresses, your hair, leaving your flail behind. I understand that you are trying to be what I want you to be, but maybe I didn’t want you to change in the first place. If I wanted to marry the perfect Valharan, I would have.”
“I’m just confused. I’ll figure it out.”
He turned to her. “If you’re confused, then you come to me, and we figure it out together.”
“Not this. This, I need to figure out on my own.”
“Why? You don’t trust me, do you?”
“I do.”
“No, you don’t, otherwise you’d let me help you.”
“I just got myself into some trouble, and I need to find a way out of it on my own.”
“Is Daemionis mad?”
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
“Is he going to punish you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so though.”
“So there’s no way at all that I can help you?” Alric asked.
“You can hold off on plans for right now, until I figure things out.”
“What plans?”
“Any plans.”
“I don’t have any plans right now, other than figuring out what’s up with you. I’ll not make any decisions, unless I ask you.”
She nodded.
“But in return, don’t shift, okay?”
“I can’t shift or Daemionis will kill me.”
“Why?”
“He told me to stay here, and he’s mad enough I need to do that.”
“Good, no more running off.”
Kyrin stood up and went to the door, but Alric touched her shoulder.
“I’m not done,” he said. “I also want to talk about how to stop you from freezing me any time you feel like it.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, watching his hand.
“There has to be another way to get what you want without freezing me. Do you know how irritating that is?”
She shook her head.
“Well it’s. It’s more than irritating! So stop it.”
“I’ll try.”
He kissed her lightly. “Don’t try, just stop. Now go see if you can get your nicker to stop crying.”
“Why’s he crying?”
“We don’t know. He’s been crying since you left.”
She smiled slightly. “I’ll go talk to him.”