SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Ten
“Good evening!” Alec said as he came out on the balcony.
They had decided to have a celebratory dinner on the balcony and with the lights strung up, it was very picturesque. Maren and Donovan had not yet arrived, but Alec was looking forward to seeing them and congratulating them. They had been sequestered the whole afternoon, but Alec’s father told him what Maren had decided.
“You look pleased,” his father observed as Alec sat down.
“I’m thrilled. It isn’t every day your best friend gets to marry the love of his life and your other best friend gets to become a princess,” he said, grinning.
“And you don’t even think to comfort your father, who has lost an engagement?” his father said with a wink.
Alex laughed. He knew his father was more happy than disappointed.
“Well, the next time I bring you a wife, I’ll try to make sure she isn’t pregnant,” Alec said.
His father smiled. “You are a rubbish matchmaker. Terrible introduction, pregnant with someone else’s baby. You should probably retire.”
Alec laughed. “No, no, I will not give up my new profession until I find you a wife.”
“Oh, but do make sure she’s magic. That’s useful to have around,” his father said with a wink.
“Don’t worry, Jonathan, I’ll still come out and fix your hip if you break it,” Maren said, walking out on the balcony on Donovan’s arm.
Now there was a sight Alec was happy to see.
He hadn’t intended to leap up to embrace them both, but he did. He couldn’t help it.
“Oh, you ridiculous people! I’m so happy for you both,” Alec cried.
Donovan laughed and clapped him on the back.
“Thank you. And thank you for your help,” Donovan said.
“Well, if you want to thank me, Alec would be an excellent name for the baby,” he said with a wink.
“No, no! They already agreed to name him Jonathan!” Alec’s father cried.
Everyone laughed at that and they sat down.
“I think ‘King Donovan the Second’ sounds best,” Donovan said.
“I think it’s a girl,” Maren said with a wry smile.
“Could be both! Maybe it’s twins,” Alec’s father pointed out.
Maren shook her head, not in negation, but in astonishment.
“I can hardly wrap my mind around one baby, much less two,” she said.
Alec’s father smiled. “You’ll get used to it.”
It made Alec’s heart feel very full to see Maren and Donovan exchange a smile at that.
He would have terminated the pregnancy if Maren had asked him to, but he would’ve hated doing it. It wasn’t that he had any opposition to the procedure, he was happy to do it when needed, but he knew it would have hurt both his friends badly. He was relieved he didn’t have to do it.
A servant brought out a tray of sparkling wine.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Jonathan said as they were all given glasses. “But I felt a toast was in order.”
Alec’s father raised his glass. “To Prince Donovan and the future Princess Maren.”
Alec said, “Hear, hear,” and the men all touched glasses while Maren stared off into nothing for a moment. She was looking rather shocked.
“Are you alright, Maren?” Alec asked.
Donovan patted her hand. “I don’t think she’s ever heard her new title.”
“That is correct,” Maren said. She sounds dazed.
Alec and his father both chuckled.
“Possibly, that will take some getting used to,” his father said. “I know when people started saying ‘Your Grace’ to me, I kept trying to figure out why they were addressing my recently deceased father.”
“Yes, but you at least had the luxury of knowing you would inherit that title, never in my wildest imaginings did I ever think I’d have the title ‘princess,’” Maren said.
“It sounds perfect,” Donovan said to her, smiling.
Dinner was a very nice affair, everyone was too happy for it to be anything else. But during the dessert course (featuring an outstanding cake from Josephine) the dinner took a more serious turn.
“Jonathan, would you tell me about your sister?” Maren asked.
Alec’s father looked surprised but pleased.
“I would be delighted to,” he said.
Alec was also interested. He had never known much about his aunt, but he wanted to hear everything now that he knew the truth.
“You don’t have to now, of course,” Alec said. “But I think we’d all like to hear.”
Donovan nodded.
“Let’s go to my sitting room for a nightcap,” Alec’s father said. “We can speak more freely there.”
His father’s sitting room was a very comfortable room. It was decorated in the style Alec thought of as “comfortable gentleman” with lots of wood paneling and leather furniture and few colors apart from shades of brown. He liked it.
Once they were ensconced in comfortable armchairs and everyone, except Maren, had brandy (she looked longingly at it but said she couldn’t stomach it), Alec’s father began.
He took a framed photograph from a shelf and handed it to Maren. Alec had seen it many times. It was an older-style photograph, a bit fuzzy and sepia toned instead of black and white. It was of Alec’s father and Margot on their eighteenth birthday.
They didn’t look very much alike. Margot had higher cheekbones, and his father had a sharper jawline. Alec’s father had dark hair and a very stoic and dignified expression, whereas Margot had light hair and a small smirk as it to say she thought the whole thing was ridiculous. They both had the same eyes, though.
“You look a bit like her, Alec,” Maren said, passing the photograph to Donovan.
“I always thought so,” Alec’s father said. “I think they have the same nose. And the eyes, of course.”
“What was she like?” Maren asked.
Alec’s father smiled, thinking of his sister. “Margot was…well, if her governess was in a good mood she called Margot ‘challenging’ and if she was in a bad mood she said Margot was ‘better suited to be a dockworker than a duchess.’”
They all laughed at that.
“She was always running off to play with the boys or do something else unladylike. She loved the horses—of course in those days the horses were laborers, not pets—but not to Margot. She loved all animals and was always finding injured sparrows or bunnies and nursing them back to health. It drove my mother mad, but my father didn’t mind. I think…even if she hadn’t been a Wielder, she would not have been happy just being some duke’s wife. She wanted to do things. She wanted to be useful.
“Of course, that was before she turned thirteen. She was different after. You two—“ his father gestured to Maren and Donovan “—will have to correct me if I’m wrong, but I would think getting powers suddenly like that would change a person.”
Both Maren and Donovan nodded.
Alec thought that was very intriguing. He knew their experiences were radically different, but it appeared there were similarities as well.
“She was terrified, of course—couldn’t even tell our parents. She thought they’d disown her on the spot. So, I told them for her. They were worried for her, but they took it as well as can be expected. Margot was just a shell of herself for a while, though. She barely ate, barely left her rooms, barely even let me see her. She stopped caring for the small injured animals. But surprisingly enough, it was her governess who helped.
“The governess figured it out, or course. A girl changing that radically just after turning thirteen? Not too many explanations for that. But, much to everyone’s relief, she knew a Wielder. She came from a tiny village in the East, and everyone knew there was a woman you went to when you were injured. No one talked about it, but everyone appreciated what she did too much to turn her in. We found out later that there had been a Wielder in that village for hundreds of years, passing on her knowledge to the next generation and so on.
“But there were no young Wielders in the village for the current Wielder to teach, so, she came here to teach Margot. They never spoke about what they did together, but I knew it helped Margot a great deal. Slowly, she began coming back to us. I knew she would be alright when she brought me an injured bunny. At first, I thought she wanted me to take care of it for her, but I was wrong. She healed it. She was so pleased with herself.”
Alex could only imagine what it had been like for her. He related to the desire to relieve pain and heal, but he could not do it instantly. If he suddenly could, it would have been incredible.
“Of course, as she got older, the subject of marriage became more and more pressing. She had no interest in it, she barely had interest in it before she was a Wielder, she valued her independence too much. But, not marrying with the sort of options she’d have had would have been suspicious. There was even an early discussion with the royal family about her marrying Prince Corbin,” his father said.
“It didn’t last though, it was too dangerous. So, the issue was tabled until she was past the age of Selection. The hope was that she would marry someone older who already had children—“
“I can’t imagine who’d want to do that,” Alec interrupted with a wink at Maren, and they all laughed.
“Yes, well,” Alec’s father continued, “it wasn’t meant to be. My father had a friend at Court who somehow got wind that the Trackers were coming for Margot. We never found out who reported her. It might have been someone on the staff, I don’t know. But it was clear Margot had to flee.”
“Where did she go?” Alec asked.
Alec had been wondering the same thing. He assumed it was some remote village in the middle of the forest or something like that.
His father smiled. “You’ll think I’m mad.”
“Jonathan, in the same conversation you told me I was pregnant and going to be the queen. I don’t think there’s anything you could possibly say that will make me think you’re madder than that,” Maren said.
“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. She left the kingdom.”
A shocked silence fell over the room. Leaving the kingdom? That was unheard of! No one left. Where would they go? No one knew what went on outside the kingdom.
“I stand corrected,” Maren said in a stunned voice.
“I don’t know if she ever made it, of course, but she meant to. According to her teacher, there was a safe-haven for Wielders on the other side of the mountains. That knowledge had been passed down along with the rest. It was either that or execution, so that’s what she tried to do.”
His father paused in his story, giving everyone a chance to process the information.
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Donovan said. “I’ve never even considered leaving the kingdom.”
Nor had Alec.
“I’ve never heard of anyone else doing it,” his father said.
Maren, understandably, fixated on another part of the story. “I wonder what the safe haven is like.”
She sounded dreamy. Alec tried to frame the idea, so he could understand. What if there was a town where he could live openly as a man who liked other men?
He very nearly gasped at the idea, it was so extraordinary. Not having to hide or sneak around. Maybe even doing things he’d never dreamed of, living with someone, possibly adopting children? It would be incredible.
Yes, he could see why Maren thought dreamily of a safe haven. Gods, he felt half desperate for one of his own suddenly. It made him wonder for the first time in his life, what was life like out there, outside the kingdom?
“Did you have to tell everyone she died?” Maren asked.
His father nodded. “We said it was a sudden fever. Everyone was very sympathetic, but…well, nothing was ever the same.”
His father sounded so sad. At least as sad as when Alec’s stepmother died. It was heartbreaking.
But then his father smiled. “I like to think that she’s still out there, living a happy life. And I hope that one day, I can bring her home.”
Donovan sniffed, and Alec was shocked to see his friend's face full of anguish. He cleared his throat and spoke for the first time since they sat down in the sitting room.
“I am so sorry,” he said in a choked voice.
Maren put her hand over his, a small gesture of comfort.
“Don’t be,” his father said. “It’s not like you set up this system, and I don’t think anyone should be punished for the crimes of their ancestors. It is more than enough for me that I know you’ll change it one day.”
Donovan nodded. “I swear it.”
The group fell silent again, everyone lost in thought. Then Maren yawned, trying, and failing, to hide it.
“Bed,” Donovan said before Alec could.
That made Alec happy. His friends would take very good care of one another.
Maren nodded and they both left together.
Alec stayed with his father. He had the sense he shouldn’t leave him alone just yet.
“Are you alright?”
His father smiled and nodded. “I am. I miss her, of course, but it’s good to talk about her—who she really was, I mean.”
“I’m glad to know who she really was. Thank you.”
“I know you want to,” Maren said.
“It doesn’t matter what I want. You need sleep,” Donovan said.
“I need you,” Maren insisted.
They had returned to Maren’s rooms (Donovan’s things had already been moved there) after hearing about Margot. She was trying to convince him to engage in some recreation before going to sleep, but he was uncharacteristically reluctant. He seemed to want to protect her or that she might be too fragile, but she knew what she wanted.
“I’ll hold you all night. Is that good enough?” he asked.
“Would it be good enough for you?” she asked with a sly smile.
He opened his mouth to insist it would be and then closed it. They both knew that would have been a lie.
“Minx,” he said with a grin.
“Does that mean I win?” she asked.
He sighed and kissed her. She knew she’d won, and he wanted to avoid admitting it. That was fine.
“Tell you what. If you can lay in bed for five minutes without falling asleep, you win,” he said.
She pursed her lips. She was not entirely sure if she could.
“That’s what I thought,” he said, looking smug.
“Fine, fine,” she said. “You’re right. I am tired. I just want to make up for lost time.”
Even though they had only been apart for a week, it felt like much longer, having spent most of it thinking they would never see each other again.
He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “We have all the time in the world now. No rushing, no counting down, just us.”
She smiled at the idea. It was still hard to imagine she would really get to spend her life with someone she loved so much.
Maren got to bed first, but it was only a few minutes before Donovan climbed joined her. He tucked himself behind her like a spoon, and they both sighed contentedly.
He put his hand over her stomach. “I can’t believe we’re having a baby,” he said.
She chucked. “I maintain no one was more surprised than me.”
He kissed the back of her neck.
“It’s just astonishing to think that right now, right here, our baby is already growing,” he said.
“You know that isn’t where, right?” she asked. “At least not yet.”
“Oh…well… I didn’t really think about it.”
She laughed and moved his hand lower over the place their baby was actually growing.
He left his hand there and they both closed their eyes, enjoying one another’s company. Then suddenly, he pressed his hand more firmly into her.
“What—“
“Shhh,” he said.
She waited for him to finish whatever he was doing, but hoped he had some explanation. He kept his hand pressed close to her for at least a full minute. Then he took her hand and placed it where his had been.
“Just feel right there for a moment. Shut everything else out,” he said.
She had no idea what he was doing, but decided to do as he asked.
She closed her eyes and focused on what her hand felt. The first thing she noticed was the warmth of her skin under the soft fabric of her night gown. She set that feeling aside and kept focusing.
For a time, she felt nothing. But then, there was something. It was faint. It was a magical sensation, not a physical one, but it was definitely there.
It was a buzz.
It reminded her of what it felt like the first time she had touched Kieran, but much, much quieter and without any sinister overtones.
She knew it wasn’t a part of her. She wasn’t sure it was anything at all; it felt more like potential than anything else.
Whatever it was, it was the nascent spark of power, power that didn’t belong to her.
“Am I crazy or is that —“
“I think that’s someone else’s power,” Donovan whispered.
Maren made a breathy sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
“Amazing,” Donovan said.
She smiled. She thought so, too.
Waking up with Maren in his arms was the best possible way for the day to begin, as far as Donovan was concerned. Making love to her shortly thereafter made things even better.
When they arrived at breakfast, Alec and the Duke were already there. Donovan was alarmed when Maren declined coffee, although she quietly told him the smell bothered her. She also gave him a look that suggested he was being overly protective, which he thought was probably accurate.
He couldn’t help it. Between Kieran’s assault and the baby, he was worried about her. He felt a strong need to keep her safe, even if she didn’t need his protection at the moment.
“So, if I may ask, what are your plans?” the Duke asked.
“And by that he means, how many more babies will you have because I think you should have at least four,” Alec said with a wink.
Maren rolled her eyes at him.
“That is not quite what I meant,” the Duke said, chuckling. “You are both welcome to stay as long as you like, and so are Maren’s parents, of course. But I wondered what the rest of your plans entailed.”
Donovan nodded. He and Maren had discussed at least some of the details the afternoon before.
“We’re thinking we’ll have the ceremony a day or two after Maren’s parents arrive. I will most likely leave the next morning for Court. I want to get the Kieran situation resolved as quickly as possible,” Donovan said.
“And you’ll stay here, of course,” the Duke said to Maren.
Donovan appreciated that he phrased it as a fact and not as a question. He and Maren both hated the idea of separating, but there really was no choice. Maren simply could not leave Worthingham until Kieran was dealt with.
“Thank you, Jonathan,” Maren said.
Donovan squeezed her leg under the table. He knew she was no happier than he was about being apart.
“Hopefully, it will only take a few days,” Donovan said.
“I can send you with an escort if you like,” the Duke said. “You’d get there a bit faster.”
“I thank you,” Donovan said.
He did not want to try to make the return drive as quickly as he did the trip to Worthingham.
“My clerk can help you with the contract, and I’ll get the magistrate squared away,” the Duke said.
Donovan was truly grateful. “Your help is greatly appreciated.”
The Duke waved him off. “It’s nothing. And I’m happy to do it.”
They ate quietly for a few minutes before the Duke spoke again. “I just thought, Your Highness, you should bring sworn statements with you when you tell the King about your brother. I’ll give you one regarding my intervention in the checkpoint, but Maren and Alec should write their own.”
Donovan had already thought of it, but was glad to hear that the Duke agreed it was necessary. He hated to ask Maren to do it. He knew she did not want to revisit what Kieran had done to her at the palace, but it was the only way.
He glanced at her and could tell she was uncomfortable with the idea. So, he put his hand on her knee, hoping that touching her would provide her some support.
“I agree,” Donovan said. “Alec, you should do two. One as the Court Physician regarding the incident at the palace and one as a witness to the checkpoint.”
“Three,” Maren corrected. “One verifying the pregnancy.”
Everyone nodded their agreement.
Donovan was proud of Maren for coming up with the idea, even as distressed as he knew she was. He had not considered asking Alec to make that particular statement, and was glad Maren had. It would go a long way toward ensuring her protection.
“I’m so sorry you have to do this, love,” he said when they returned to Maren’s rooms after breakfast.
“It’s all right. It needs to be done. And, if it gets him punished, it will be worth it,” she said. “I want to do it now, though, I don’t want it hanging over me.”
Donovan nodded. “I have a bit of reading and such I need to see to. I’ll sit with you,” he said.
He could tell she knew he was trying to make an excuse to stay with her from her small smile. She didn’t object, though, and he was glad. He couldn’t protect her from painful memories, but he could at least be with her.
She sat at the writing desk in her sitting room, while Donovan sat in an armchair nearby with some of the reports he was supposed to read.
He didn’t actually get through much reading, though. He was too distracted. He was concerned for Maren, but also still too excited about marrying her and the baby that he couldn’t focus.
He couldn’t stop thinking about that buzz. He wanted to feel it again. He wondered what it meant. Did it mean their baby would have powers? If the baby was born with powers, would it be a boy, since the Darkness was hereditary? But then, what were the rules for their baby? Perhaps the Light was also hereditary, but no one knew.
He had no answers at all, but was excited to find out.
Maren spent more than an hour writing her statement. Donovan wanted to ask if she was all right roughly every two minutes, but resisted the urge. He knew her well enough to know that she needed to write in peace and would ask for him if she needed him.
She looked exhausted when she handed it to him.
“Do you want to go lie down?” he asked, concerned.
“Come with me? Bring it if you want to read it now, I just want to be with you,” she said.
“Of course, love,” he said.
He stood, taking off his suit jacket and draping it over a chair, before taking Maren’s statement and some of his other reading and going with her into her bedroom.
They both discarded their shoes. Maren asked him to help with the buttons on her dress, she didn’t want it to wrinkle. When she was mostly undressed, she crawled into bed, and he sat beside her. She put her head on his lap and he stroked her hair.
“Relax, love,” he said. “Everything’s alright now.”
She nodded and sighed. He kept stroking her hair and her arm until she seemed to be asleep.
Then he picked up her statement.
He had no doubt that writing it was more difficult, but he was not looking forward to reading it. She had told him nothing of what happened in the temple while Kieran held her, and he had to admit that he really didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to think about how his brother had hurt her or what had happened while Donovan was trying to find her.
But he needed to know before he spoke to his parents about the situation. So, he took a deep breath and read.
Maren did an outstanding job with the statement. She wrote in a detached and purely factual style, but included enough detail. She wrote how the palace guard had taken her to the defunct Temple of Malen in the palace and detained her until Kieran arrived. Then Kieran beat her until he was interrupted by one of the guards. It turned Donovan’s stomach to read how Kieran had casually killed one of his own men and then seemed to plan for the death of more.
He was disturbed by the statement but not particularly surprised by anything, until he got to the part about Maren’s escape attempt. He was amazed she had dared to try. (He wasn’t terribly proud of himself, but he was delighted to discover she’d kneed Kieran in the groin.) She fought so hard to get away, and he felt both proud of her for it and heartbroken that she had needed to. And he was horrified that Kieran had resorted to suffocating her to keep her from escaping.
His parents had given both him and his brother something like a thousand lectures on not abusing their powers. He had known Kieran was abusing his, but seeing it written down in black and white was still disturbing.
Maren sniffed and Donovan knew instantly it was the sort of sniff someone makes when they’re crying and trying not to let anyone know. He put the statement down and put his hand on her shoulder. He remained quiet though. He wanted her to know that he was there and that he knew she was upset, but without pressuring her to talk.
In a strange way, he was relieved that her quiet tears gave way to sobs that wracked her body. He didn’t want her to feel she had to hide her anguish from him.
After a few minutes, Donovan realized Maren was saying something but he couldn’t make it out through her tears. He had to listen for what felt like a very long time before he understood.
“Won’t be his pet...won’t...won’t.”
The word “pet” sparked something in Donovan’s mind. Something Maren had asked him months and months before.
“Does Kieran have a pet?”
Donovan felt liked he’d been punched in the stomach. He wasn’t entirely sure what it meant to be Kieran’s pet, but he had no doubt it was horrifying.
“No, love, never. I promise,” he said quietly to her over and over until she finally stopped crying. She kept sniffing and hiccuping for a few more minutes before she was ready to speak.
“I know what happened to Marjorie,” she said in a hoarse voice.
Donovan clenched his jaw. He knew whatever Maren was about to say would be terrible. Donovan had been close to Marjorie when they were teenagers but she’d run afoul of Kieran and had to leave Court.
“He had her arrested and the kept her as his pet. He said she was the first and he accidentally killed her after six months of trying to make her hands glow. They never did. But he still keeps pets.
“The mistake at headquarters while he was away? Someone gave her a glass. She killed herself. Callista said being his pet was much worse than being his mistress.”
Donovan pulled her closer, too horror-stricken to say anything. He didn’t know the extent of the damage Kieran had inflicted on his last mistress, but it had been very bad. If being his pet was worse...
“I won’t let that happen. He’ll never have you, Maren. You won’t ever be his pet. I’ll kill you myself if that’s the only way,” Donovan said. “I promise.”
She made a shuddering exhale of relief.
“Thank you,” she breathed, leaning into him.
Donovan did not doubt his promise. If it came to it, he would try and rescue her, but he knew that killing Maren would be helping her more than leaving her alive in Kieran’s hands, as much as it would destroy him to do it.