“Verum, Flore, welcome!” Callida ushered them in quickly, directing them into the dark, cluttered parlor off the foyer where Qiangde stood waiting in a corner.

“Callida, where’s Celarus?” Flore asked.

“Oh, Qiangde and I gave the entire staff the next few days off, including this evening. Have a seat, Flore,” Callida said and gestured to the plush couch near the room center. “Verum told me you think you might be pregnant again?” Flore’s large brown eyes grew larger, but she nodded quietly. “Have you told anyone besides Verum?”

“No.”

“Good,” Callida released an unconsciously held breath. “Your Majesties, have I ever told you that Qiangde is a healer?”

“I… I knew that at one point,” Verum scowled, dredging up forgotten memories as he glanced at the quiet Alpha wolf host standing sentry near the door. “What are you suggesting?”

“Verum, I’ve picked Qiangde for this mission. There is no one that I trust more, and he’s good. The best,” she qualified. “He already has significant experience, and he’s been studying for the last month in preparation for this.”

Verum caught Callida’s wrist and tugged her deeper into a dark pocket of the room to ask in hushed tones, “Callida, are you certain?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“If this were your child–”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t let me finish.”

“You didn’t have to. If this were my child, yes, I would trust Qiangde with the prenatal care and labor and delivery. He’s the best, Verum. I’m not just saying that. And I’d trust him with my life in a heartbeat.”

“Ok.” Verum nodded. “Sorry. I had to ask.”

“Flore,” Callida turned back to the young queen, “would it be alright if Qiangde took a look at you? We need to confirm that you’re pregnant.”

“O-oh. Um, do you just want me to… undress right here?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Rogue inserted himself into the conversation for the first time. “You don’t need to undress.”

“I-I don’t?” Flore glanced between Rogue and her husband with nothing short of confusion on her face.

“I work a little differently,” Rogue explained, stepping forward to kneel down next to the couch. “May I?” he asked, extending a hand towards her belly.

“Um…. Sure?” Flore nodded nervously.

Callida watched as Rogue smiled reassuringly at his patient and carefully, slowly, set his hand against her lower abdomen, getting into position before closing his eyes to concentrate. His hand adjusted slightly, a small smile tugging on his lips before he opened his eyes again and nodded at the expectant mother. “Congratulations, Your Majesty,” he offered quietly.

“That’s it?” Flore asked, obviously accustomed to more invasive procedures to confirm her pregnancies.

“The baby is small, you’re maybe only a month along, but it’s strong.”

“H-how do you know? How can you tell?!”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“He’s a bit of a spiritualist, Flore,” Callida offered, “He doesn’t require a physical exam to confirm that you’re expecting.”

“Oh. That’s kind of nice.” Flore flushed.

“Yeah,” Callida laughed with nervous energy. “Um, shall we move this to the dinner table? We have a lot to discuss.”

The group shuffled down the hall to a large room well-lit by candles and oil lamps with a great, wood table stretching across a rich carpet at the center of the floor. Already arranged with four settings, Callida took the seat across from where Verum and Flore sat, giving Qiangde the head of the table. Something resembling a stew was dished out and served with thick slices of bread before conversation resumed.

“Callida, can you tell us what your plan is now?” Verum was the first to break the silence while everyone settled.

“‘Makes me feel better that I’m not the only one you haven’t told,” Rogue muttered cheekily to her right as he tucked into his meal, and Callida nudged his leg under the table.

“Verum, I actually don’t want to tell you everything so you can claim plausible deniability when people ask you questions. I don’t want anyone except myself to know what’s going on.”

“What can you tell me then?” Verum asked, becoming increasingly anxious.

“We’re going to send Flore away for her health with the expectation that she will not return for up to a year. She’s had five miscarriages in rapid succession, so before you try again for a baby, she’s taking some time to recover her wellness, both body and mind.”

“And where is she going?”

“I can’t tell you that, Verum.”

“When is she going?”

Callida took a moment to meet his eyes before she answered him. “Tonight.”

“Tonight?!” Verum balked.

“Tonight,” Callida repeated calmly. “I have her traveling party already arranged, her bags packed, and a trusted doctor ready to go with her,” Callida said, indicating her husband with a small nod. “After dinner, I’m going to assemble the party, and they will be on the road within an hour, leaving from this house.”

“You’re sending her away?!”

“At least until I can ensure her safety here, yes.”

“What are you looking for?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Callida said with a small sigh. “But I don’t want to risk your wife and child’s lives while I stir the pot. They need to be far, far out of harm’s way, and to minimize the knowledge of her departure, she needs to leave immediately before there is even a rumor that she might leave. That’s why I have been keeping the details of this plan so close to my chest, Verum. I literally haven’t told anyone anything until right now except to expect being sent away on a last minute mission that requires traveling at a moment’s notice.”

Verum slouched back into his chair with a look of bewilderment glazing his eyes over. “Tonight?” he muttered quietly to himself, glancing to his right where Flore was calmly eating and listening to the conversation. “What do you think about all of this?”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“About leaving the palace?” Flore clarified.

“Yeah. It means, you might be giving birth… not here. And I won’t be there. And… how do you feel about that?”

Flore took the time required to chew and swallow her most recent bite to consider her answer. “If it means that I’ll be holding a living, breathing baby at the end of this pregnancy, it’s worth it, isn’t it? I’m so tired of losing my — our — babies, Verum. If… if Callida thinks this will give us the best shot, I’m willing to try anything.”

“And if it doesn’t work?” Verum asked with a hesitancy that suggested a much more sensitive underscoring issue was at play.

“Then…” Flore swallowed hard as her eyes filled with tears. “Then I’m the problem.” Flore looked down at her lap, her bottom lip trembling as her tears fell.

“Flore–”

“Don’t, Verum. Please?” she sniffed. “You and I both know that it’s not a choice we get to make at that point. The council will make it for you. I know you’ve been trying to protect me from that, but I’m not blind or deaf or stupid. I know this is likely my last shot.” Flore’s pain effectively silenced the table, and eventually she went back to her stew, finishing her bowl and then serving herself another ladleful.

While the silence stretched, Verum and Callida both started on their own stew, the latter taking a cautious bite and chewing it thoughtfully, and the former mindlessly spooning up a mouthful that made him choke. He tried to play it off by coughing and then downing an entire glass of water that gave him hiccups, but his watering eyes and flushed face were difficult to ignore. Callida smirked and dropped her gaze, taking another bite and much more inconspicuously washing it down with a swig of water. Meanwhile, Flore went back for thirds.

“What is in this?” Flore asked. “It’s… weird, but it’s strangely satisfying.”

Callida quirked her head mischievously at Rogue who was staring at Flore with wide, disbelieving eyes. “You… you like it?” he asked.

“I think so?” Flore laughed. “At least, I keep going back for more.”

“Uh. I don’t even know what’s in it,” Rogue admitted. “I just sort of kept throwing things in until it smelled interesting.”

“You made this?!” Flore asked.

“Uh…” Rogue flushed with sudden embarrassment. “Yeah.”

“I didn’t realize that you cooked,” Flore stated conversationally. “A doctor, a cook, a spiritualist… What else can you do?”

“That’s pretty much it,” Rogue shrugged.

“He was a camp leader for a really long time,” Callida supplied for him. “Back when he was a member of the Resistance, he was responsible for the wolf camp.”

“A camp leader?” Flore looked Qiangde over thoughtfully. “Is that sort of like a tribe leader?”

“Sort of,” Callida nodded when Rogue didn’t answer. “Think smaller. ‘More like a Regulus perhaps? Or a leader of a small town?”

“That makes sense,” Flore said with a kind smile. “Qiangde, I’ve heard the rumors that you are a host to a rogue Alpha wolf spirit. Is that why you were put in charge of the wolf camp?”

“It had something to do with that, yeah.” Rogue nodded sheepishly.

“Well, it sounds like we are going to be getting to know each other really well over the next while. You’ll have to tell me more about that.”

“Ok. Uh, yeah, sure,” Rogue agreed.

Callida cleared her throat and set her spoon down. “I’m going to go and inform the rest of the party. ‘Scuse me.”

***

He was feeling…. Well, he wasn’t sure what he was feeling. It was some mix of trepidation and eagerness and something akin to desperation. This was happening. His bag was packed, the cart was loaded, Callida was adjusting the cart’s contents to create an inhabitable space in the middle where a pregnant woman might be able to rest comfortably on a spread of blankets and pillows, the luggage forming smuggling privacy walls all around her.

“Gravis, Arum, Adjutus, Moro, Rapax….” Callida identified the out-of-uniform heads in the dark. “Has anyone seen Baca?”

“I’m here, General.”

“Oh! Sorry, Commander. I don’t know how I missed you. Is your luggage on the cart already, and I missed that too?”

“It’s this one,” Baca pointed with a teasing grin.

“Well, alright then,” Callida laughed at herself. “I think that’s everything except the lady. Do you boys have any questions?”

“About a million, actually,” Arum sniggered. “Where are we going? What are we doing when we get there? How long will we be gone?”

“‘All fair questions,” Callida grinned and collected a messenger bag from a corner of the cart, removing a handful of formal-looking papers to pass out. “The answers to your questions are in this bag, but apart from these travel papers, you are not to open the bag until you have left the Lion Tribe. This mission is extremely sensitive and secret. Once you leave this base, you are not to contact anyone, not even me unless it is an emergency. Do you understand? You will travel under the aliases in these papers, and Qiangde knows enough to at least provide instructions until you get out of our borders.”

“I do?” Rogue frowned, and Callida sighed.

“Do you remember who you’re going to go visit?”

“Oh. You were serious?”

“Absolutely. You’re expected.”

“We are?!” he asked with surprise.

“I’ve been setting this up for nearly a month,” Callida snorted. “Yes. You are expected.”

“Oh. Well, alright then,” Rogue laughed self-consciously and ran his fingers through his shaggy, black locks.

“Ok. Well, that’s just about everything. I’ll go get your charge.”

“Our charge?” Arum frowned.

“This is an escort mission, Arum,” Callida declared and hopped nimbly off the side of the cart.

“Ah.”

Rogue followed Callida into the house, snatching at her arm to pull her off to the side before she could enter the parlor where the king and queen were waiting. “Callida, a minute?”

She followed him into a small office expectantly. “Wha–? Mn.”

This was the reason for that stomach-hollowing sense of desperation. Saying goodbye. Shyaam was complaining bitterly about leaving his Beta behind, and the time was short and the opportunity not there for a more satisfying farewell. Instead Rogue kissed her until he could no longer justify continuing, and Callida was patient with him.

“Is that sufficiently out of your system?”

“For now,” Rogue huffed. “Callida–”

“I know. I’ve been dreading this part too.”

“You’re going to be investigating dangerous people, aren’t you?”

She sighed. “This is the new war.”

“‘Cleaning up internal affairs?”

“Something like that,” she confirmed.

“Callida, promise me you’ll be careful. No unnecessary risks.”

“I promise, but you have to promise me that, when this is over, you’ll still be mine.”

He snorted. “Was that even a question?!”

“Just… promise me.”

“M’lady, I’ll always be yours.”

She smiled up at him gently, stroking the hair out of his face in a last show of affection. “You need to get going. Come on.” They collected the young queen, trailed closely by her husband who followed her outside and then helped her gingerly into the cart after saying their own farewells. “Come back to me,” Callida reminded him in a whisper, and Qiangde nodded and lifted her chin into a last kiss.

“M’lady.” He smirked and winked on his way to follow the cart into the night, projecting a cheerful confidence that he didn’t exactly feel. This was uncomfortable for him to say the least, and a quick glance over his shoulder to where Callida and Verum were standing side-by-side to watch the cart fade into the darkness together made his stomach clench with that same flare of jealousy that Shyaam wouldn’t let go of where the Lion King was concerned. He tried not to think about how much he resented the king’s intimate history with his wife, or the fact that they were still close friends, or the fact that the king still had obvious feelings for Callida, or maybe he was just interpreting trust and affection for something more? But Shyaam refused to allow rational thought to win this internal debate, and Rogue was utterly failing at not thinking about how much he hated leaving Callida and Verum together… alone. Shyaam, shut up already! We have other things to worry about. You trust Callida, don’t you? ‘You trust Goldie? I know that I do. A grudging confirmation and self-stifling informed Rogue of his wolf’s unwilling agreement. She’s counting on us to do our best on this mission. Reluctant agreement. And, hey! Callida sent us with a bunch of her commanders. This could be fun getting to know them and listening to the war stories Callida always glosses over, right?

“Unless they tell us things that we don’t want to hear,” Shyaam countered bitterly.