Upon sighting Alum kissing Terera I instantly departed the tent. I heard nothing from within, and surmised that they were too busy with their own intimacy to have noticed my momentary appearance. Mistress Pulfae stood nearby watching me concernedly even to the neglect of her healing duties, but it was not to her that I turned. Instead, I grabbed the nearest man-at-arms and spoke to him.

‘Bring torches and wood. This tent must be burned immediately,’ I said.

‘Burned?’ he asked, confused.

‘You heard me, soldier. Get the torches. Now!’

He stammered an acknowledgement and ran off. I paced backwards and forwards in front of the tent, my head racing. What was going on? What was I to do? How could he do this to me? The bastard!

The soldier returned with two others, the former brandishing a burning torch in each hand and the others bearing a bundle of sticks.

‘Throw them at the entrance and alight them. Quickly!’ I shouted.

‘Countess, no!’ Pulfae shouted. She ran up to me and placed her hands on my arms, trying to push me away from the tent. ‘You mustn’t do this!’

‘Apprehend this woman! She has laid hands upon your Countess and will face charges!’

One of the soldiers dropped his bundle of sticks at the entrance to the tent and pulled Pulfae off of me, still screaming. ‘Prince! Prince Alum! He’s in the tent!’

The soldiers looked at me in confusion and horror, but I confirmed my orders. ‘You heard me! That man in there is no Prince that I’ve ever known! Alight the tent or face the gallows!’

The soldiers looked at each other, but before they could decide either way, Terera burst forth from the tent.

‘What is all this racket?’ she asked. Then, upon sighting me. ‘Oh, umm… Countess… I suppose you’ll be wanting to see Alum now?’

By way of response, I drew my dagger and in one smooth motion I slashed her across the face, cutting her from ear to lip. She shrieked like a nymph and her hands flew to her face as I raised the dagger again, plunging it downwards towards her neck in a deathstroke. Pulfae, however, had broken free of the soldiers’ grip and tackled Terera onto the dirt so that my blade merely scraped down her shoulder and arm, scarring her similarly to the faerie king.

‘Stop her! This isn’t justice - this is murder!’ Pulfae screamed over Terera’s shrieks.

Immediately, one of the soldiers wrenched the dagger out of my hand and another immobilised me by the wrists.

‘Unhand me you barbarians! There is an impostor in that tent and it must be burned immediately! I am your Countess and I command you!’

But they weren’t listening. Timoth arrived moments later and took custody of me from the soldier, by which point I already wept so heavily that my cheeks were soggy and my eyes as red as roses. Pulfae filled him in, gratefully sparing me from the shame of having to tell my brother what I’d seen. He ordered Terera arrested and a watch placed on Alum’s tent before steering me away to a separate tent where we could be alone.

‘What a reunion,’ he mused pitifully, staring at the dirt, speaking over my sobs. At least he had the kindness to pretend not to notice my unladylike snorting and writhing in the dirt. ‘The battle is won, but a heart is lost.’

----------------------------------------

As the next days passed, I convalesced in my tent as though I had suffered a great loss. Obviously I had, but it felt almost wrong to feel worse about Alum’s affair than the death of my parents. I felt stupid too, for having seen the signs but not having confronted him. How many of the other handmaidens had known? There would be a reckoning upon my return to Trackford, and the thought was the only thing that kept me going through those difficult days. I envisioned bald Terera the harlot swinging from a gibbet in the market square and prayed that by the grace of Yoru it would be so.

I was vaguely aware of events outside of my own grief. Entregwa and Steib had been slaughtered by my cavalry not far from the battlefield. Timoth took command of the army and secured Ebonreach’s historical claims in Trent almost unopposed. Most of the landholders and barons were just as happy to support us as they’d been to support Entregwa, some even moreso. The soldiers at Iyasgorth and a number of those captured in the battle volunteered to serve Ebonreach, compensating for the losses our army had suffered.

At this point, I was bundled into a carriage and carted to Iyasgorth with the other non-combatants, where at least I could bemoan Alum’s betrayal in the comfort of the royal chambers - though it pained me to know that Alum was likely being treated in the same building. I had not heard of his death, at least. The only order I gave was to ensure that Terera was held in the dungeons rather than in chambers of her own, and though I sensed some reluctance, the order was obeyed. They also agreed to bind her wrists so that she could not summon her portal. For my part, I was too distraught to find the mental concentration to summon a portal.

I had a meeting with one of the local masters of law who perused the marriage contract I had so arrogantly deigned not to read. Predictably, he told me that it contained no special recourse for adultery, and that my only option was to pursue Alum and Terera through the criminal justice system. In hindsight, the Crower sticking point of proof of consummation didn’t seem quite as bad.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

The worst part was my pregnancy. Every bit of nausea, every kick from the baby; it all reminded me of Alum. The child was his, after all, and I couldn’t even just focus on my grief. I had to consider my child’s future, as well as Alum’s. Could I have him executed? He was first in line to the thrown of Halivaara, at least until the child of King Milos’s that had been secreted away in Vizonia by his wife Allisia was revealed to the world. He was also a Count of Ebonreach. Did that entitle him to a trial, like the one Steib had enjoyed? Maybe Tadruk could poison him for me. That would leave me free to find a new husband to raise my child with. I supposed Wilbern was out of the picture after not only jilting him at the altar but also conquering half of his land.

The only people I saw were Timoth and Regeda. The latter commiserated with me, but struggled to understand the extent of my grief and mostly restricted herself to helping with my daily ablutions and the trials of pregnancy. Timoth was my primary support, and his time with the nymphs seemed to have bestowed upon his personality a romantic aspect. He kept speaking of hearts and the alignment of constellations. He used the term “star-crossed” a lot.

Eventually, however, I resolved to speak to Alum. Timoth and Regeda both counselled against it, but I knew that I couldn’t just let it end at the sight of a mere kiss. I had to know, for better or worse, how deep the betrayal ran and whether he still loved me, though I knew he could not. It was stupid, but it was the sort of stupidity that was the only thing I felt I could do after days of inactivity.

Therefore, with Mistress Pulfae remaining in the corner of the room as the only condition, I was permitted to visit my husband’s chambers. His wound was still heavily bandaged, but the bandage was bloodless and some colour had returned to his face. He was, of course, shirtless, and the sight of his familiar scars made me painfully nostalgic. Never again would I trace them in bed, nor kiss his neck, nor enjoy the press of his body against mine. Not unless I had gravely misunderstood events.

‘Saemara…’ he said, not meeting my gaze. His awkwardness was worth the price of admission alone. He knew he’d done something wrong.

‘I don’t want to hear it, Alum. I just need to know a few things. Can you do that for me?’ I asked. It took all of my strength to avoid filtering insults and chastisements into my words. I told myself that there would be opportunity for reproach later, once I had the answers I sought.

‘I don’t know if my answers will help you,’ he said.

‘I don’t care what you think, I asked if you could answer my questions.’

‘Okay, Saemara, I’ll answer your questions.’

I twirled my hair as I considered what I actually wanted to know, then resolved not to think about it too deeply beforehand. It was a bit late for that.

‘How long has this been going on for?’ I asked.

‘It started not long after I met Terera.’

‘When I got pregnant, you mean.’ He didn’t respond. I continued, ‘Why?’

‘I love her,’ he said. I laughed out loud, the crazed, malicious laugh of a bitter woman. I wasn’t proud of it, but I revelled in it all the same. ‘I do!’

‘That’s what you said to me!’ I exclaimed.

‘And I did love you! But you’re so different now. Terera is more carefree and affectionate.’

‘I’m so bloody sorry that I couldn’t give you my undivided attention like Terera!’ I shouted. ‘I’m sorry that, you know, the war, and our baby distracted me!’

‘I know, it was wrong!’ Alum protested. ‘But it’s done now. I want to be with Terera. I can still be there for our child.’

‘You think you have that right? You have shamed me in front of the entire kingdom! You’ll be damned lucky if I let either of you live!’

‘We should not have spoken,’ Alum said, apparently to himself, for he wasn’t looking at me. ‘This was a mistake.’

‘You’re the one who made a mistake,’ I spat at him. ‘I hope that whore Terera knows what’s coming to her once you catch sight of her - I scratched up her face pretty bloody good!’

‘You did what?!’ Alum screamed.

Mistress Pulfae finally stepped in. ‘That’s enough from both of you. This clearly isn’t working. Countess, please go back to your chambers.’

I considered saying something more, but I seemed to have finally upset him with my final words and didn’t want to risk accidentally providing him with solace so I acquiesced. As I trudged back to my chambers, I regretted only that I hadn’t managed to cut both sides of the harlot’s face.

That night I screamed into the pillow, imagining all the times we’d kissed and held hands and told each other that we loved each other even as he was bedding Terera. To think, I’d felt bad that I’d struggled to find the time to couple with Alum when in reality he’d been getting it elsewhere! I shuddered to think that Terera could actually be pregnant, if not now then in the future, and that such a bastard would be a half-sibling to my own child. Terera would be the mother-in-law to my son. Terera. The thought actually made me retch into a pail, though that could also have been the pregnancy nausea.

My bump was getting quite big, and I knew that I would have the baby in the next month or two. Realising that travelling back to Trackford would be difficult until then, I asked Regeda to summon the other handmaidens to Iyasgorth under the pretense of birthing support, but with the intent of holding a reckoning.

Meanwhile, as I found my vengeance failing to subside, I planned further reckonings. Terera’s fate would be decided in a trial. Already I had ruined her visage, which I felt might be a worse fate for a beautiful harlot than actually hanging her, so my thoughts instead went to Alum. After some consideration, I summoned the assassin Tadruk to my chambers and gave him his instructions.

‘Countess… are you sure you want to do this? It is still very early in the grieving process, you may come to regret this order,’ he told me.

‘It has to be now, while he’s still on the brink of death from his wounds. Besides, a lengthy adultery trial would be bad for Ebonreach. It’d be even worse for our foreign relations. I can’t imagine King Milos standing by while his brother is executed by the state. No, he must perish from his wounds. A flawed hero to the people,’ I said, spitting the last three words with great bitterness. I knew I was rationalising, but perhaps I had earned that prerogative. I had suffered, and I had ascended to become the Countess of the greatest county in Halivaara. Was it really too much to ask that Alum be put to death?