“Where are we going, Daddy?” I held on to Dad’s tail while he walked in front of me. His feet made funny noises. I looked down to them. They were black and shiny. I looked at my toes.
“What are those?” I looked up to Dad.
“What do you mean, Korthonas?”
I pointed at his feet again. “What are those?”
“Hooves. Those are called hooves.”
“Hoo-fs?”
“Hooves, Korthonas. Hooves.” Dad continued walking and I grabbed on his tail. The walls were scary and dark. The torches, how Mom called the fire sticks, were pretty. I spread my hand and enjoyed the warm as we passed.
“Where are we going, Daddy?” Dad looked down, then stopped and leant towards me.
“We’re going to see a really important person.”
“More important than Daddy?”
“Yes, more important than Daddy,” he smiled.
“Can we play with him?” I asked Dad.
“I don’t think he’ll like that,” Dad was puffy and mean now, then he went up and started walking again. I grabbed his tail.
I got sad. Someone didn’t want to play with me.
“If you’re good, I think he can show you magic.”
“Really!?” I wanted to see more magic. I needed to see every magic. ‘Magic is so cool!’
Someone poked me on the back, and I turned. A huge monster with blue skin was next to me. I grabbed Dad. “Daddy, a monster!” I pointed at the monster, and it only laughed.
“That’s not a monster, Korthonas. That’s Rikkir. He’s here to keep you safe.”
The blue monster slowly stepped forward and I could see its pretty white eyes. It took my hand and shook it. “Greetings, Young Master.”
‘It can talk?!’ I looked at my Dad, and he was smiling. I looked at the blue man again, since Dad said he wasn’t a monster anymore, and he smiled too.
The man disappeared and a black cloud went around me. It was so warm and fuzzy, and I wasn’t scared anymore. Then the cloud smiled.
The man came back and we walked together, and the walls were not so dark anymore.
“Now, then, Korthonas, are you ready to meet Herod?”
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“That is… your child?” Herod’s questions seemed more like something Korthonas would ask.
“Yes,” I pointed out matter-of-factly. Herod couldn’t provide anything I didn’t know already, and his role in all of this would be nothing but a formality.
“So… you want me to do what exactly?”
“I need you to legitimise him, at least as my son, if not a primary heir,” it was a pain just having to endure more politics at this time. Korthonas stood behind me, poking his head to look at Herod, then going back again, like playing hide-and-seek with the Demonlord of Dralarag. The thought was amusing.
Herod actually smiled at the first occasion, then grew increasingly frantic and confused as he learned who Korthonas was.
“So, his mother is, I assume, a Drakkar? He looks like a Drakkar to me.” Herod was right. Korthonas looked more like a Drakkar than a Demon or a Nazjar, especially considering he had something that looked more claw than a finger on his arms and legs. I was surprised myself when I saw the similarities.
“His mother is Medusa,” I stated simply, already anticipating the reaction. Herod blanched, his usually pale orange complexion turning whitish in an instant. The flames around the throne dimmed in response.
“You mean to tell me that this child is the offspring of the previous Nazjari Queen, the Stone Maiden?”
“Yes,” I shrugged. I saw no reason to lie to Herod. Who Medusa was once was irrelevant, and it certainly made no difference in how Korthonas would be treated here.
“What? How…” Herod started blabbering incoherently, pacing in front of his throne.
Korthonas pulled at my pants. “Daddy, is the mister going to be fine?”
“Yes, my son. He just knows your mother. He says you look like her very much.” I’d need to start teaching Korthonas how to speak Dral. ‘Maybe the first lessons can start as soon as we leave for Bretir.’
I thought about Sophia again. I had slight fears about her reaction. I trusted my judgement, though, and had high hopes it would go well.
“So, the legitimacy,” I asked Herod again, who stopped pacing and mumbling.
“Of course, Uncle,” he took a small parchment and scribbled something for the horde of the administration we had to go through.
“How was Sarron, by the way? I hope you weren’t hard on him. I don’t think he’s that bad overall, just needs a bit steadier hand and perspective in life,” Herod sighed, and for the first time, I sighed with him. For what it was worth, he was right.
I was imagining the comfort of my carriage. “I think you’ll find him quite a different young man. And I think he might be afraid of wells now.”
I smirked, and Herod just leant back into his throne as I turned to leave the room. Being a Maorok was never sunshine and daisies, and I had to hammer that thought into three people by now.
“You’re far from over with your time on the throne, Herod. I can tell that much.”
I stopped and turned to Korthonas, who was grabbing my tail in a vice grip by now.
“Have you ever seen a Firemane?”
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Three days later, Bretir
I had already got bored being alone in this place, and couldn’t wait to see Cerolus’ face again. The image of his black eyes always brought me comfort when I woke up, and it’s already been getting harder to have to recall it every morning instead of it being there.
I could feel every part of me aching slowly as I trudged from the lavatory, wiping the remains of my breakfast from the corners of my mouth. ‘The physician said it should stop soon. Can it stop faster, please?’
I went back my newly instated post in Cerolus’ office, where I spent the last week vigorously going through his handiwork, reading lines upon lines of text I could barely pronounce correctly, let alone comprehend. If that was what nobility did all day every day when leading a small town like Bretir, I shuddered at thinking what someone like Father had to endure.
I caught myself thinking about Father again. He had yet to answer any of my letters. It was like I had been forgotten or thrown away. Like he still held some unseen grudge towards me, or Cerolus, or both of us. I didn’t know who he was angry at. Or if he was angry at all. I felt disposed of, just left somewhere to take care of myself, with no regards to what could happen to me from his side.
I clenched my fist and hit the table, seething anger welling up. The ornate surface received a few more hits before I had been sated enough to not harm it anymore. I had to restrain myself from not using magic as well. Cerolus would surely mind his table being burnt or at least grazed by fire, which was the most damage I anticipated I could do at the moment.
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I felt like I was stagnating, that somehow I was stuck in this place, with no way to go forwards, just kept in a loop of papers, dinners and sleep. I was even advised to tone down my magical training and let go of any physical one, the physician stating it would “not be good for the child”. I scoffed at that and Hiratun kept my arms in a lock to prevent me from training spells.
I couldn’t be mad at the man, as he was trying to help me, but I felt hopeless for a time. I had so much, and at once it was whisked away.
I stroked my belly, with no seeming trace of a child in it. Calmness washed over me. Every bad thought I had disappeared, to be replaced by serenity and mirth. I could not still believe I was going through all of this.
It was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. My heart raced, and I could do nothing to stop it. I looked to the window, gazing at the afternoon Sun above the red landscape in the distance. Everything was so calm, and it felt right, like I was truly meant to be here now. I took solace in that, enjoying the lonely moments, still aching to see Cerolus, but somehow coping with it.
Tiana burst into the room, papers flying from the table. She looked exhausted as if she were running, her face flaring orange.
“Mistress, Lord Cerolus is here.”
I leapt up at the mention of his name and received a bout of nausea when my head disagreed with the sudden course of action. We rushed to the entrance, my mind empty save for the anticipation of seeing him again.
We broke through the large front doors, the Guards barely managing to open them as they saw us running from the staircase.
I watched as the carriages slowed to a halt, the Firemanes and Triforces sounding their arrival to the Garden around us. The place became a cacophony, as it seemed most of the castle’s denizens came out.
My eyes followed the largest carriage, where Rikkir stood on the front, and I traced him as he walked to the large doors and opened them. Time felt still, and everything around me disappeared in an instant to my eyes. Nothing mattered except those doors and the person that should be coming out of them.
Familiar hooves slowly made their way to the ground, and before long, I was running into Cerolus’ arms. I collided with him and he hugged me, reminiscent of the way he held me the first time we met, at the wedding. Everything around me was bright, warm, and safe, and I felt nothing could ever be wrong.
I looked into his eyes and kissed him slowly, extending the moment of mirth just a bit longer.
“I should leave more often if this is the welcome I receive,” Cerolus dared to joke but I couldn’t hold it against him. He was here and that was all it mattered.
I heard another set of footsteps coming from the carriage and my head shifted to follow the noise.
A small child with a rather peculiar haircut and brightly red skin, reminiscent of Cerolus, stepped out. His eyes seemed dangerous somehow, the slit pupils looking over his surroundings. Then his face shifted towards awe and curiosity.
The child stepped behind Cerolus, grabbing his lower leg as he slowly peeked towards me. I didn’t recall anyone similar to it when I met his family a few months back.
The child gulped, then started speaking nervously, spreading out words, sounding like me when I first started learning Dral.
“Dad-dy, wh-ho is this la-dy?”
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Sophia paced around the room, grasping her head in confusion and seeming rage. I just stood on the side, hoping deep down that this would, in the end, go more smoothly. I didn’t give up on those thoughts, not even when she started running for the room, escaping the crowded Gardens.
I left Korthonas, who was crying profusely, in the hands of Tiana. She would handle it. She always handled things with more grace than imaginable. My current efforts were pointed towards my wife.
“What did you do?” She mumbled and paced, making little sense at times.
I could only shrug and sat down. My previous attempts at holding here were met with outright hostility. I’d rather try taking meat from Fluffy than go through that again.
“Look, Sophia…” I started trying to explain the situation, again, before she held up a finger and pointed at me.
“Don’t you “look” at me. I trusted you! You said a lot of things before, things I believed. You told me you wouldn’t sleep with other women,” she began pacing again, trying to look away from me and failing repeatedly. “You specifically said that. And I trusted you! And here comes Cerolus, with a small child behind him a few months later!”
“But I didn’t know! And I didn’t do anything after the marriage.” I tried to put some sense into her, but it appeared futile.
“You didn’t know?! How can you not know you have a child?! No, you keep this away from me, then just spring it up when you like it. You don’t even care about me, do you? As long as Sophia’s merrily away in her room in the castle you bought, you can go around and fuck with whomever you want. Is that the way this is going, Cerolus?”
I was mildly irritated by this point but still tried to stay calm and start from the beginning.
“Listen, everything about him started long before I even learned of you, Sophia. That’s all in the past. But he isn’t anymore. And he needs me.
“And you’re still my wife, and I still love you. And I never did anything like that behind your back. You have to trust me.”
She stopped for a moment and looked me in the eyes. The Mind Link flared between us but only made the confusion inside our heads worse. I grabbed my head and tried to alleviate some of the pain, but it did nothing to help.
Sophia continued what appeared to be more like a childish tantrum than a discussion.
“How can I trust anything you say? You bring me here and expect me to trust you, then bring up secrets like these. It’s a child, Cerolus! Your child! Not ours, or mine. Yours! Do I mean anything here?” She pointed at me, and the irritation grew to the boiling point.
I stood up, seething anger burning the air around me. I lost every conscious lock that I put on my temper. I grabbed her by the arm.
“And what are you going to do about that? You’re my wife, and I’m your husband here. This is MY castle. MY house. MY home. You’re living WITH ME.” She tried to squirm out, but I kept my grasp on her.
“And that out there bawling its eyes out is MY son. You don’t have to have anything to do with him. Love him, hate him, call him a bastard every day, I don’t care. But what I am not going to is leave him alone, or let you command me what I’m going to do with him. You’re not in charge here, I am.”
Her eyes wetted, and I continued my furious onslaught of words I don’t think I actually meant.
“Do you understand? My child is not some toy you can toss around and play with however you like.”
I let her arm go as the realisation hit me, and the thoughts started running about my head again. The anger dissipated in a moment, and she started crying.
I realised I just told her what she was in front of her family. A toy or a treasure to be played with and given away. She didn’t have any option in getting married, it was only a question of to whom she was given away to.
She ran away, and I could only try and reach for her. “Sophia!”
She didn’t answer, and just left the room, and I sat back, guilt running over me. ‘I screwed up.’
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I sobbed in the room. It wasn’t even my own room, but our main bedroom. Cerolus could’ve entered any time he wanted, but just stood on the other side of the closed doors
“Sophia, please. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any of that.”
The feeling of being betrayed and humiliated once again washed over me and tears welled up again. I tried to answer coherently but didn’t manage.
It appeared somewhat of a blur, the entirety of the scene. All I distinctly remember was him mentioning people as toys to be played with.
I immediately remembered my family, and the way they used to treat me. How we were now was not much better, but I thought I could trust Cerolus to understand, not make it worse.
I went and opened the doors, only to be met with Cerolus’ eyes squarely in front of me as he knelt.
He smiled slightly, apparently in hopes I’d forgiven him already.
I felt a bout of nausea coming and ran to the lavatory. He ran up to me while I held my hair and barfed.
“Are you alright? I’m going to call the physician. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any of that.” He started mumbling apologies, while I wiped my face again.
I looked at him again, and saw the same person he used to be. I saw someone I could trust, and wondered how I missed something like that. But the words he said came back, and I remembered about the child. And the other one, that was the actual cause of me barfing in the place.
He stepped towards the door and I stopped him. “Wait, Cerolus.” He turned back, his eyes full of worry.
I sat on the bed, trying to look anywhere but those deep eyes of his.
I mumbled something in my chin, and he moved closer.
“I’m with a child,” I repeated the phrase again and again until I steeled myself to speak more clearly. “It’s why I was sick. It wasn’t you. Well, mostly.”
I looked up, not knowing what to expect.
I was met with a kiss. He pushed me slowly on the bed, pinning me down with his strong arms.
I didn’t know what was happening. One moment everything was messy and complicated, the next everything was clearer and calmer. Some relief washed over me. I didn’t know how he’d react, but I did realise I overreacted.
He said the child was almost five years old. That was before we met, probably before he knew I existed even. It was not his fault, and I knew that. Yet I lashed out nevertheless.
And I knew he didn’t mean what he said. He didn’t wish for his child to go through anything I did. I admired that. I liked it even, it made me feel better for the child I was carrying, knowing that he’d probably do anything in his power for it.
We kissed for a long time, until everything blew over.
He leant up. “Really?”
I nodded, and chuckled. He looked down on my belly, then slowly ran his fingers over it.
“You’re with a child,” he said with complete serenity, and some surprise and amazement, and none of the fury I saw before.
He laid beside me and hugged me for what I thought was an eternity.
I tried to recall what happened today.
“So, what is the name of that child again?” I asked him, and he started explaining with fervour in his eyes. Somehow I had a belief everything would be fine now that Cerolus came back.