The King's Queen by Val Saintcrowe

Author:Val Saintcrowe [Saintcrowe, Val]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Punk Rawk Books
Published: 2023-08-23T16:00:00+00:00

ELSKE COULD HAVE been alone with Catriona if he wanted. He could have found his way into her chambers at night. He didn’t do it. Herrick said that it was best if they were all three together. Elske just acquiesced.

Catriona looked…

Gods.

She was always beautiful, but he always thought she looked more beautiful pregnant, and this time, it seemed even more true.

He heard the news about Fadh. It cut him.

Guilt, mostly.

It was his fault that she’d been alone and unprotected, and if he hadn’t tried to hurt the baby, then none of this would have happened.

But there was something else in him, some part of him that felt betrayed, too.

He hated himself for that.

But it was definitely his, and it was definitely a boy. The spare to the throne. His blood.

This couldn’t go well.

Herrick wasn’t going to like it when the baby was born, when it was fae, so obviously fae.

He tried to have a conversation with them both about how they were going to conceal things. “Are you going to cut off the tips of his ears?” he said.

“Obviously not,” said Catriona.

“Well, I think you’re going to have to,” he said, his voice rising.

“Calm down,” said Herrick, glaring at him.

“You think people aren’t going to look closely at the fucking prince?” he said, and he was vibrating with it.

“Calm down,” said Herrick again, coming for him, putting a hand on his arm.

Elske shook him off.

They didn’t understand.

Two weeks after arriving, he awoke to someone banging on the door of his room. He got out of bed and opened the door, and it was Catriona. Her hair was pasted to her face with sweat.

“Your labors,” he said, remembering it from Ella. “It’s too soon.”

“I know,” she said. “I thought I could get home before… Herrick’s mother, if she sees the baby…”

He pulled her into his room and shut the door.

She immediately began pacing.

He just stared at her. “You come to me?”

“Who should I go to?”

“What am I going to do? If you want me to go for someone, Catriona, I don’t know anything about this part of the world, and I—”

“We have spoken to a midwife,” she said. “But she’s four hours away by horseback. I don’t know. What do you think we should do?”

“Me? Why are you asking—?”

“Elske, I cannot think. I am in pain, and it is your baby, so if you—”

“I’ll go for the midwife,” he said. “Are you asking if I want to let something awful happen to you or the baby? I don’t.”

“All right,” she said. She was still walking.

He got dressed. His heart was pounding. He knew he should go, but he wanted to try to… to say something… “I’m sorry, you know.”

“So am I,” she said. “I shouldn’t have done it without your knowledge. I should have known better.” But then she let out a cry, a different sort of cry, and she doubled over.

He ran to her. “Catriona, I can’t leave you alone. We need to find someone else to look after you while I go—”

“It’s now,” she said, flailing out, landing in one of the chairs behind him.

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