The Darke King

The Truth

When the dim morning light crossed her body in the full-length mirror, Rosemary looked down over herself. The now too tight silken gown she wore stretched across her abdomen, and the panic set in.

The sounds of her own sniffling drowned out the ringing in her ears as she sucked back the tears coming from her burning eyes.

She thought she must be imagining things; it wouldn't be the first time since this all happened that her eyes and mind deceived her. She still had nightmares she swore were real, the way she could still smell the alcohol on her attacker's breath and the stink of the alley he dragged her down.

Needing to know for sure, Rosemary took a deep breath through her nose for courage and closed her lying eyes.

Her shaky fingers slid down her belly and laced together under her navel, and then she moaned out in horror as she felt the pulse of life under her Healer's hands. When the walls against her pregnancy symptoms came crashing down around her, Rosemary ran to the balcony and threw open the doors.

Vomiting over the side onto the ground that overlooked the forest, Rosemary finally accepted the truth she'd been ignoring for weeks. The little bumps and tickles from deep inside her womb that she tried so hard to attribute to the butterflies of her fledgling romance were painfully obvious now.

Quickly dressing in something that fit, Rosemary gasped and panted through her tears. She threw open her door and ran through the main house's halls, then down the stairs to her father's laboratory basement.

She rushed through the doors and called out to him as if his wisdom could somehow undo all the wrongs done against her. "Father. Help me."

Nicholas saw the panic and devastation on her face. He stood from his stool, then took a few steps forward until he noticed Rosemary cradling her round tummy in her hands.

She'd hid it well these last few months under new, more fashionable clothing and long robes. Still, a twinge of guilt crept up into the ancient wizard's throat as he offered her a sympathetic smile, then encircled her in his understanding arms. "Oh, Rosemary. It's alright. Everything will be alright."

With his confirmation of what she already knew to be true, Rosemary collapsed into his hug and began the panted, retching cries of a heartbroken woman.

Rocking her gently against his chest like when she was a baby, Nicolas spoke the only words he knew that could ease her doubts. "Shh. You are loved still, and your child will be as well. It belongs to the North, and we will adore it as we do all children. So, don't be afraid of what comes next."

Her little fingers crawled up his chest as she balled his robes in her hands and desperately tried to find some goodness in her situation. She finally shook her head when she realized there was none and gave up all hope. "Daniel won't want me now. I'm always going to be alone. It isn't fair."

"Don't be silly." Nicholas bent down to meet Rosemary's eyes and pushed the tears from her face with his fingertips. "Daniel loves you most, only, and he will love your child because it is part of you."

Pushing herself out of his comforting words, Rosemary backed away as she shook her head no at his reassurances. "I just want to be alone now."

He placed his hands over his heart while she left him in the basement's quiet, and he spoke from the place where fathers kept all their love and hopes for their children. "If you need me, I'm here for you, Rosemary. I always will be."

Daniel's feet beat against the stairs as he raced to Rosemary's room, and when he saw her at her door, he yelled out for her. "Rosemary, wait."

She slammed the door shut behind her, pushing herself against it until Daniel started knocking frantically. "Please leave me alone, Daniel."

He spread his fingertips across the wooden obstacle between them as he tried to reach her mind. "Please let me in."

Feeling the pull from his hand on the other side, Rosemary turned away from him and covered her ears with her palms like it could stop him from snatching her thoughts from her head. "Daniel, please go away."

There was no door, physical or mental, that could keep them apart, so as she crossed the threshold to the balcony, the bedroom door she locked swung open from Daniel's sheer will.

He shook his head in annoyance. "That won't work on me, Rosemary." The closer he inched to her, the more his heart ached, and he rubbed at it with his fingers. "Your life is not just yours now, it is mine, and mine is yours. You can't just shut me out anymore."

While the light hit her face when she backed out into the sunny Autumn morning, Daniel saw her tear-stained cheeks and swollen lips. "You're crying. Why?" As her thoughts trickled in when he closed his eyes, Daniel's shoulders dropped in disappointment.

When his eyes opened, Daniel shook his head. "It doesn't matter to me, Rosemary."

She steepled her hands together as if she prayed that was true. "You see, Daniel? We can't be together."

He laughed and slid his fingertips to her cheeks. "It changes nothing."

With the pouty frown of a child, her chest jerked against his. "It will someday. You'll not want to deal with a child that's not yours, from the man who did that to me. You'll just grow to hate us both."

She pressed her hands against his chest to free herself, but he pulled her against him until she collapsed into it. "You'll just hate me someday. I can't stand it. I can't."

His fingers slipped through her hair, then he kissed the top of her head. "I won't hate you. That can never happen."

Guiding her head back so that he could look into her clear blue eyes, Daniel breathed against her face and stroked the tip of his nose against hers. "You and your child are all I have in this world."

His teary eyes spoke volumes about the man he was beneath the cold, expressionless exterior that he showed the rest of the Realm. "You, both of you, are my family. Whether or not you accept it, I will not abandon you, nor will I allow you to push me away. I cannot be without you."

He pulled her to his lips and kissed away every tear and ache until nothing else remained but the two of them on the balcony.

Between every short and long kiss, Daniel did his best to convince Rosemary of his loyalty. "I love you, and I'll love our baby. There will be no better husband or father; I swear to you."

When the reminder of her shame reached out to them through that first faint kick, the reality she allowed to slip away for a moment returned, and she shook her head to free herself from Daniel's kiss. "No. I won't let you give up everything you dream of for me. Not for me."

He balled his fists in front of him to stop himself from shaking some sense into Rosemary. "All the dreams I have, all the plans I'm making, are only because of you. Without you, everything is meaningless."

Stepping through the door that Daniel left open, Agamori witnessed the scene unfolding before him and sighed hard as he glanced around the room, waiting for them to finish. "I'm sorry for the intrusion, but there are trespassers on the western border. Father wants us to evict immediately."

Hissing through gritted teeth at being interrupted at such a delicate moment, Daniel glanced down at Rosemary, then spoke to the man waiting behind him. "I'll meet you at the stable."

Agamori held up his hands and backed out of the room, and Daniel glared at his uncooperative mate, then gave her one final warning. "I didn't travel all this way to just give up on you. This isn't over, Rosemary. It will never be over."

"Yes, it is." Rosemary's response tore out the tiny black heart that beat inside his rocky chest, and he chuckled the pain out through his nose as he backed away and pointed at her. With no words left that could persuade her and no air left in his lungs to say them after that blow, Daniel clenched his jaw and turned away.

Stomping out the bedroom door, Daniel lifted his hand and flicked his wrist, and the door nearly exploded from its hinges as it slammed shut.

Seeing the illuminated bits of dust on the air he just stalked through in the dimly lit spaces of her room, Rosemary doubled over as his pain ripped through her, and she cried out for him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."