Guardian (Sequel to Fearless)

Chapter Ninety Three

            "Guardian Master," the tent opened again, yielding to Cane. "Second Commander. Good morning to both of you. I hope you both slept well."

            "And you," Rhalla said, putting down her writing charcoal. "Can we help you with something?" Her words were genuine.

            "I apologize to disturb you so early," Cane said, even if it was not necessary. "But a matter has just been brought to my attention. Something like this has never quite come up in our ranks, so I'm deferring to your decision on the matter."

            Rhalla motioned for him to proceed.

            "This matter is concerning extended health leave for Miss Iris Gwenneth. She's requested a considerable amount of time, Master."

            "Health leave?" Rhalla suddenly looked very alarmed. "Is Iris alright?" Beside her, Kayde couldn't help but smile. A solitary tear tracked down his face. He couldn't believe this was happening to him. He hid his grin with his hands for now. Still, Cane caught it. He almost smiled back.

            "She's in good health," Cane finally said, and then cleared his throat. "She assured me of that."

            "How long does she need?" Rhalla asked, "And why, if she's healthy?"

            "She has requested nearly a year -though no specifics of the date of her return." Cane took a breath. "She only said that she will only be as long as it takes her to heal from the birth of her first child."

            Both Rhalla's hands slammed simultaneously down on her and Kayde's shared desk, and she immediately raised to her feet. "HER WHAT?" That response could be heard across a very wide radius, causing passersby outside to look toward the tent.

            Cane waited a moment, giving the abruptly large woman time to settle. Gentler, he said, "Your sister is pregnant, Rhalla."

            Rhalla was then speechless, staring with wide eyes at Cane for what felt like an entire lifetime.

            Finally, the secretary broke her gaze and instead found Kayde's. With a warm smile, he said. "Congratulations, Second Commander. You must be very excited."

            "More than I can even tell you," Kayde said, lip quivering at the mention of it all. "Thank you, Frederick."

            "Well, I'll leave you to think on it," Cane said at Rhalla. "Good day, Master." He quickly evaded the scene, on the chance that she went volatile. No one could quite read her at the moment.

            Rhalla moved, ready to bust out of the tent and go find her sister. Kayde immediately grabbed the guardian by the arm. "Wait." It took about all his strength to wrest her back for a second. She whirled to face him.

            "Hold on. Just hold on a minute." he tried to placate her. "If you're going to be mad at someone, be mad at me."

            Rhalla looked down to where his hand still gripped her. Now that he'd gotten her attention, he let go. Quickly.

            She took a breath. "It's confirmed?"

            Kayde nodded. "Yes. It is."

            "And it's yours." That wasn't a question. "You've made my sister a mother."

            "I have," Kayde said, and quickly held out his hands. He suddenly remembered what she might associate with pregnancy -all the horrors of human trafficking. "But it's... it was nothing like what happened to you. Or any of those girls. I swear to gods I didn't hurt your sister. I didn't force anything on her ever. It... she loves me. And I her. Very much. And we... it was a much consented decision to... well, you know. On both sides." He was usually very refined at speaking, but as it was, there was hardly a charismatic way to say hey, your sister and I had sex, and she liked it. Especially to a six-foot-four slab of pure stomp-your-ass.