The delivery had been a learning curve, one that had nearly cost the baby's life. He had been breech and would have surely died, had he been left to his own devices. When Maebh told Benjamin and his soulbond, Zahra, the bad news; family members and others present started throwing around the term natural selection like a demonic mantra.
After reassuring the completely panic-stricken parents-to-be that everything was going to be alright, Maebh had banned every protesting witness to the hallway and promptly locked the door to bar them from reentering.
Unfortunately, she did not possess the equipment to perform a caesarean section, let alone the knowledge to do it safely. So instead, Maebh spent more than an hour trying to massage the baby back into the right position. And did so successfully.
Considering Zahra was nearly 8 centimetres dilated when Maebh arrived, it was a gods sent miracle the soulbond ignored the near-to unstoppable urge to start pushing. In the end, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy –who they named Ghaleb, meaning victorious in Zahra's native Arabic.
As soon as Maebh exited the chambers after delivering the placenta and stitching Zahra's torn skin, a horde of guards took her to see Maccon. She already knew what their talk would entail, or rather what it would revolve around. Maebh found herself in the front room of what she assumed was the king and queen's private apartment. Richly decorated in reds and golds and opulent materials, with Maccon himself stood in its midst –dressed in a heavy bathrobe. No sooner than the door had closed, the king who had grown somewhat fond of her; raged, droning on and on about traditions and again, natural selection. Maebh took the figurative beating without protest. As the childbearer, she knew that the royal family couldn't truly punish her, and so she fully took the blame –out of fear of what might befall Benjamin and Zahra. Mentally, she was rolling her eyes at all the bullshit Maccon was spewing. However intimidating the king may be, she stood by her point.
The ridiculous ban on maternity help would be the first thing to change once she became queen. It took a second for the Freudian slip to click and when it did, Maebh recoiled in horror. She tried to banish the image of her as queen to the furthest hollows of her mind but the damage had already been done.
"This will not be happening again."
Maebh blinked, having momentarily forgotten she was still getting lectured. "I don't expect there will be a next time, but if there is, I am not willing to have the weight of a dead baby on my conscience."
The king pinched the bridge of his nose. "Save your blabbering for my wife. Warin!" He called to the only remaining guard by the door. "Escort the Childbearer to her chambers."
The guard gestured for her to exit but Maebh wasn't about to leave without emphasising her attitude to the issue.
"I read in the archives that the number of lycans have been declining over the past three centuries. There's no doubt you're aware of this so I do wonder why you would latch on to such a barbaric custom when you're a dying race."
The king's hunched form exuded an animosity that was like acid. "Mind your tone, girl."
Reading his monarch's face as hostile, the guard became a little more persistent in attempting to steer her out of the room.
"Please consider changing the law." Maebh knew she was pressing her luck.
"Warin!" That was all the permission the guard needed to guide her out of the room with a determined hand pressing at her back.
"Wait! Will you-"
The slamming of the door rudely announced the end of their discussion.
——————————————
In spite of having been there before, it took Maebh a modest hour to locate the castle's garage and a further 5 minutes to figure out where all the car keys were kept. Thinking herself clever, she'd gone for a smart key and was now aimlessly roaming about the lot pressing the damned button, on the lookout for flickering backlights or an audible indication of an unlocked car.
"Miss Maebh?"
Maebh gasped and nearly strained a muscle with how fast she whirled around. "In ainm dé, Ben, you scared me."
"My apologies, Miss. But you triggered the alarm. Security notified me you had been wandering around for a while. May I assist you in anyway?"
She raised an eyebrow at the formal talk, "Are you taking the piss?"
"His Majesty the king has reminded me of my duties, specifically of my role as Second in Command. Please accept my sincerest apologies for showcasing any inappropriate behaviour."
Maebh glared in silent contempt. "This is fucking ridiculous." She pushed the car keys into his hand. "open the car for me please, you're coming with me."
"May I ask where-"
"No, not yet. Let's get out of here first."
"His Royal Highness will-"
"I don't give a flying feck. Off we go."
Benjamin wordlessly unlocked the car. Embarrassingly enough, the beeping that rang through the garage belonged to the vehicle she'd had her back turned to this whole time.
Once they were en route, she started interrogating him for details.
"Spill."
As opposed to answering, the red haired man discreetly pointed at the rearview mirror. Confused, Maebh followed his finger and had to take a closer look before realising what he was trying to draw her attention to. It was a dashcam, built into the mirror. But instead of recording the view through the front windscreen, the camera was angled towards the interior of the car.
He leant in, simultaneously keeping his eyes on the road as he spoke barely above a whisper, "It's a live stream."
That was all the encouragement Maebh needed to detach the mirror by ripping the entire thing off of the roof. Benjamin witnessed the action with perplexity as it was immediately trailed by the passenger window going down, and then back up after the mutilated mirror had been chucked out.
Maebh clicked her tongue. "Plain sailing."
Benjamin gaped at her. "You could have just turned it off, Maebh. What the fuck?"
"Where's the fun in that?" she said, before quickly adding, "Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to come off so easily."
He shook his head. "You're nuts."
She rapped her fingers against the side of her leg and noted how they were fast approaching the tunnel. Darkness surrounded them, the headlights guiding them towards the other side of the mountain range.
"Are you worried about Zahra and Ghaleb?"
"Why?"
"Because Maccon threatened you."
Benjamin swallowed visibly, not even bothering to deny it. "Not directly."
"Thought so. He's all bark but no bite."
Daylight returned as the car exited the tunnel.
"You underestimate how protective they are over you, especially Filin. He's like giant metaphoric hornet's nest waiting to swarm," he countered, clearly in disagreement with her.
Amused at the comparison, she rolled her eyes. "There's literally no reason for him to 'swarm' though."
"You've been circling the nest with a large stick since day one."
Maebh exhaled deeply, peering out at the passing landscape, covered in a carpet of white snow with a fog bank lurking between the stark-limbed trees.
"How is this related to you? If I'm the one to poke the nest, I will be the one to get stung."
"Because I'm standing right next to you while you disrupt their way of life. Why do you think I received a reprimand in the first place? I broke into your room in the middle of the night."
She turned to him, frowning. "Zahra was in labour, I was your last resort. Context is key here, Ben."
"Then how about this: we're in a car together, without supervision and without having informed anyone of where we're going. To make things worse, you demolished the camera, inevitably destroying their only means of keeping an eye on us. This whole situation is suspicious, especially now that you're wearing that thing again." He pointed at the Talisman resting around her neck. "If anything, you're wearing a beekeeping suit and I'm smothered in honey. Fillin is going to eat me alive."
Regret washed over her like the long slow, waves on a shallow beach. "I'm sorry, Ben. I never calculated that this would place you in a bad position. I wouldn't have asked you to drive if you'd said anything."
He smiled ruefully. "I owe my Soulbond and son's life to you, I'd catch the moon for you if you'd ask me to."
Silence reigned and continued to do so until they arrived at their destination. The streets of Haines Junction lay still in slumber, snow crunching under the tires when the car halted in front of a familiar house. Benjamin promised to come back in a couple of hours and went for a run in the woods.
"Mags? Wakey wakey."
"Mae?" Maggie croaked, still half asleep.
Perched on the side of the bed, she grinned cheerfully. "Hey sleepyhead, heard you had a rough night. Coinín is downstairs with Elias, he told me to come wake you up."
Maggie groaned.
"A little wolfy also told me you have singlehandedly been managing my house."
"Blabbermouth." She muttered, referring to her husband.
"Although I do appreciate it, you're taking way too much on your plate, Mags. I'm calling someone else to take over as soon as I get back to the castle."
Maggie sat up. "How's the royal life treating you?"
"Nice try, but don't change the subject. What's going on? Coinín seems tense."
Maggie heaved a ragged sigh. "Things have been.. too much lately."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing to worry about," She held a hand to her mouth and yawned. "We just need to find our balance."
Sounds could be heard from another room. Soon there was a small thud as feet hit the floor. Getting distracted, Maggie slipped out of bed and gestured for Maebh to follow, holding a finger to her lips. With both of them listening attentively, little feet could be heard meandering down the hallway, pattering an irregular rhythm from sleepiness.
Maebh smiled, knowing whom those footsteps belonged to. Moving closer to the door, she quietly peered from behind it and observed Logan's little hand reaching for the doorknob and entering the guest bedroom.
"Daddy." He called out.
Maebh stilled at the prospect of seeing Bear again. However, that prospect soon sank to the pit of her stomach, creating a nauseating feeling when Logan kept calling, and no answer came.
"We don't know where he is," Maggie whispered softly, as if reading her thoughts. "When we returned from the ball, he was gone. There was a note saying he'd gone travelling to find himself and some other bullshit. That asshole is lucky we don't sue him for child abandonment."
Maebh's heart broke, the words stirring up an underlying current of sadness which turned into a wave and threatened to wash her away. After all the trouble she'd gone through to acquit him on all counts, he had tossed her efforts and his chance of being a father to his son out of the window.
Maggie squeezed her friend's hand and studied her face, hoping this wouldn't backfire on her. She knew Maebh felt a sense of responsibility for her nephew and that the information would be difficult to process. Nonetheless, she hardly deemed it right to keep the reality of the situation from her.
Maggie called to Logan and bent down to pick him up as soon as he exited the room.
"I thought daddy came back, but he's still on holiday." Logan clenched his little hand into a fist and rubbed his eye sleepily.
"Yes, he is, honey." She spoke gently to the boy who sported an outrageously tangled bed head. "But I do have a surprise for you, look who's here."
Before he could turn around, Maebh was by their side, pressing a sloppy kiss to his cheek. "Morning Lo!"
Logan's face lit up with the force of a thousand suns and it was all Maggie could do to prevent the boy from leaping out of her arms and into Maebh's.
"Careful with those claws, bud. Keep them sheathed. We don't want to hurt the princess." Maggie said, not giving it a second thought as she stepped down the stairs –Logan grinning up at Maebh the entire descend and chatting the ears from her head.
When they entered the living room, their conversation died down instantaneously. Outside the large bay window, near the edge of the woods, were two men in the middle of a heated discussion, one evidently getting berated by the other.
Her eyes confirmed what her intuition had already sensed, her stranger's presence playing over her flesh like a weight on the world.
When Maebh didn't budge and Maggie figured she'd lost her friend to the spectacle outside, she carefully coaxed her rigid form to the sofa.
By the time Maggie reappeared from the kitchen, armed with steaming mugs of fresh tea, the dark shape on the horizon had ceased his verbal abuse and was broodingly listening to what Ben had to say.
Right before delivering what was undoubtedly the final part of his rebuke, Fillin paused, dark head turning as if seeking her out through the distance and morning mist and glass of the window to stare right into her eyes.
"Mae?"
Maebh looked up and gratefully took the mug from Maggie's outstretched hand.
Logan was drawing on the floor next to them, a bowl of scrambled eggs placed beside him and a concentrated tongue caught in the corner of his mouth as he tried colouring within the lines.
"You better not let him scream at you like that."
"Except when he's performing in the sack." Maebh argued smugly, leaning back into the couch.
"What does he do with the sack?" Logan chimed in, looking curiously up at her.
"It's more of a question of what he puts in there. Like rocks and stuff."
He frowned a little but then lost interest and dived into his drawing again.
Coinín snorted from where he was putting Elias in his swing chair. "Great save."
Maggie gave her a perturbed stare. "Wait, have you guys..."
"We haven't. I was talking a load of hooey. Don't know why I even insinuated the idea."
"Because you want to." Maggie took a large mouthful of tea.
Maebh choked on her own tea and accidentally slammed the mug down so hard that the hot beverage sloshed off the sides. "No comment." she said, wiping up the few drops with the cuffs of her jumper.
The doorbell rang. Coinín went to open up the door and in strode the crown prince, escorted by a gust of cold air. Maggie was quick to welcome him, curtsying as she did. "Your Highness, it's a privilege to receive you in our home again. Would you like a cup of tea, coffee, water?"
"No, thank you." Fillin said, taking a seat next to Maebh –who, in turn, pursed her lips.
The tension in the room was palpable.
"What happened to 'free reign'? We had a deal."
"Which I mean to honour." His voice cracked like the snap of a whip.
With newly summoned strength, she stared him down. "Then what are you doing here chastising Benjamin? You know this was my idea."
A deep slash etched itself between her stranger's eyes. Out of sheer instinct, she reached up and massaged it with her fingers. The wrinkle vanished and uncertainty flickered in the depths of his eyes, an emotion that was bewildering to them both.
As though awkwardness didn't permeate the air enough already, Logan flew up with his finished drawing in hand.
"Look Mae! This is me, and that's uncle Coi and auntie Mags and Eli and daddy, and that's you and your hubby in your castle."
One could have heard the distinct sound of a pin dropping. The silence was long and drawn out over only a moment or two, but it offered just the right amount of time for everyone's eyes to bounce off of each other. Graciously taking matters into her own hands, Maggie was the first to speak.
"Sweetheart, remember what we said about what to call his Royal Highness."
Logan tilted his head. "But you said Mae is the princess and that she lives in the castle with the prince and that they are like you and uncle Coi."
Ill at ease at where this topic was headed, Maebh cleared her throat. "Lo, can I see it?"
"Yes!" the boy smiled proudly, crawling up on the sofa and cuddling up to her as he laid the sheet of coloured paper in her lap.
"It's beautiful," she said with exaggerated wonder, wrapping an arm around Logan. She could feel the prince's laser beams piercing the side of her face, his presence buzzing around her like a fly that you can never swat. "But where is my hair?"
"It's white like the moon and I don't have a white crayon."
"Fair enough."
Logan scooted from underneath her arm and stuffed his face with the remaining contents of his breakfast bowl. Once it was empty, he went to present it to his aunt, who nodded.
"Yay!" he said, then proceeded to rip his pyjamas apart as his body morphed into that of a wolf pup.
Whilst Maebh stilled at the sight, Maggie sighed heavily in exasperation. "Logan, again? Those pyjamas were brand new! Outside. Now."
His small form yipped joyfully, sprinting around before coming to a halt in front of the sofa, trying to convey the meaning of incomprehensible whimpers.
Maebh mentally puzzled his whining. "I don't speak wolfy, Lo."
"He wants to play." Coinín translated for her.
A small smile appeared on her face, she wiped her hands on her jeans and went to stand up.
"Not with you." he added.
When the sound of bones creaking and altering erupted through the room, Maebh started to squirm backwards. Fillin's body rippled and grew, morphing into a horse-sized beast. Black fur glistened as it prowled forward, nearly forcing a light fixture from the ceiling as he bumped into it.
Although freaked out by the unanticipated emergence of the enormous beast, Maebh grimaced disapprovingly. "Way to set an example for Logan."
Fillin growled lowly in warning, his lips pulling back to show large, dagger-like fangs. Avoiding eye contact, she opened up the front door and let them out into the freezing cold, receding from view. She massaged the mark at the base of her neck, consumed by a tingling that brought her out of focus.
"Did you speak to your parents after the ball?"
Wary of the question, Maebh turned to Coinín. "A wee bit, yeah. Why?"
He ignored her question. "Your mom seemed nice. I didn't speak to her at all, she was clearly avoiding me."
The hands of the clock indicated half-past eleven, its tick-tocking echoing the tumultuous thudding of her heart beat.
"Don't be daft, my mam isn't that kind of person."
Elias started crying, his small mewls interrupting them. Maggie lifted him out of his swing chair and settled in the recliner. The cries stopping as soon as his hungry mouth got reacquainted with his mother's milk.
Maggie sent her husband a look that Maebh couldn't decipher but Coinín paid no heed to her. "Did she talk to you about why they left Canada after you were born?"
Maebh watched as Elias curled his tiny fingers around his mother's pinky. Nerves travelled in her veins but never made it to her facial muscles. "She was only here for a couple of days. With all that was going on, it was hardly at the top of our list."
Coinín didn't skip a single beat before saying, "You're lying."
"Coinín, stop it." His wife hissed.
With hands clasped tightly in front of her stomach, Maebh fiddled with her knuckles, weaving her fingers in and out of each other.
"Whatever, Irish girl. Sooner or later, you'll regret the things you didn't say." He got up and marched into the kitchen.
The guilt was like gasoline in her guts. Her friends had become like family, Maebh craved to spill the beans, to come clean.
"Don't mind him. He's been grumpy ever since we started eating vegetarian three times a week."
Somewhere far away, she could hear Maggie trying to lighten the mood.
"Hey," her friend called, her voice almost a coo. Maebh's attention instantly went to her and she saw her eyes soften, the haughty grin becoming a shadow that completely disappeared from her features. "What's wrong?" She asked, concerned.
Maebh shrugged. "I just feel guilty for getting Benjamin into trouble." The lie slipped out, smooth and easy like melted butter.
After bringing her friend up to date about the state of affairs since the introduction ball, it was Maggie's turn to do the same. They had been renting out Bear's house which along with Coinín job as guardian and their ownership of the supermarket, brought in a substantial amount of income. Albeit doing well financially, life had thrown an overwhelming amount of weight on their shoulders. Coinín and Maggie were juggling to keep their heads above surface.
The day was still young, but all good things must come to an end. Maebh wrapped both her friends in tight hugs as they said their goodbyes, promising to see each other soon.
The skies had burst open again, sheets of snow dancing violently in the afternoon light.
Maebh wrapped her scarf twice around her neck, hoping that the clouds of condensed breath would be trapped around her in a microcosm of warmth. Flakes pelted against her cheeks and clung to her eyelashes as she approached Benjamin, who was already leaning against the side of the car with crossed arms –indifferent to the weather.
She squinted to retain her vision, bending her head to the oncoming wind as tiny missiles of loose snow greeted her.
Two contrasting shapes emerged from the blur of woods. The smaller one dashed past Maebh's legs and made way for the front door, where he morphed back into a little boy and ran straight into the thick blanket Maggie was holding out for him.
The other, much larger shape came to a halt in front of Maebh, peering down at her as he shifted. His body rippled like a disturbed reflection over water, wavering, shrinking and compacting into a leaner shape that hunched over the white earth. As Maebh watched the coat of obsidian fur recede, tanned skin was revealed, bulging with coiled muscles underneath. The only thing that the beast shared with the man that appeared in its place were a pair of topaz eyes and a mop of pitch black hair.
Fillin kept his gaze glued to hers, even as he pulled himself upright unabashedly naked. Everyone else had averted their gaze respectfully but despite her better judgement, Maebh could not sway herself to follow their lead.
Benjamin retrieved a bundle from the trunk and handed it over to the prince, who got dressed at a snail's pace –as if trying to highlight the fact that Maebh was still staring.
Somewhat sheepishly, she pretended to be mesmerised by the frills on her scarf and manoeuvred her way to the passenger's seat. Bearing in mind Ben had driven her to Haines Junction, Maebh figured she'd save herself an awkward car ride if she sat next to him instead of the backseat –where Fillin would most likely park his royal buttocks.
However, before the red-haired man could climb into the driver's seat, the prince interfered. It was the slightest shake of the head that made Benjamin hand over the keys and disappear behind the snowy treeline. Maebh found herself gnawing on the inside of her cheek as her stranger took a seat and the engine swiftly growled to life.
Pretending not to be rattled by his company, she waved her friends goodbye. The car inched down the road, wheels spinning momentarily before they regained traction, the wipers moving frantically over the windscreen. The onslaught of fresh snow erased the tracks imprinted on the road by the vehicle's tires.
"If you discharge Ben as your SIC, I'm going on a food strike."
"I have no intention to."
"Oh.. Oh, good."
The drive back was void of conversation after that. Yet, it wasn't uncomfortable. Maebh reveled in the lack of noise, preferring it over incessant chitter-chatter that centered around her enticing the prince into producing more than a dozen syllables.
It seemed to last a pleasant eternity, but it could have only been an hour later that they neared the edge of the Arcadian border—and that was when Fillin spoke again.
"Are you still having nightmares?"
"Sometimes." Maebh said grudgingly, not willing to confess that the nocturnal terrors haunted her nightly.
"You will sleep with me from now on."
He said it as if it was a plain old fact. Snow is white. The mountains are steep. You will sleep with me. Hell no, she figured, glancing up over the panes of that chiseled jaw and then back out of the window where darkness had fallen.
And yet, even after arriving back at the castle, changing into her pyjamas, fetching the necessary toiletries from the tower room, and mechanically making her way to the bibliotheca dormir, she could not convince herself to verbally voice that "no".
Walking over to the bed, she flashed the prince a nervous smile before crawling under the covers. Maebh did not notice him studying her as she fluffed up her pillow.
"Pros theoi..."
Frankly, she was starting to get fed up with him persistently uttering that foreign language. By then, she had heard it often enough to try and google translate some of the words. Although similar to Greek, finding accurate translations had proven to be an impossible task. She suspected it was an endangered language that only Arcadians grasped the meaning of. Either way, a taste of own medicine was long overdue.
"Labhair Béarla nó ná labhair ar chor ar bith."
Speak English or don't speak at all.
Amusement danced behind Fillin's eyes, which was alarmingly out of character. "Mía glōtta oudepōpote hikanē na sas perigrápso."
Maebh did not understand a word but his tone of voice communicated plenty. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you mocking me?"
"I glóssa sou mi protrechéto tou no."
Acting on instinct, she grabbed one of the decorative cushions and smacked it squarely against his head.
Shock registered on his face before a husky laugh escaped his mouth; the sound rumbled up from deep within his chest, but he quickly tried to cover up by clearing his throat.
Observing the incredulous sight of the crown prince, unsuccessfully attempting to hide something as innocent as a laugh, incited a kind of joy Maebh hadn't known she needed until then.
So she did it again. Only this time, Fillin had seen it coming from a mile away.
Within the blink of an eye, two hands encircled her wrists and smoothly flipped her onto her back, straddling her. Knees on each side of her upper thighs imprisoned her form, rendering her immobile. The air froze in her lungs, further disabling her muscles to move.
Maebh waited for him to pull back, having effectively demonstrated his dominance. Instead, he released one of her wrists and proceeded to trace an invisible path that started at her mark and lead up to her face.
The earlier mirth had slipped from his features, replaced by a look of concentration.
The heat emanating from his finger travelled down to her bones, awakening an emotion that unraveled her core. She was pleasantly submerged, enveloped in warmth from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.
It felt as though the stars had aligned to guide her to this exact moment, all preceding incidents and doubts long forgotten. For the first time, Maebh did not interpret her imminent future as a curse. The thought alone was unsettling, but before she could linger on it a minute longer, the universe shifted.
The prince pressed his lips to her temple. The spot instantly buzzed with tingles, giving rise to a million thoughts to jolt through her mind like bursts of lightning.
Almost as if to gauge her reaction, he pulled back cautiously. Similar to two, wild animals sizing each other up, they watched one another carefully.
Painstakingly slow, his lips once again brushed over her skin. The contact ghosted past the entire length of her jaw, traveling to the corner of her mouth where he finally paused.
Had she not already been laying down, the strength of Maebh's legs would have surely admitted defeat to the all-consuming force that was Fillin. The proximity was dizzying. Mere inches separated herself from her stranger, the space in between so little that the slightest turn of her head would allow their lips to touch.
Ever so gently, he released his hold over her other wrist and cupped the side of her face in his calloused palm. A rough thumb caressed her cheek, and Maebh suddenly became aware that Fillin was trembling.
Taken aback, she distanced herself from him and saw something akin to fear swim in the depths of his eyes, floating around like a shipwrecked sailor. The weight of her gaze broke the spell, prompting the prince to retreat to his side of the bed.
Maebh missed his warmth the second it was gone and stared up at the symbols carved into the ceiling with bittersweet regret.
"I'm leaving for a congress tomorrow. I'll be back in two weeks."
Surprised that he was even informing her of his upcoming whereabouts, Maebh replied, "Alright, thank you for telling me."
The prince clicked off the light and laid down on his side, with his back towards her.
Wide awake, Maebh played with the cord of her talisman. "Fillin?"
"Hmm?"
"Be safe."