Half way through the week, a messenger came to inform Alys that she was invited by the king to a farewell dinner later in the evening. Dreading this, Alys reluctantly put on the dress that was sent to her, and got ready to sit through a very uncomfortable meal.
Maybe if she pleaded sickness, she could leave early.
The dinner was extremely awkward. A long table was set up in a garden for the meal. King Dastrehan was sitting at the head of the table on one side, and King Lief was at the other side. Princess Jocelynn was sitting to Dastrehan's right, where Alys had sat before. Alys kept her eyes on the table and moved into the seat next to the second princess. No one acknowledged her, except that Dastrehan had made eye contact with her when she had first arrived.
Alys had no idea why she was even here.
It was hot, and the sun kept getting in Alys's eyes. She tried to force down her meal while royalty talked amongst each other about topics she could not have even tried to offer comment too if she had wanted to. Jocelynn laughed her flirtatious laugh constantly, reaching a hand now and again to rest on Dastrehan's as if they were already married.
Determined not to let this bug her, Alys kept her eyes on her plate, all the while ignoring the stare she could feel from Marniac's young prince.
The topic at the table turned from light hearted to more serious matters. It was apparent that the two kings would rather talk about such things as war and politics than other subjects. It was now mainly just the two men talking, but every few minutes, Jocelynn would cut in to the conversation and offer some useless remark. Dastrehan would just quickly smile and nod, then continue on with the conversation.
Balear came into the conversation, and shortly after Jocelynn announced "I was supposed to Marry Prince Zaiden. But thankfully, that fell through because he's second in line for his family throne."
An uncomfortable silence rested on the table. What a horrible thing to say. Everyone present, including guards nearby, knew the reason that the deal "fell through" was because the young prince had disappeared, and might possibly be dead. And to top it off, Princess Jocelynn had made a statement showing that her attachments were to power, not honour or responsibility. Marniac's Queen pushed food around on her plate, as if she were about to take a bite. A servant stepped forward to offer more wine. Jocelynn moved her cup for the servant to fill, seeming unaffected by the mood at the table.
King Lief cleared his throat, "Hopefully everything in Balear will clear up soon."
Dastrehan nodded, along with the queen and the Princess Yasmine.
Clearly, Princess Jocelynn had no shame. She just shrugged and took another swig of wine.
When the meal was over, the servants cleared the table and the two kings got back into more serious conversation. Alys excused herself, and not ready to go back into her dark room, decided to go for a walk in the neighboring gardens. Her guards fell into step some ways behind her, but Rohan remained closer to her. The two of them talked about the new baby, and how Dimia and Esme were coping. The baby was much too young to spend too much time away from Esme, so arrangements had been made for Esme to live in a room next to Rohan and Dimia's. Esme was recovering nicely, according to the healers, which was a relief for everyone involved.
The sun was still warm, so Alys headed towards a group of large willow trees in search of shade.
Not long after, Princess Jocelynn and Princess Yasmine entered the same garden area the Alys and her guards were in. Alys groaned, irritated that she could never seem to escape. As soon as Jocelynn spotted her, she turned to move in Alys's direction. Yasmine followed behind her sister. Jocelynn's gown was a soft blue with lots of cream coloured ribbons on it. It was gorgeous. It made the blonde hair wound up on her head look even more striking.
"I thought you went back to your room," she remarked, coming up to Alys. Alys stood from the bench she was sitting on and rubbed her hands on her lap to remove wrinkles from the brown dress.
"I decided to enjoy the outdoors for a while longer," she replied simply. Jocelynn smiled a small, fake smile, as if she were speaking to a servant, "Isn't that nice."
Alys just nodded, reaching a hand to shield her eyes from the sun.
"Did you enjoy the dinner? Dastrehan had it made because it is my favorite."
"It was good," Alys answered simply. She was extremely uncomfortable. She just wanted Jocelynn to leave her alone. This was the first time she had been around her without Dastrehan present since the princess had pushed her down the stairs.
"Yes," Jocelynn agreed, turning around to admire the garden, "He is very generous."
Alys made no comment. She knew that. She did not need this princess to inform her.
"We should get going," Princess Yasmine said to her sister, completely ignoring that Alys even existed. She wore a lavender dress, made similar to Jocelynn's. Her light brown hair was pulled up into the same style as her sister's. Two braids were wound around the head in opposite directions until they were formed into a bun at the back. It was a style a lot of important women in Marniac wore, or so Alys had been informed by a servant sometime before.
Jocelynn looked to her sister to acknowledge her, then back to Alys, "Good bye then," she said with an elegant manner that Alys knew was meant to mock her.
"Have safe travels home," Alys said, forcing herself to make it sound mostly genuine.
Jocelynn turned back and gave Alys a strange look.
"What?"
Alys returned Jocelynn's gaze, "To Marniac."
Jocelynn looked confused for a moment, but then her pretty face broke into a slow smile, "Oh, I'm not going anywhere," Jocelynn sweetly corrected, "I'm staying right here in Tarkam."
Alys felt her stomach drop.
Of course Jocelynn would remain in Tarkam. If she was going to marry the king, there would be no reason to return to her home country. It would be a waste of time travelling.
Alys swallowed the disappointment and replied with a simple "Oh."
Jocelynn, clearly forgetting that she had been about to leave, took a step towards Alys, "Actually, Dastrehan is announcing our engagement tomorrow."
"Congratulations," Alys was starting to feel numb and tired.
"In fact," Jocelynn leaned closer to Alys, her voice low, "I've convinced him to name our first born as heir to the kingdom."
Alys felt her spine tingle. Jocelynn knew exactly how to get under her skin. She looked at the princess evenly.
"I don't believe that."
Jocelynn laughed, loud and obnoxiously. Her sister joined in behind her, though Alys did not care to notice.
"You can believe what you want," Jocelynn said, still laughing, "But I made him see things my way. And now, there won't be a blunder in the royal line."
"A blunder?" Alys repeated, her voice taking on an edge of anger. Her hands fell too her sides and she tried not to let her fingers clench too much. Who did this woman think she was? Dastrehan and Alys had made a deal that was between them only, not with some spoiled princess from another kingdom.
"Well," Princess Jocelynn walked slowly around Alys, acting as if she were choosing her words carefully, "Why would the king want to have a descendant to follow him that would bring so much dishonour to the blood line? A child out of wedlock? That's not very kingly."
"Kings have done the exact same thing before to make sure there would be an heir to the throne in the case that they did not marry and have children before they died," Alys fired back, now too worked up to check her tone.
"Maybe," Jocelynn stopped in front of Alys and looked straight at her, "But Dastrehan does not even know if this-" Jocelynn shook head slightly, as if trying to come up with a word, "baby is even really his."
"Excuse me?"
Princess Jocelynn narrowed her eyes, "For all he knows, it could be the child of some stable boy that-"
Before Alys could think about what she was doing, she struck Jocelynn across the face, cutting off the rest of the princesses' sentence. For a moment, nothing happened. Jocelynn, taken completely off guard, reached a hand shakily to her cheek. Alys clenched her stinging hand and put it behind her back. But she did not weaken her gaze on the princess's face.
Jocelynn looked at Alys, her eyes burning with anger, "How dare you strike me!" She screamed, lunging towards her. Alys stepped back, and Rohan stepped between them just in time to catch Jocelynn before she could reach Alys.
"That's enough," Rohan said firmly, holding onto the princess' arms to restrain her, "I suggest you leave now."
Jocelynn shoved against Rohan and screamed at him to get off of her.
Then after yelling curses at both he and Alys, she grabbed her sister's arm and stormed off towards the way they had come.
Watching from behind Rohan, Alys put her hand on her chest and let out a long breath.
"That was not good," Rohan said as he turned back to Alys. He sounded worried. Alys picked up on it right away, which only made her more upset.
"We should get you back to your room," Rohan suggested, offering his arm to Alys.
Alys allowed Rohan to lead her back to her room, though they took a long way through the gardens to be sure to avoid any of the royal family members.
By the time that Rohan and Alys arrived back at Alys's room, nervous shakes had set in. Alys clasped her hands together tightly and pressed them against her mouth as she sat on her bed. She knew there was no way Dastrehan was going to let her get away with this. There would be consequences for her actions. It did not help that Rohan nervously paced the small area around Alys's table. He too knew something bad would be coming.
When a knock came on Alys's door more than an hour later, they both jumped.
Rohan shared a quick glance with Alys before opening it. A messenger stood in the door way, a grim expression on his face.
"The king said that I am to bring Alys to see him immediately," the messenger said. Alys slowly stood and walked out into the hallway, her eyes on the floor. Rohan moved to fall into step behind her, but the messenger put his hand up to stop him.
"The king says that you are not to accompany her. You're dismissed for the rest of the evening."
Alys looked over her shoulder to meet Rohan's eyes. His mouth was a tight line, clear evidence that he was worried. But he nodded to her to try and reassure her. Alys nodded back to let him know she would be okay, then turned back to follow the messenger.
As they walked in silence, Alys tried to reason with herself to keep calm. Dastrehan was not an unreasonable man. She was expecting him to be angry, but he would never punish her the way Gax had. Especially in the condition she was in.
When they arrived at the king's study, the very same room that Dastrehan had confronted Gax, the messenger did not announce their arrival. He led Alys into the door of the room and left.
Alys nervously glanced around the room to take stock. Princess Jocelynn sat in Dastrehan's chair behind his desk, whimpering with her hand over the left side of her face, including her eye. Princess Yasmine stood behind her, rubbing her sister's shoulders to try to comfort her. Dastrehan was leaning against the wall to the left, his arms crossed angrily. The visiting king and queen stood by their daughters, looking tremendously upset. The young prince was not present.
"Alys," Dastrehan acknowledged her, his voice notably full of anger. He did not even bother to look over at her.
He moved to come over to the chair Princess Jocelynn was sitting in.
"Would you mind explaining to me this?" He asked harshly, gently removing Jocelynn's hand from her face to reveal a dark purple mark on her upper cheek that also went around her eye. Alys could not hide her immense shock. She had not stuck Jocelynn that high up, and she definitely had not done so hard enough to do that kind of damage. Her hand came up to cover her mouth.
"I'm waiting," Dastrehan hissed, crossing his arms again and casting an angry glare on Alys.
Alys sought Jocelynn's eyes, but the princess quickly made sure to drop them to shut her out.
She must have hit herself with something, Alys' mind raced. Jocelynn was trying to make it look way worse than it had been.
Dastrehan was waiting for a reply. All eyes, except for Jocelynn's, were directed at the pathetic girl standing in front of them.
Alys began to panic. She could hear her blood rushing in her ears and her heart felt like it would thump right through her skin.
"I-" she did not know what to say. She did not have the strength to speak.
Dastrehan continued to wait, looking more and more angry as time went on.
"Can I speak with you in private?" Alys requested weakly. Dastrehan shook his head slightly in response.
"We had an argument," Alys finally offered weakly, "I acted in rash haste."
Her palms were starting to feel clammy and her head was starting to spin. If only she were able to sit down.
"Rash haste," King Dastrehan repeated, pronouncing the words more than he needed to, as if they tasted foul in his mouth, "You struck a member of a royal family." He said, as if he needed to clarify this fact for her.
Alys dropped her gaze to the floor and tried to take a calming breath. The last thing she wanted to do at this moment was to faint.
"You've disrespected my guests, as well as myself," Dastrehan said, walking from behind the desk and closer to Alys. Alys was starting to tremble again, and she grasped at the skirt of her dress to try and steady her hands.
"I invited you to my table, and you attacked one of my guests."
This did not seem fair to Alys. Though she knew she had been very wrong to strike the princess, she had been provoked. But Dastrehan did not know about this. If he had, would he still be as angry? Alys guessed that he would, as she knew that he did not agree with hasty actions of violence. Especially between women.
Alys had not said anything since her first comment. Dastrehan took another step towards her.
"You are going to apologize to my guests."
Alys looked up briefly to meet his eyes. He definitely meant what he had ordered. Alys glanced at the royal family. Jocelynn had raised her gaze again. Her eyes narrowed when Alys met them.
Apologize. He wanted her to apologize to the woman who had pushed her down a flight of stairs; putting the life of an unborn child in danger. He wanted her to apologize to the woman who had constantly taunted, harassed, and had gone out of her way to make Alys miserable.
Alys pressed her lips together and shook her head slightly.
She could not do that.
Dastrehan gave another warning, his voice hinting that he was in no mood to deal with disobedience.
Alys took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment.
"Your Royal Highnesses," she forced out weakly, "I apologize for my terrible actions against-" she opened her eyes and stared right at Jocelynn, "-Princess Jocelynn. I assure you that it will never happen again."
Princess Yasmine scoffed. Alys ignored her, letting her gaze dart to the side of the room no one stood in. Dastrehan stepped forward and grabbed Alys's arm firmly, leading her out of the room and back out into the hallway. He moved down the hall a bit then stopped abruptly and moved her arm so that she turned to face him.
"How could you do something like this?" He demanded, his voice lower so that the members of the royal family would not hear.
Alys could not look up. She did not want to see the anger in his eyes.
"I was not thinking," she offered weakly, to which he shook his head in frustration.
"No, you were not. You have no idea the position this has put me in now."
He still gripped her arm with a strength that alarmed Alys. He had always been so gentle with her.
"I'm sorry."
"That is not good enough, Alys!" the king replied, frustration accompanying the anger.
Alys' chin began to tremble. She was scared and tired, and she just wanted to go cry in her room.
Dastrehan released her arm and ran a hand through his thick brown hair, "This is not the kind of behaviour I want the mother of my child to display."
Alys was not surprised. But the situation would never have happened if the princess had not said such an offensive thing. Not to mention, Alys had noticed that she was a lot more emotional and bold at times in the last few months of her pregnancy.
"What can I do?" She asked, barely above a whisper. She looked at the young king in front of her, pleading with her eyes for forgiveness.
Dastrehan shook his head in defeat and looked off blankly down the hall,
"I don't think that there is anything that can be done now. Maybe this was a huge mistake."
Alys felt her stomach contract with a sick feeling. She did not know what he was referring to now, and she did not think she wanted to know.
He looked at her, still slightly shaking his head. Alys had wrapped her arms around the front of her tummy, as if she could draw comfort from the developing life inside her. Dastrehan's eyes briefly dropped to her stomach for a second, and he took a deep, wavering breath.
"You've left me with a lot to think about. I think it is best that you return to your room, and stay away from the royal family from now on."
He then turned and walked away, leaving a broken Alys in the hall with her guards.
Alys did not even make it to her room before the tears came. She walked through the halls in a hurry, her hands clamped over her mouth and tears running down her cheeks. Servants and guards that she passed cast worried glances towards her, but said nothing. Alys did not care what they thought of her. She did not care about anything at that moment but getting to her room.
When she let herself into her room, Esme was sitting on Alys's bed, a worried expression on her face. Alys slammed the door shut behind her and stood with her arms wrapped around herself.
Esme stood and came over to her, her arms out to embrace her friend.
"Rohan said you would be needing comfort," she whispered, collecting Alys into her arms and rubbing her back. Alys let her friend hold her while she cried herself out.
When she was done, she lay down on her bed and Esme came and sat next to her.
"My head feels like it is going to pop off," Alys remarked. She had not spoken since coming into the room, and her voice was tired and hoarse.
Esme poured some water into a basin and dipped a cloth into the cool water. Then she wrung it out and placed it on Alys' forehead.
Alys groaned at the feeling of the cold cloth against her hot skin. It felt nice.
Esme resumed her sitting position.
"Do you want to talk about?" she asked carefully. Alys shrugged,
"What did Rohan tell you?"
"He said that there had been a dispute between you and Princess Jocelynn, and that you had struck her across the face. He seemed quite flustered, actually."
Alys sighed. Poor Rohan. How much trouble she had caused him as of late.
"She was trying to get under my skin, as always," Alys explained, "And usually I would not have let that get to me. But she made a comment saying that my baby could have a father other than Dastrehan and I just could not keep myself in check. That is highest of insults."
Esme frowned and squeezed Alys' hand.
"Then Dastrehan sent a messenger to come get me," Alys continued after a pause, "And Jocelynn has a dark purple mark on top of her cheek and a discoloured eye. Like someone hit her in the face with a piece of wood. I didn't hit her that hard Esme. I swear I did not. It's not even in the same spot."
Alys rubbed her hands against her face in frustration. The entire thing was absurd.
"I should have walked away. If I had not hit her, she would not have been able to make me look so bad."
"What's done is done," Esme answered, sounding grave. It was not what Alys wanted to hear, but she knew it was the truth.
"She said that Dastrehan changed his mind about our child," Alys whispered.
"Do you believe that?"
Alys shook her head slightly. She did not know what to believe.
Esme remained with her for a bit, but then she excused herself regretfully, reminding Alys that baby Joss needed to be nursed.
Alys remained laying on her bed, staring up at the canopy. Her thoughts swirled around in her head, always going back to how she should have stopped herself from such a stupid move.
Maybe Dastrehan was right. Maybe she was stupid.
Rose was the servant to deliver Alys' morning meal the next day. She placed the platter on the table, and walked over to where Alys lay in bed, still in the dress she had worn to supper the night before.
"Are you ill, my Lady?" Rose asked cautiously when she saw that Alys was awake.
Alys slowly forced herself into a sitting position and groaned. Every muscle in her body ached that morning.
"No," she managed to push out. She stood and turned so Rose could help untie the back of her dress. In the past, Alys had never been helped to get dressed. As of late, her swollen belly made even the simplest of tasks difficult, so a servant girl usually assisted her.
The dress dropped to the floor, and Alys reached for a clean, plain one.
She did not feel like eating. She did not feel like doing anything. But she knew that it would be incredibly foolish to skip meals when she was pregnant.
Alys sat down at the table and inspected her meal.
Eggs, toasted bread and ham.
She reached absent mindedly to make sure her hair would not go in her food and realized that it was still half up from the bun she had neglected to take out the night before.
Alys groaned, knowing that if she did not fix it now, it would bother her throughout her meal. She started yanking pins out, angry at the small inconvenience they were causing her.
"Let me," Rose offered quietly, stepping behind Alys and placing her hand on Alys' shoulder. Alys tensed; the sudden contact had surprised her, and she was not at all used to letting other people help her, let alone to do her hair. But she did not feel like fixing her hair herself, so she decided to accept this small but kind gesture.
"Thank you," she replied, quieter than Rose had been.
In silence, the servant girl gently removed the remaining pins from Alys' hair. Then she proceeded to brush out the long dark curls. Despite Alys' grim mood, she could not help but relax a little.
When Rose asked timidly if it would be okay to try a Marniac style in Alys' hair, Alys did not object. She was enjoying the girl's company.
Rose brought a hand mirror to Alys so that she could watch as her hair was transformed. Rose's fingers moved expertly in ways that confused Alys. She had not watched many people do hair before; when she had, it was just simple buns or braids.
When Rose had finished, Alys' hair was in the same style that the visiting Marniac Princesses had had theirs in the previous day.
And it looked amazing. Alys could never have imagined that she was capable of looking elegant, but Rose had managed to make her come very close.
"I love it," Alys said, smiling for the first time that day, "Thank you."
Rose beamed a smile back, proud of her work and happy that she had been able to cheer Alys up.
"Can you try another style?" Alys asked, before she could check herself.
What a stupid question. Of course, she could not. Rose had tasks to do, and Alys was not some important woman to be pampered.
"Of course," was Rose's enthusiastic answer as she reached to remove pins she had secured mere minutes before.
"Are you sure?" Alys was surprised, "I don't wish to keep you from tasks for which you will be punished."
Rose shook her head while she undid Alys' hair, "I'm assigned to you today. My tasks are whatever you need them to be."
This fact made Alys relax again. She was enjoying the girl's company, and she did not wish to be alone.
"Did you see Captain Rohan in the hall?" Alys asked, suddenly realizing that he had not checked on her that morning, as he made a point of doing daily.
"No," Rose replied in a distracted tone, obviously engrossed in the task at hand, "But I did ask the guards where he was, and they said that he had been moved to night duty."
"Already?" Alys sighed regretfully. She would miss Rohan's company.
At least she would still be able to see Dimia.
Twice that day, there were attacks at the palace. The first time, Alys had just been finishing the midday meal she had convinced Rose to share with her when one of her guards came crashing through her door without knocking.
"Forgive me, Lady Alys," the guard said when the two young women looked at him with alarm. He continued quickly to Alys' open window and closed the shutters firmly by putting a board across. Alys watched him, completely confused.
"Is there a problem?" she asked cautiously. She looked towards her door and saw it was entirely barricaded with guards.
"There's been an attack in the palace." The man replied, making his way back towards the door, "Don't worry, you will both be safe in here."
He shut the door behind him, leaving them in almost complete darkness due to the closed shutters. Rose hurried to light some candles, and soon the room was lit up again. Rose's mood had not changed at all, but Alys could not help feeling nervous. An attack on the palace could be serious. Last time, she had been moved to a safe room. This time, all she could do was hope that King Dastrehan had sent enough extra guards to keep them safe. But would her guards get hurt? Alys did not know if she could forgive herself if any guards were injured or killed just to protect her.
Alys tried to put that terrible idea out of her mind by focusing on her meal and asking Rose about her family.
During their lockdown, Alys learned that, like Esme, Rose had been sold to the palace after her parents had died. She had come from a poor family, and as a 13 year-old and an only child, she had not been able to support herself. She had worked as a servant girl at an inn for a few months, but the owner had sold her when he became strapped for coins.
Alys also learned that Rose was engaged to be married to a guard stationed at the palace, though she did not seem too thrilled about the idea.
"Don't you want to marry him?" Alys asked. She knew she was being bold by asking, but if Rose really did not want to discuss it she could say so and Alys would never mention it again.
Rose, who was attempting to dust around Alys' small room in the candle light, shrugged.
"It's not really my decision to make." She replied simply.
Alys frowned, "What do you mean by that?"
"If a soldier asks a servant in the palace to marry them, they do it," Rose explained, her back turned to Alys, "To turn him down would be incredibly foolish."
"I would never marry someone if I did not want to." Alys stated.
Her mind wandered to her altercation in the woods with Brom, but she dismissed it quickly.
Rose turned to look at Alys', her eyes wide in shock, "Oh no, my Lady. If I were to that, who knows what could happen."
Alys shook her head. The whole idea frustrated her.
"Surely the king would protect you, if the man you rejected tried to do anything to you."
Now it was Rose who shook her head, her face sad, "The king does not hear of these things. And if he did, it would be impossible to control everything."
Alys was still upset. It floored her that one could be in charge of an entire kingdom and not be aware of mistreatment going on in his own home.
"Do not worry yourself," Rose turned and went back to her dusting, a task that Alys thought completely futile in the current lighting, "I could do much worse that the man I am to marry."
Alys did not agree, but she decided to drop the matter for the time being; it was clear that she would not be able to change Rose's mind.
After a couple hours, a guard poked his head in the door to inform the two women that the palace had been secured again. He opened Alys's shutters, and Rose left the room to get on with the duties that were not possible to do while they were in lockdown.
Alys was left alone, miserable and constantly worried about what would happen after the king was done "thinking over" the events of the day before.
The second attack at the palace happened in the evening. Alys had been sitting in her window seat, looking over the gardens when loud voices and shouts could be heard coming from just out of her site below. The only thing she could see was soldiers running out of the palace towards the far end of the gardens. After a few minutes, a crowd of guards appeared and moved hastily towards the palace. Alys could not see whom it was they were set up around, but she guessed that it was likely one of the visiting royal family members. Behind the mass of soldiers, two more soldiers were dragging a man with them who was struggling to get away and uttering out profanities. It was not a pleasant site, and Alys was glad when the scene was over, and the gardens appeared to return to normal.
When Rose came with Alys's evening meal, Alys was bursting with questions. She tried to hold them back while Rose set down the food, but she could not contain her curiosity.
"Do you know anything about what happened in the gardens a few hours ago?"
Rose's face became grave and she nodded solemnly, "A man attacked the king."
Immediately, imagines flooded into Alys' mind; a sword through Dastrehan's chest, an arrow in his heart, his head completely decapitated.
What would happen if Dastrehan were to die right now? What would happen to Alys, to their child, and the entire Kingdom of Tarkam? Prince Leoford would be crowned, and the entire kingdom would fall into chaos.
"Is he-" Alys could not even bring herself to ask if the king was okay.
Rose nodded, seeming to know that Alys could not speak, "He will live. He was stabbed in the side with a dagger, but his healers believe he will make a full recovery."
Alys breathed a sigh of relief. He would be okay. The kingdom would be okay, and so would her child.
How had something like that even occurred? Would not Dastrehan have been under guard at all times? Was the palace even safe if the king could be attacked in his own garden?
This had not been something that Alys had thought about before she agreed to the deal of having King Dastrehan's child. This would be the life her child would live; being in constant fear of attack without having peace even at his own home. The idea made Alys feel sick, and she was not able to eat most of her evening meal.