Sighing, Biana climbed back into bed, wondering if she'd be able to fall asleep again. Phillip, who was currently sitting on her bladder, had made her get up to pee for the fourth time that night, and she was getting pretty fed up with this whole pregnancy thing, even though she still had two months to go. She felt enormous and like her organs were packed too tight with a squirming baby crashing around inside of her at odd hours of the day, and loathed the different habits she was forced to take on to accommodate her enlarging belly. The constant need to pee, sleeping on her side to keep Phillip from weighing on her spine, her ankles swelling up, the way she waddled instead of walked -- she was sick of it, wishing her due date would come sooner. A wish that wasn't so crazy with all the stress with the Neverseen and Sophie and Fitz's condition.
Everyone in the palace had been busy and tense since the siege, leaving Biana feeling isolated from her loved ones. Outside of their daily "parlor meetings" for lunch, Biana only saw her brother and his cognate at dinner, and she sorely missed the company of her best friends. She understood they needed to heal, but she still selfishly missed them nonetheless. Her parents and Keefe were busy with the royal duties of the palace, and though Biana constantly asked if she could help them, they always politely turned her down, insisting she needed to rest instead of worrying about politics.
But Biana didn't want to rest. Phillip was coming into the world in only a few short months, and she wanted him to come into a better world. A safer world. One without sieges and loved ones constantly getting hurt. One without worrying that with every good thing that happened to them, something equally bad would follow. She was tired of everyone putting their lives on the line to protect her and her son and watching them struggle not to lose their own life in the process. Some succeeded. Others... didn't. The Neverseen took her husband from her. They would not take her son.
Every day, no matter how tired she was, Dex and Biana began sword training. It was only with wooden swords so no accidents could happen while she was pregnant, but she made sure to treat the wooden sword like it was steel. She didn't want to be unprepared. Even if her ankles were too swollen for her to stand and she had to get a stool to sit on or if she had to take five pee breaks during the training, they always practiced for at least an hour. Because with every hour, she got better, and the better she was, the safer Phillip was.
Biana and Dex had decided to keep their training sessions a secret, so no one (particularly Fitz and her father) could stop them, saying they were being reckless or that Biana was worrying about things she didn't need to. So, to keep the secret, they woke up with the sun every morning if they weren't already awake to train in the depths of the palace garden, away from prying eyes when everyone else was asleep or too busy to investigate the garden to find the source of the distant conversation and cracking of wood on wood. Besides, few people actually knew about the little glade within the tall palace bushes. Biana only knew about it because it was where she and Tam would sneak off to kiss when they were courting.
The glade brought back many memories for her, and sometimes she couldn't help but marvel at how much her life had changed in less than a year, but she found it fitting that it was now where she was learning to wield a sword from his right hand man. Knowing that Tam would be pleased at this arrangement gave Biana a fuzzy feeling in her chest that was always a challenge to shove aside so she could focus on her sword techniques. When she lost focus, she often missed her target or hit Dex a little too hard. She always profusely apologized, but he was always proud of how hard she'd hit and wore the bruises like medals, explaining to anyone who asked that they were from his training, never mentioning the purple and green marks were a gift from Biana in order to protect their secret. Dex had been especially tense after the argument with his mother, so seeing him find a positive in something was, in Biana's mind, a miracle.
He sometimes talked with Biana about how much it hurt to see Juline again. How it hurt worse to know she was alive than it was to think she was dead. She put a mission and her own selfishness before her children, and seeing Dex in so much pain brought out her motherly instincts. Half of her wanted to punch Juline in the face, and the other half wanted to hold Dex while he cried himself to sleep. Sadly, she could only do the latter until one morning after their training session, while Dex was in a bath, Juline stormed in with a half-empty bottle of wine, tipsy at best.
"Wheerre's DEHXxxx?" Juline slurred, pointing the mouth of the bottle at Biana threateningly.
"He doesn't want to see you," Biana squared her shoulders calmly, staring at Juline intently to try and gauge her movements like Dex taught her in their training.
"I'mmm hissss MOTHHHHHER! Of courssse he wantss to ssseee ME!" the drunk woman snapped, glaring harshly at Biana.
"No, no he doesn't."
"LIAR!"
"I'm not lying," Biana kept a cool expression. She was used to dealing with drunk nobles. "He clearly told you he didn't want to see you and that he didn't want you near the triplets. You should have more respect for your sons wishes. You did leave him and Sophie on their own for most of the triplets' lives."
"What do you know about ressspect?"
"Clearly, more than you do. Barging into the room of someone who doesn't want to see you..."
Frustrated, Juline growled, "He'sss MHY SSSON!"
"He's my friend, my teammate," Biana countered. "And I'm not going to let you hurt him anymore."
Juline looked like she was about to blow, and Biana slowly rose to her feet as Juline chugged the rest of her wine. Nothing good could come from chugging half a bottle of wine. When she finished, Juline wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and smashed the end of the bottle on Biana's dresser in one swift movement, causing Biana to flinch.
"And I'm NOT gooing to let you ssstop ME!"
Biana's heart jumped into her throat, adrenaline roaring in her veins, and she knew there was no point in escaping. The next things that happened were a blur. As Juline started to swing the broken bottle, the bathroom door burst open, and Biana grabbed Juline's wrist with one hand, landing a square punch to Juline's nose with the other, a resounding CRACK filling the room. Before Juline could respond, Dex -- only in a bathrobe -- tackled her to the floor, her head smacking against the floor so hard, Biana felt a sympathetic twinge in the back of her own head.
Sputtering blood, Juline looked up at Biana with glassy eyes that she fought to keep from rolling into the back of her head to focus on the princess's baby bump. "You... you're a mother. Like me. You have to understand how I feel."
Biana studied the blood streaming from her knuckles -- a price for the punch -- and didn't meet Juline's eyes. "I am a mother, but I'm sorry, I can't understand how you feel. Because I can't understand how you can abandon your children for six years when you had so many chances to come back for them. And I can't understand how you can keep hurting your children because you're self-centered enough to think you know what's best for them when you don't even know them. How selfish can you be to want your children to listen to you when you left them to struggle so much on their own?"
When Biana dared to look up, she saw Juline's crumpled expression, and the two women then turned their attention to Dex, who looked at Biana in awe.
"Dex..." Juline whispered, eyes rolling back into her head, "I'm sor..." Her eyes fell shut, but her quiet breathing assured Biana she was alright, only knocked out.
Dex and Biana listened to his mother's breathing for a few minutes, trying to absorb what happened. Biana stared at her knuckles once more as blood trickled down her fingers. Only the knuckles on her first two fingers were busted with ugly gashes, but all of them began to blossom with purple and green bruises. She wasn't sure how to feel about her new injury. Biana was proud that she'd been able to defend herself, but she wasn't sure how Dex would feel about she'd probably breaking his mom's nose.
"Biana," Dex broke the silence and she gave him her attention. He was sitting up now, next to Juline, and he reached his hand out to her. "Are you okay? Let me see."
Obediently, she took a few steps closer to meet him and rested her bruised and bloody hand in his. Gingerly, he examined her knuckles, testing the bruises and making sure nothing was broken. Dex apologized every time she flinched, probably feeling the tense twitches in her hand when he hit a particularly sore spot, and when he was done, he smiled up at her.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner... but Biana, that was amazing."
"I just punched your mom," the princess laughed nervously. "I think I broke her nose."
Amused, he snorted, "I would've if you didn't. But you landed a good punch, and you didn't even break a knuckle! You should be really proud of yourself. I know I am."
Relieved, she let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding and beamed absentmindedly as she looked down at their hands. "I am. Honestly? It felt really good. Your training has really paid off. I mean, I still have a lot to learn -- I don't think I can knock someone out with a tackle, yet, but I'm really thankful that you don't treat me like some fragile doll, even though I'm still pregnant."
Dex shrugged, "These are troubling times. We don't know when the Neverseen are going to attack next, and we don't know what situation you'll be in. I mean, last time, you saved a boy's life when I may not have been able to. You're capable of more than you, and everyone else, think. As you've just displayed."
The two friends shared a brief laugh before Dex continued. "We make a good team."
"We do," Biana agreed, meeting Dex's warm gaze. "Tam would be proud. Of both of us."
"Yeah..." It was Dex's turn to look at their hands. He lightly rubbed his thumb over the front side of her knuckles. "I miss him."
"Me too," she swallowed. "But you've made it easier... for both of us." Biana put her free hand over Phillip, who squirmed as if he were in agreement.
Dex smiled sadly but didn't reply, instead changing the subject, "Let's take care of your hand. Do you want me to take you to the hospital wing, or-"
"Could we do it here, instead?" she begged. "I think we should keep this secret."
"What about Juline? Don't you want her arrested?" he asked in surprise, eyebrows raised in alarm.
She shook her head, "We don't want to damage our relations with the Black Swan in any way, and besides, I don't want anyone to find out about our training."
"I would cover for you," he offered. "I'd say I was the one who punched her."
"Even so, if my parents and Fitz knew about this, they'd assign me more guards and relations with the Black Swan would be tense," reasoned Biana. "Look, all we have to do is patch up her nose, blame it on her being drunk, and ship her off to some other part of the kingdom to be on duty. Easy."
"If you're sure..." Dex said uneasily, the corner of his mouth twitching anxiously. "But your hand comes first. I'll try to wrap it so it won't show too much under gloves. I assume you don't want to have to explain the bandages."
Smiling, Biana replied, "You know me so well."
He stood up and guided her to her bed, holding her elbow as she slowly sat down on the edge, so she didn't have to put too much pressure on her injured hand. Biana then grabbed the handkerchief from her night stand and held it to her knuckles, trying to stop the blood flow as Dex quickly threw on some clothes in the bathroom. When he finished, he came out of the bathroom with the emergency first aid kit in hand, which he sat on the nightstand while he picked out supplies.
Dex kneeled in front of her as he began to clean up her hand, making sure to get the drying blood out from between her fingers and from her cuticles. He then smeared a yellow ointment over the cuts on her knuckles and began to wrap them with a bandage. He was gentle and cautious, constantly making sure the bandage wasn't too tight or too loose, though it was hard as her knuckles began to swell up. After he finished cleaning her hand, Dex subtly flagged a maid who was passing by and requested that she bring a bowl of ice for the princess, which wasn't an uncommon request from Biana, who liked to suck on ice when she felt stressed or too warm. Dex then turned his attention to his mother, resetting her nose and stopping the blood flow, making sure to clean up the floor blood and glass in the carpet when he was done.
As he brushed the glass shards into the trash can, Dex said, "I'll bring Juline to the med bay after that maid brings the ice and the hall is clear. I'll tell them I found her passed out in the hall, and I'll request for her transfer on the basis that she's disturbing the family, dropping a hint that her being here bothers Sophie."
"Sounds good. No one will notice that Sophie never specifically said that. Everyone has so much tunnel vision right now," Biana agreed, wrapping her arms around her stomach, satisfied with herself and the plan.
Setting the dust pan aside, Dex stretched with a sigh before padding over to the bed and sitting next to Biana. Affectionately, she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, shifting to be more comfortable as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"Already been a long day," he commented, and she hummed in response. "How about we take a rest day?"
"You mean not entertain the nobles?" she laughed under her breath, knowing he was tired of obnoxious noble ladies trying to flirt with him and obnoxious noblemen getting jealous. "I thought it was your favorite part of the day, but I'm sure they can survive without our company for a day."
Dex huffed at her sarcasm and muttered under his breath, "Or more..."
"Besides, we can rest now and visit the triplets and Emyr this afternoon."
"I like that plan."
"Yeah," she yawned. "Man, I'm tired."
"The adrenaline is probably wearing off. I mean, between training and my mom, it's no wonder you're exhausted." She responded with a hum, and he continued. "You can take a nap, if you'd like. I'll wake you up for breakfast."
"I'm already halfway there," Biana yawned again.
Stifling a laugh, Dex replied, "Alright, I'll come back after I drop Juline off, okay?"
"And then you'll come keep Phillip calm?"
"Of course, you know I love spending time with my favorite baby."
Giggling under her breath, she sighed, smiling as she felt herself slowly fall asleep, feeling that she and Phillip were safe -- and not just because Dex was there. But because now, Biana could keep them safe too.