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November 22, 1192
"Ta-da!" Gennie wasted no time between bursting through the nursery door and depositing the sturdy pink infant into Fred's arms. "Mother is doing very well, and this little fellow stopped fidgeting just long enough for us to get him cleaned up and swaddled."
Octavius indulged himself in a private smirk. With no one putting pressure on Jeda, the hope for this baby had been the basic, altogether sufficient happy and healthy--but it was a delicious irony that the one time with a man other than Ietrin had been enough to make the son that asshole had never gotten.
"He looks just like her," Fred sighed, though Octavius struggled to see it. Hollie and Gennie had both looked far more like Jeda when they'd been born; this baby, from what he could tell, seemed to take after Fred's side more. "Did she name him?"
"Not officially, but she said that since he's your first child, you can name him after your father if you like. Her only condition is that if you have another son, she wants to name him for my Uncle Sparron."
"Of course." Fred kissed the baby's brow and bounced him a little, just enough to his feet stirring in his blankets. "Hello, Rickard. Some day, your mother and I will give you a little brother named Sparron--or a little sister. Or perhaps both!"
A little optimistic, at Jeda's age--but then again, Renata had birthed Clia at the ripe old age of fifty-one, and it seemed that Ietrin had indeed been the problem where reproduction in Jeda's first marriage had been concerned. "Provided sufficient breaks between births, I think Jeda would like that."
"On our wedding night, she told me she wanted ten! So... here's hoping the next one is twins?" Fred laughed. "Come and see your grandson."
Happy to oblige, Octavius rose from the couch and waved to the little fellow. "Hello there, little Rickard."
Rickard gurgled--probably the closest a newborn could really come to smiling.
"He has your eyes, Fred." Yet another reason it was so lucky a thing Ietrin was dead and buried.
"Maybe, but he wears them better." Fred gave his son one last loving look, then handed him over to Octavius. "I think he gets that from Jeda."
NEXT CHAPTER:
July 16, 1192
"Fred!" Jeda met her lover's arms with all the speed her now-showing baby allowed. Though she'd guessed, she hadn't dared believe it was him until she'd seen him. Her father had told her she had a caller, a man, but he hadn't said who it was. Fred might not have told him. I'm the man who knocked up your daughter while she was still married to the king might not have been a valid request for civil treatment.
But, Jeda suspected her father had figured it out the moment this stranger had turned up and asked for a word in private. He'd let them have it. Fred may not have known it, but after everything, he would have done anything for her.
"I'm sorry it took so long for me to come back after I heard Ietrin had died. I just had to make sure things were all right with my family in Carvallon."
"Are they?"
"Better than all right! My younger sister has married a very wealthy man, and his connections have gotten my older sister considerable business with the knights and nobility. I no longer need to continue my... trade in order to keep everyone fed."
"Fred!" She couldn't help but exclaim his name again. "Fred, that's wonderful!"
"Isn't it? Anyway, now that that's all behind me, I... thought I'd maybe start fresh here. Maybe..." He took her by the hand. "...with you."
She squeezed his hand back. She could scarcely believe this was happening. Nearly a lifetime deprived of romance and now here it was--not enough to make up for the cruelty of Ietrin, but enough to make up for sheer lack of itself. "You don't mean..."
"I do, Jeda. If you'll have me, that is." His hands trailed away from hers and grazed the arc of her stomach. "I know you're by far my social better, but if you want me, I'll spend my life trying my damnedest to make up for the pain of your first marriage. I'll raise your child as my own, and--"
"Fred!" Had he forgotten. "Ietrin hadn't touched me since Hollie was born."
He looked up--not blinking.
"Fred, this child is your own."
A touch of red warmed his face.
"And I would love to marry you. My brother Nythran is in need of a steward; I know he'd gladly give the job to my husband."
"I... I don't know what to say." They locked hands again--both hands this time. "Other than that I am glad, and that I love you very much. I wish I could say something grander."
"No need." Who needed many pretty words when the heart came across in so few? "That was more than grand enough."
NEXT CHAPTER:
July 16, 1192
Riona and her son made their way into the front room, apparently quietly enough that her husband didn't notice. He was too busy talking to the dark stranger who'd been heralded by one of the maids a few minutes prior. As if the poor woman hadn't had enough work to do. She hoped this man was here about the steward job.
Didn't sound like it, though. "I don't know who told you she was staying here, but they were wrong. She's at our father's castle, but I don't think she's seeing visitors right now."
"Did she tell you that?"
"No, but she... she hasn't been well."
Riona shut her eyes. Jeda wasn't ill; she was pregnant. Of course, a man couldn't say that, not about his own sister. Not when he feared she'd be branded a whore. Though, from what Riona could tell, Jeda was quite happy about this pregnancy, now that Ietrin was gone.
"It's not serious, is it?"
"I don't think so, no. Anyway, how do you know Jeda?"
"I, uh..." It was a little too much of a pause for a casual acquaintance. "I used to work at the castle."
And he called her Jeda. Not the queen, not her majesty... Jeda.
Perhaps... could he have been...?
"Nythran?"
Her husband turned around, a quick grin her way. "Yes, Riona?"
"I think the only person who knows if Jeda would like to see this man is Jeda."
NEXT CHAPTER:
February 15, 1192
"Fred!" Jeda locked the door and greeted him with a hug. If there was one advantage to her status as more or less a shut-in, it was that not many commoners knew her face. She'd worn the scarf just in case, but once she'd sneaked out of the castle, no one had paid her any particular mind. "What are you doing in the area?"
"On my way to a job. Ever heard of a Lord Frandred?"
The man who'd caused Renata and Alina all that trouble some years back. In that case, she couldn't pretend to be sorry. "Nothing good."
"Yes, lucky for that. I've got to get out of this business soon."
"You do have too good a heart for it."
"But for now, at least I get to see you." He smiled, mustache curving along with it. Such a lovely smile, so kind and genuine. Very much the opposite of Ietrin's self-serving smirk. "How have things been?"
"Same as they always are. At least Dea's getting a break from it all, now that she's at the university."
"Oh." Fred sighed. "Neither of us got much of a hand when the universe dealt the cards."
"And we haven't drawn anything better since."
"No. But I'm glad you managed to get out tonight." He reached for a loose lock of her hair and twirled it about his finger. "How long can you stay?"
Jeda smiled. "Long enough."
NEXT CHAPTER:
October 4, 1187
The last of the midnight church bells tolled from the nearby tower as Atasha hurried away from the count's study. There was a labyrinthine design to the corridors in this wing of the keep, but Felron had summoned her after hours enough times that she could navigate them with her eyes closed. It wasn't an uncommon ability among female staff of her age group. Count Felron preferred his study because sex, to him, was a business transaction. It was something expected of an employee should it be asked.
So if she didn't want to find herself and her son out in the cold, all she could do was as he demanded, lie back and wait for it to be over.
The instances had become more frequent since the old count had died. Count Tertius hadn't seen a servant's body as an obligation to her employer.
Something sounded--leather on wood. A boot. A nerve in Atasha's neck twinged. It was a heavy enough footstep that it was most likely a man. Another woman would have known, would have understood, but a man...
Another step--right from the intersection of the corridors. She couldn't run. Whoever it was, they would have seen her.
So she turned around.
And indeed, it was a man. But not one she'd thought she'd ever see again. "My lord?"
He didn't look at her, didn't even move when she'd called. It couldn't have been. It couldn't have been.
But it was.
And he was heading for his son's study.
NEXT CHAPTER:
September 13, 1187
This had been a bad idea.
The note had come the previous. It had tumbled out of the folds of one of Jeda's freshly laundered dresses, placed there by someone who knew she preferred to put them away herself. The writer expressed his condolences for the death of her brother, then told her he was at an inn by the outskirts, and that he'd like to see her the next night if she could make it. He'd signed that note 'Redfreid Radfrar'.
An obvious anagram. Freddard Farrier.
It had been stupid to come. A year ago, Jeda wouldn't have risked it. But she'd been in a hazy grey limbo since Sparron had died, the only swirling lights in the fog her three daughters, and Ietrin's continued ignorance of the fact that she had three daughters. A visit from a friend--even a friend she was foolish to trust--wasn't something she could pass up. So she'd feigned ill and had the trusted nurse sleep in Hollie's nursery. She'd stolen some old clothes from her maid and sneaked out using one of the old routes Mona had made such use of. She'd hired a horse at a public stable and made straight for the inn, not speaking with anyone until she reached it.
She'd given the anagram name to the innkeeper and he'd pointed her to the room. Fred hadn't been there.
But he arrived shortly after she did. "I didn't think you'd come."
"I shouldn't have." A social call to a contract killer. If she ever told anyone about this, they'd think she'd gone the way of her mother. "Why are you here? Is it safe, you coming back to Naroni?"
"I have a job in Dovia. You'll know the details soon enough, but I must ask that you tell no one." He shut the door behind him. The precaution was a formality. If she hadn't said a word about Roderick, whose presence in the land of the living had been to her benefit, why should she mention his involvement in the death of some mark a country away? "I had to pass through Naroni, and I wanted to see you. I couldn't risk coming to the castle, but I--"
"I know. And I hate that castle anyway. I'm glad to be out of it." A smile--she got a smile out of him. It was rare she could say that about a man who wasn't her father or one of her brothers. And it was a lovely smile, but a sad one. He was happy to give her the excuse to leave, grim to know that she'd have to return. "How did you slip the note in, though? Do you have friends in the laundry?"
"I can't name names. If we ever come to live in a better time, when I no longer do what I do and you're rid of Ietrin forever, I'll tell you everything." Oh, what a beautiful time that would be. "How are you? How are the girls? I hear you have a son now?"
Jeda shivered. He would have heard she had a son. Just how much did she trust him, really? She did know his secret...
"Things have been... difficult since Sparron died."
"Of course. My apologies."
"It's fine. It's not as if you can do anything about that." Though, for a moment--for all the lives he'd taken--she thought he'd bring Sparron back to her if he could. No, not thought. Knew. Maybe she did trust him. "Fred, I have to confess something. No one must ever learn of it."
He nodded, slow and gentle, much like the old pony on which she'd learned to ride. That old pony had never let her fall. "Jeda..."
"My son--Fred, I don't have a son. I had another daughter, but I couldn't tell my husband. I couldn't take it any more." Silence. She felt his eyes, but she didn't dare meet them. She didn't wish to see his shock. "I had to lie to him, for both of our sakes. I know it's a huge risk, and that I've probably ruined Hollie's life, but..."
"But you had to." His warm, calloused finger met her eye, taking a tear with it as they parted. "She'll understand when she's older."
Jeda swallowed. Her poor baby. She looked so much like Gennie had at that age. Gennie would have hated to be a boy. "I hope you're right."
"Maybe we should run away. You and me and the girls." He sighed, knowing full well the impossibility of such a thing. "We could go to England. Greece. Turkey. Somewhere Ietrin can't reach us."
For the first time in months, she let herself smile. "That would be a dream."
A pity that they lived in a nightmare.
NEXT CHAPTER:
August 26, 1187
"There's a man here to see you."
Dania glanced toward the stairs, lip curling inward. She was the only one of Fred's siblings who knew exactly what it was he did, though he was sure the other two at least suspected something unsavory by this point. It was very rare that a client managed to trace him physically in person, instead of arranging a meeting through one of the usual channels, but on the off-chance someone did, Dania knew damn well just what sort of person that client was likely to be. Fred knew how Dania hated being kept in the dark, and he supposed that her knowing made them all just a little safer. It didn't make him feel any better about the worry he caused. "Are the children around?"
"No. I sent them out for a few things. They were here when he came, but he didn't seem much interested in them, though. Or me."
"Good." Fred never left a job unfinished. But if he did, there were those who would seek to punish him for his failure. The usual channels prevented such people from finding his family, but there was little he could do to conceal them from such parties who came to the home. But if this man hadn't made a point to study them, then he wasn't that sort. "Where is he?"
"Upstairs. He said he didn't intend to stay longer than he had to."
"All right." If that was the case, he'd want to be sure the man was gone before the children returned. If he knew Dania, she'd told them to call on their aunt or uncle while they were out--buy some more time.
He crossed the room and ducked into the stairwell, climbing at what he hoped was an assertive pace. He stepped onto the landing and met the face of his client: a man of slight build, fair complexion, and most inscrutable eyes.
"Yes?"
"Curt. Good. You'd like to get this over with just as much as I do."
Fred doubted it. But at least this would be quick. "How did you find me in person?"
"Let's just say we have some mutual friends." The man untied a pouch from his belt and spilled the contents to the floor. The amount was that of someone with considerable incentive. "I come on behalf of someone who has no issue paying so generously."
A nobleman. Or a wealthy merchant. Or a crime lord. Regardless... "And someone with a high profile mark."
"My sources tell me that won't be a problem for you." After King Roderick... he supposed he couldn't protest that. "I have no interest in making your life miserable. If you'd rather not, I'll leave right now and won't bother you again. But I'll have to take that money with me."
"No need. I'll take the job." Fred nudged together a couple of coins with his boot. Perhaps he could buy the children a horse. "Give me the details."
"All right." The man's mouth curved--not smiling, not frowning. Considering. "My employer and I have worked out the details of the procedure. If there's a part of it you can't do, don't be shy about it. We'll figure something out."
NEXT CHAPTER:
February 28, 1183
Not for the first time since he'd joined the navy, Adwyn had made port in Dania's village. And, not for the first time since he'd joined the navy, she'd scarcely opened the door for him when he'd swooped in with a kiss--and a good one, at that, firm and wet and with a dynamic tongue, but not lacking in tenderness. And every time before, given the former pirate's excellent sense of timing, had resulted in him fiddling with her laces as she'd undone his belt, bare backs hitting the floorboards in turn as they switched positions mid-coitus, their love-making reaching climax just in time for them to dress before one of her siblings or children returned.
Today, though...
"Adwyn!" Dania panted as her lover's grasp broke, embarrassed but not failing to smile entirely. "We can't right now."
"Oh?" Adwyn wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow. He must have had a view of the space behind her, but somehow he didn't seem to see. "Did the pub switch your sister to the later shift?"
"No."
"What about your brother? Has the apothecary finally had enough of having him coming into work every day in that ridiculous purple doublet?"
Dania laughed. Oh, her poor, stylish mother, having to look down from heaven and watch her son traipse around in that monstrosity of a garment! Then again, knowing Gregor, perhaps it was just a blessing that he didn't go about stark naked. "Somehow, no."
"And the children? Last I recall, Stephen runs deliveries for the bakery while Maura takes a lunch to her uncle? And while I'm sure Elene has grown since I've last seen her, I don't think she's quite outgrown her afternoon nap, am I right?"
"Yes, Stephen and Maura are out, and Elene is asleep." Rolling her eyes, she gestured behind her, only to watch him blink at the sight of a perfectly obvious person seated in the chair by the window. How had he missed him? Well, good to know that after a marriage, three kids and a widowing, she still had it. "I don't believe you've met my other brother?"
"Er... no. No, I haven't." Adwyn smirked himself back to composure, with mixed results. "Good day, sir. Captain Ladell's what they call me, but I'll let you get away with Adwyn."
"And they call me Fred." Actually, most didn't. But there was no need for Adwyn to know that. "You can call me Fred."
"I hope you can remember that," Dania teased as she escorted her fellow to the couch. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure if she recalled the last time he'd sat there with his pants on. "So, how are the high seas nowadays? I take it the protection bestowed upon you by King Moron hasn't been revoked by King Arse-Rag just yet?" She threw in a wink Fred's way, if only because he got a little wistful every time Queen Deserves-Better-Than-That-Arse-Rag came up.
"If that happens, it will be because he axes the navy entirely. He's not nearly as interested as his father was, but as long as the fleet still exists, it continues to benefit me." In terms of career, and no doubt as a cover-up for a few little 'hobbies' on the side. Adwyn reclined into a slouch with his usual brand of regal laziness. "Right now, I suspect he's thoroughly occupied with his new little son."
"Son?" Fred's brows sloped and his mouth fell open, leaving a mingled picture of alarm and worry and maybe a little relief. Dania had heard that the king and queen had only two daughters, rather spaced apart in age--and she'd also heard that one of the first things Ietrin had done after being crowned was to send his stepmother and half-siblings back to Dovia. He would have been in need of a son, and if he was like most men, he believed his penis infallible. "Is J--the queen all right?"
"So far as I'm aware. Probably someone would have mentioned if she died."
"Is she well?"
Adwyn shrugged. Dania sighed. If the news was a new prince, she doubted many gossipers had bothered to ask after the queen. "Sorry, little brother. Maybe no news is good news?"
"I hope you're right." But if she knew Fred, that wasn't enough for him to believe it.
"You seem to have quite an interest in the Queen of Naroni," Adwyn mused, prompting a visible swallow in Fred's throat. "Are you a friend of hers?"
"No. I just... find myself invested in her story." Fred laid a fingertip to the chair's arm and ran it along the grain. Dania followed its movement with her eye. Invested in her story. Tell me about it, brother. "A young girl, forced to marry a prince who isn't known for being pleasant, takes eleven long years to bear him the desired heir...
"And all the while, he never once considers that it might not be her who has the problem."
Adwyn frowned, likely unconvinced. It was Fred's luck, really--his most high-profile job to date, and he'd made the fatal mistake of forming a connection. Dania grimaced. She had to help him out. "He's done this before. He tends to take what he knows of notable figures and fill in the blanks in the most tragic way imaginable."
"I do recall you saying he was an artist--not unlike yourself." Adwyn took her by the shoulder and pulled her a little nearer. Now she could relax. If he'd gone back to teasing her--to teasing Fred like he teased her other siblings--then he'd probably lost interest. Hopefully. "The world may not sleep so much these days, but it's a lucky thing we still have dreamers, isn't it?"
NEXT CHAPTER:
