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THE KING IN THE NORTH 47
There was a woodpecker next to her. That was Selene's first study as she woke. The steady drumming of beak against wood assaulted her waking cognizance. What was a raspberry doing in her room? She allowed carelessly. With a meow, Selene turned to seek comfort on. Was her bed so hard or was she relatively asleep? The warm watery movement on her lids made her jump. Had the candle wax melted on her eyes? Was she bedazzle? And why did the bed tangle her so? Selene opened her eyes to see the Lord's face, his left arm slung heavily over her arms, his legs dragged her inbetween his shanks, his body in the hard rustic president and gulfing her, put away between his frame. His lips were parted slightly as he breathed. " MyLord.my Lord" Selene called Her bare legs could feel the cold morning air and the warm body through the britches the Lord wore. " Lord" she called more loudly " Go back to sleep" he muttered " It's me, Selene" she said, trying to tell him of their situation without s
THE KING IN THE NORTH 48
By now, Selene knew the pattern of the gasp. It was a high pitch wail that descended to a soft humming, also went up again. Selene sat on her bed, her chamber now holding herself and her family. Selene locked the little queen inbetween her shanks and circled her with her arms, her own chin atop the child's head. The gasp was untamed. Monotonous and pained. She wondered why the guards of the manor house could not make a skinny menial quiet or perhaps it was fright that the demoiselle may have been stunk and infected. Selene could feel the shiver creep upon her again that morning. She had seen the maid at the regale the Lord had forced her to. The girl had led a smiling Mia to the reiterating hall and promised to tuck her to bed after a bed story latterly. also this morning the riots had woken her up, with a veritably confused looking Mia coming to her bed chamber attended by a guard. The stories had come, by another aged woman that came to prepare the goddesses for the day, that
THE KING IN THE NORTH 49
She was familiar with the annoying chime. The bell close to her bed chimed doggedly with a incorrect punch. The bell was used in Riverland, when retainers were too many for delegated duties. The Sol manor house didn't have it. Selene misdoubted they would, with the mass of slaves-willing and unintentional- they had acquired from their land conquering. The council had many retainers perhaps. Or they didn't waste them on guests. The aged woman she could flash back from that night came in, two woven baskets in hand. One holding hair apkins and another a covered server. Or perhaps two. " Lady Selene" she addressed shortly and simply smiled at the youthful child. " You should have breakfast. Or perhaps the reiterating hall would be preferable" the lady asked " No, it's fine then" Selene said as she sat straighter on her bed. The mattress wasn't nearly as soft as her bed back at the manor house. She had slightly slept. The jitters she knew not its root gripped her. numerous studies ran
THE KING IN THE NORTH 50
The field was tense. One could smell the pressure long hauls down like a reek. The nursers girdled a bleeding legionnaire. Edgar gutted his brand and faced it, he'd taken it too far. " You've gone too far- my lord" the prim butler said as he came to the spar grounds upon notice. " He was unrehearsed. Not the men I need in legion right now" Edgar replied calmly " What bothers you" Nicholas asked " Nothing" Edgar replied after a light at the aged man " It's commodity" He Prodded " You know me too important Nick" Edgar breathed out as he handed the cotton back to his hand boy and paraded down from the scene. Nicholas in hitch. " The child. Her father has upset her" Edgar said Nicholas couldn't effectively hide his snort. Why would that bother the Sol king of all pressing issues? " I see. And that bothers you" Nicholas asked " further than I like. She's a child. It's only anticipated that she may bend to please Cedric" Edgar replied " And Cedric's wished are?" Nicholas ques
THE KING IN THE NORTH 51
It smelt like spoilage. Like seven day old meat. also heave and dirt. The growls from the cell was low and guttural. He goggled at it. Yes, no longer his olive barked seed. Not his funny, garrulous child. No. Her eyes shone constitutionally. The blue balls like glass, too transparent, too unrecognizable. He gulped. " She feeds?" he asked. " As you earn" was the short reply. He turned to regard at the woman sprucely. She held his aspect with a force that equalled his. " How further does she need?" he asked, looking down from the woman" So much. And better if timely. She has not important of that left" the woman told him " She can be healed, stable, stronger and better. It all lays with you Sir" she said Why would you not want to be stronger, better and insurmountable? He pained to ask, but he formerly knew the reply. It was a game of cards, she may noway be healed. May noway recover, God knows how the vicious conglomerate did it? perhaps they were made and fed from day one. pe
THE KING IN THE NORTH 52
Selene watched the hole in the cotton shirt of the carriage motorist. She was yet to decide if weeping was proper or simply smiling at the asininity of the situation A man she slightly knew. Surely she was not so sure he was meritorious of her gashes. But she had one emotion veritably complete, fear. Fear because deep in she knew this was one big Field mine that would blow one after the last Until it blew her up in it's crazy mess too. Death had a reek, she was sure now. An horizonless sour smell that left her speechless every time she allowed of how important of it she would witnessed in her little moons at the palace of HoraceO'alistair The burial has been complete with ale passed round and aged women adorned in black blankets singing a requiem. She could hardly hold her gashes as she departed unfit to take food at similar occasions How could one drink over a death? What cause of merriment did it exactly bring? The Lord was on a mood she scarcely saw him in, not the
THE KING IN THE NORTH 53
The maids outside her marshland chamber were tattling. The low tale and snort mixed with skimp cachinnations was enough suggestion. Selene dropped her arm with the soft hair mixed with scented sauces. Selene had transferred all the chamber maids down and claimed on bathing alone. The look on the high retainers face was keen to a conniving mouse, and her mate her smile was as fake as her dyed black hair. She could hear their gossip reduce to many statements before both eventually quieted down. No doubt doing further tasking workshop than making her formerly made bed. The sun was warmer than she wanted, it's shafts percolated the room she sat. The water she was immersed warm and virgin. Selena closed her eyes for a while and only breathed the sauces she had washed with. Her hair now having the lush scent. Peace, just for a moment she felt peace. The drink from the merriment that had been till dusk from the former day still want round. She knew as much from the mild chatter
THE KING IN THE NORTH 54
.thump.thump. thump. Was it her heart or a dull pounding of some carpenter? She didn't really mind. Her eyes were fixed on the white cotton. The bulk in it. The child in it. Her family in it. The Lord was by her side, his woodsy smell filled her nostrils, but not as important as the smell of myrrh, of sauces and blood. Death indeed had a reek. The head legionnaire stood by the king. Another guard she had not looked at stood by her side. A front the throne was the croaker and Diana. The menial a blubbing mess, her nose watery. Her clothes long soaked with the salty levee that flowed down her eyes. Selene could hear her hiatus but her eyes remained in the bandaged bulk. Her responsibility. She had failed. Oh she wished she could cry. But also gashes sounded to have dried up at their source. " Woman. What happed?" Edgar said, his voice laced with pure wrath The menial fell on her knees. " I don'tknow.I don't understand" she prayed with a sob " The child was left in your care!"
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- THE KING IN THE NORTH
70
Love came in strange times, in strange forms. Edgar goggled at the now fat woman on his bed, her belly swollen with his seed. He smiled, he couldn't relatively call her a child presently. But in his eyes she was still a child, despite her size. " You're back!" She yelled and rushed to him, pushing a coprolite in ceremoniously and clumsily down. " Easy now darling so you do not hurt yourselves" he smiled meaningfully and hugged her. Her frame filling his hands. She was beautiful. " Did you get my grapes? The imported bones ?" She asked as she seized his sachel and dug in madly. She lowered and looked up at him, coming up with shanks and ointments and everything she did not need. " It's not outside, don't tell me you forgot again" she pouted " Are you telling me my woman isn't happy to see me but her grapes" he asked " You're of no use my Lord" she replied and left the bag on the bottom, moving to her hair bunch where she was stitching an unattractive crooked pattern. " Isee.y
- THE KING IN THE NORTH
69
Selene sat on the rustic seat close to the pine tree. There was a mat laid before her. A dish of egg and veal sat in the plate. There was a mug of mice smelling wine and the knight by her side beamed The youthful handsome knight smiled at the queen and took her hand in his, placing a small kiss there. She had been more open to love after her fire at Kiro and with her resoluteness to not be alone, she would began seeing the youthful knight she met in city weeks agone . Her heart didn't quack when he was with her like it did for the Lord but. Selene lowered at her own studies and scolded herself. " It's a nice place" Selene said with a smile. She was relaxed, at peace and comfortable with a nice man, she reminded herself snappily. " It's my haven. I set up it times ago when I first came a royal legionnaire" the knight replied with a fascinating smile. Selene jounced " Come" the man said and led her to the mat, sitting there himself and folding his legs before him. He took a chops
- THE KING IN THE NORTH
68
Edgar goggled at her hair. It had been trolled and pulled up. The healer behind her held her hair as she voided her stomach into a pot by the corner of the roof. He'd slept exhausted. nearly like a dead body. The cold roof calming him and blarneying him to sleep further. But his mind upset. He wasn't at peace, he demanded to see Selene. As he opened the roof delirium, he met the healer forcing a mug to her mouth. She drank and rippled, evacuating her mouth into the pot. A condiment was handed her and she masticated sluggishly. A virgin smell now filling the roof. " My Lord" the healer bowed " How is she" he questioned " She'll heal. Her body is fighting a important catholicon" the healer replied " How long?" Edgar asked " She has too important of it in her, we can only supplicate she fights if out, if she feeds and drinks her drug she has a better chance" she answered Edgar jounced. The healer curtsied and left the roof. The bed the child laid was advanced, beaters had b
- THE KING IN THE NORTH
67
The sun came after the cold night. The Kiro soldiers had surrendered sluggishly. Some that defied killed without delay. Edgar had discovered that the high rank patricians were all trampers. All had been killed, burnt by the mountain with the townies watching dolefully. The townies had been too eager to accept his rulership. utmost empty with torn dresses and worn shoes. Indeed the oldest elder had thanked him for coming to" save" them. The sun was over when Edgar was ready to leave. He'd shoot further men to secure his new fiefdom, just in case any was willing to mutiny against the new leadership. Edgar was ready to leave. He demanded to return your his area first. His men were sick now, their faces grim with dirt and empty looking. He moved to the room that his family and the child slept. Alexandra was awake. " Family" he conceded and moved to the child. He shook her awake and settled her as she shocked " What did they do to you?" He asked in a gentle tale. "She.they.I
- THE KING IN THE NORTH
66
The loud voices of his men came from below his window. He had not slept a wink. His muscles sore from fighting his men all might. In the moon light. They patrolled the fields and boundaries till dusk. No legionnaire slept. They should be ready. Edgar sat on his window pane. He endured to draw blood. That of the Kiro king. long since he'd felt the excitement of a raw battle. Of force and a good fight. Not conquering weak townlets. He could taste the war on his lingo. Men would fall, but Kiro would be no more. He'd purify the land if the council couldn't. He would. He would. The pest would come a story. History told to children to avoid the night. He'd make sure of it The morning air was sticky. patches of snow drifted onto his room from the open window. His fire place raging. reflecting his feelings. The manor house was quiet. The maids and man retainers watching quietly as he and the soldiers fought all night. They knew. They knew battle was upon them. He'd heard the wails of
- THE KING IN THE NORTH
65
This was a phenomenon. One that want as awful. Edgar goggled down at the men that knelt before him Should they be guillotined or hung? He contemplated. It was noon. The sky lustrously. The room colder. Empty. Where was the child? Where was his family? Edgar turned to the red cloaked men still with the Sol emblem. " How could she have been taken without your knowing?" He asked " The lady was in her chamber. She had retired for the day. It's the morning that her hand demoiselle blazoned her missing, out steed stolen with a carriage. Her Chambers ruined" the man said with a bow How weak were his men? Indeed his men had been there, at the lair. Tarrying the night in shifts. Nothing should have gotten past them and it didn't. No bone saw his family leave. They must have known the manor house enough to steal her down so still. Was she alive at all? Alexandra would have fought, would have woken the entire palace with her riots. He knew his family that much. Six parties were trans
- THE KING IN THE NORTH
64
There was a fair girl. Her hair as white was the sun. Her eyes a blue sparkle that reminded her of her won father. The girl smiled happily. Playing with the woman next to her. A stark replica. Her mama . There was a boundary, one as thin as air that kept her out, all her trouble and cries to join the reunion unproductive. The aged woman turned to her and gestured. Smiling at her sorely. Selene woke with a jolt. Her unhappiness following her from the dream world. She could still feel the burning wrathfulness. How could they leave her? She sat on her bed for a nanosecond. Stretching her stiff branches and yawning. She could smell fresh cutlet all the way from her room. The royal kitchen last in the hall. She swung her legs over the bed and left for the restroom. Eager to submerge in the warm water. The morning was cold. The room colder as the fire had long turned to smoking coals. Selene undressed herself precipitously and buried herself in the warm pot. The scent of lavender gen
- THE KING IN THE NORTH
63
When Selene eventually woke. She was spooked, hysterical the morning would bring reality. That the Lord would leave her cold and unwanted. Alone. " What makes you sad so early child" came the hard voice Selene couldn't hide her smile. She threw her hands over the Lord that sat but her bed. Naked " Do you have a want to not walk again?" He asked as her soft body pressed to him. Arousing hia inextinguishable passion Selene turned pink and pulled down " My Lord" she said " Call me Edgar while we remain alone child" he said " I'm not a child" Selene snapped angrily, the name had come endless " You are, you haven't seen the layoffs I've or nearly the summer. You're a babe. A child" the Lord replied and pulled her to him. stroking her hair. " Do you wish to break your fast in bed?" He asked "No.my Lord.I.the retainers, they would speak ofthis.of us" she stammered " They should. I've awaited long enough to have you" the Lord replied Selene lowered at him fondly " solicitude not.
- THE KING IN THE NORTH
62
There's someone for everyone. Selene could flash back her mama 's stylish friend always said Where was her someone? In all the death and fear. Where was her someone. Selene opened her eyes. To see the sun, the face the world. She had passed outon.on the Lord. He'd come for her. She had watched through vague eyes as heslew.adead.what it was she was not sure. But he'd killed it again. transferred it to the grave yet again. It had turned someone differently. A youthful girl with unheroic hair and rotting skin. A clear mark of the pest. " What worries you" came the voice at her side. Selene jerked down. Her eyes settling on the Lord by her side She looked into his eyes. The dark balls brimmed with life. Experience. Wariness and worry. Was he bothered over her? She was certain this was the Sol king. stable. Alive. His eyes didn't stay into perpetuity nor did her ignore her. He was by her bedside. Selene pulled down, unintentional to let him see how glad that she was he was back to
