Chapter 91 Amarien WAS pregnant?!
Daevir POV
The headache returned, and I had to rise from my throne, pacing to and fro.
Orgah's words rang in my ear like a bell.
"Amarien was pregnant."
Was?!
"What do you mean she was pregnant?" My gaze slides back to Orgah. "Didn't you run checks on her before admitting her to the nunnery, didn't you see the signs?! How could you not know?!" My words seemed directed at Orgah, but they were more to me than her.
How could I have missed it!
How?!
How long has it been?
It's been eight months now she's gone?!
Gone to that damned nunnery carrying my child.
How could I possibly miss it?!
How?!!!
Anger blazed in my eyes, and tears followed.
I wasn't mad at Orgah, no, not anymore.
I was mad at myself!!!
Orgah fell to her knees. "I'm sorry, your highness! I failed you! I felt that if she were pregnant, you would be the first to know. I was sure she would have told you about the baby, afterall it will secure her exit from the nunnery. I don't know why she hid it."
Her words even haunted me further. Like a day's vision, I recall that moment before she was taken away, while I was in the tower.
I had heard her call me in the darkness. I thought I was hallucinating at first until I heard Zephyr's voice, and I knew she was there. She had risked it all, running into the night to look for me.
Could this be…?
I felt heat flood me and quickly turned away from Zephyr and Orgah, lest they see my tears.
Could this be what she risked it all to tell me? That she was carrying my child? Our child?!
Guilt gnawed at my bones, chewing it up when I remember how desperately and painfully she cried out my name in the darkness, pleading for me to listen to her, but I wouldn't have much as acknowledged her presence in that tower. I turned and walked away.
I walked away!
From my own child!!!
I looked up to the sky, praying to the gods as Orgah did, hoping this story wouldn't get any worse than it already was.
"Where is she? Where is the child?" I said, turning to her quickly.
Orgah gave a fearful gulp. Tears simmered in her eyes. "I tried to save her, your majesty. I tried…" she burst out crying again.
And then I knew something terrible had happened.
"The Concubines were everywhere, ready to destroy Amarien, and now they have the perfect opportunity. I tried to warn her, to help her escape, but Argo ordered my arrest, and I was stripped and beaten to the point of death. Amarien was grabbed from the yard. I had hoped they would give her a lighter punishment because she carries the future heir to the throne, but I was wrong. They ran to her in one accord and whipped her."
I shut my eyes, sickened sore. "Is she alive?"
Orgah hesitated.
"The baby." I continued with such eerie firmness that it shook Orgah up. "You said she was pregnant. What happened to my child?"
Orgah shook in terror. There was something about looking into my eyes at that moment that made her life flash before her eyes.
I clenched my fist, holding myself back from bursting into rage fits. But what Orgah doesn't understand is that I'm much more angry with myself than I am with the world.
Whatever happened in that vile nunnery was my fault.
"The whips, your majesty. They were long and leather. The concubines whipped with all the hatred and venom they stored up for Amarien over the years. The baby wouldn't have made it!"
I shuddered, turning away.
Zephyr's voice blazed through the throne room equally as angry as mine. "No concubine who destroyed the royal heir will go unpunished. We will have them all lined up and destroyed!"
Zephyr turned to me. "Your majesty! All you need to do is breath a royal decree. I will see to it that all vengeance is executed on Argo and her minions! They will pay for everything they did!"
My gaze whipped around. "I see you're no longer concerned for political unrest, are you, old man?" My voice dripped with sarcasm that stung Zephyr.
"This is no longer about political unrest, your majesty! This is treason and must be treated likewise!"
"What treason is there when the nuns are simply doing what the empirical palace asked them to do?! Women are locked in there for nothing other than serving the emperor and are treated like scornful creatures. Whose fault is it but ours!"
Stunned by this, Zephyr stepped forward. "Are you saying we dissolve the Nunnery and let your father's concubine roam through the empire, taking husbands after your father?!"
"And why can't that be!" My anger cracked the air, shaking the room. "Most of these women came into the palace when they were little girls; they've known nothing all their lives but pain, abuse and suffering. To throw them in that hell hole after such troubles they have endured in this palace should be an act of treason!"
Zephyr bows his head, seeing my anger.
I heaved a heavy breath, turning away.
"There will be no executions, no trials…" I said, my gaze returning to the window that revealed the far mountain sides.
If anyone is to be tried and executed, it is me.
It's my fault.
My child. I shut my eyes as the easten wins blew into the room.
Zephyr was more stunned by my levelheadedness in the face of this news. He had no idea. I wish I were the one to pay. I wish I were the one to suffer that child's fate.
"Arrange a burial for the child…" I said softly, but got no response from Orgah. I turned around and saw an even more terrified look on her face.
"Amarien," I muttered. I could take the death of our child; how could I possibly deal with her death? "What happened to Amarien?!"
Orgah's mouth quivered.
"Speak!" My growl blazed through the walls. Even the eastern winds quieted.
"She was taken with the child," Orgah said, tears welling in her eyes.
"Taken? By who?!"
Orgah shut her eyes, quivering. "There was an intervention before the nuns could kill her."
Orgah paused, the words heavy in her mouth. The silence in the room was so palpable that you would think it was an entity hovering over us.
"Who took her?"
"Theron."
A thunderclap blazed in the distance. I shut my eyes, and my anger steamed to the surface.
"He saved her." Orgah's words shook. "He killed Argo, took Amarien in his arms and walked away."