Twenty-Eight

I was in one of the gardens the next day, having found no way of seeking out Cheylin without being obvious, stretching my weary body and enjoying the warmth that radiated throughout the room, when Trayne found me. “They’re returning,” he said, darting down an isle between leafy green plants to get to where I sat, daydreaming and scheming.

“Who?” I asked, immediately alarmed. Were we under attack? I found that I wasn’t surprised; instead, my body went rigid, and I steeled myself against the perceived dangers. Later, I would look back on that moment with a sad pride.

“The men that were sent for your son,” he said, pulling me swiftly but gently, mindful of my injuries- to my feet. “Come,” he muttered, turning. I followed behind him, taking three steps for every one of his. He was overly large and his body moved quickly; he was a man accustomed to getting things done.

We ran to the double-door entry to the vast lands that made up this mansion, and Trayne swung them open as if they weighed nothing. I was certain that, had I been left to the task, only my desperation to wrap my arms around my son would have enabled me to pull the heavy, tall doors open myself.

The soldiers galloped into the entry, their horses sweating in the cold. They’d ridden them hard to bring my son back to me, and I was ready to forgive them anything if they’d succeeded in their mission.

When I saw him, wrapped in thick blankets and strapped securely to the chest of a large, muscular soldier, I nearly threw myself in front of the stampede of horses in my desire to hold him. I cried out, my arms already reaching for him, Maia squirming in her sling across my chest, and the soldier swiftly untied him and passed him down to me before even dismounting himself.

“Forrest, Forrest,” I said, muttering his name over and over again, and as my tears covered his hair, I covered his face in kisses. “I will never lose you again,” I promised, pulling him away from the troops still pouring into the gates. I cradled him, holding him awkwardly beside Maia, and started walking back toward my quarters, my whole body aching but my heart finally happy. He wrapped his chubby little arms around my neck, clinging to me, and I ached for the days he’d been away, wondering what had happened to him and what he’d been through. He was still such a tiny thing, just my little boy, and I hoped he’d been comfortable and safe, wherever he was.

“Can I- can I help you? Perhaps I could carry him?” Trayne asked, jogging to catch up to me. He towered above me, and his concerned face blotted out the sun. His brows were tightly drawn, and his eyes studied Forrest, taking him in greedily. He was looking for traces of himself in his lover’s son, or perhaps he was looking for her, and something in me warmed to him.

“We need to talk,” I said over Forrest’s head. “And we will discuss… everything. But for now, I want to be alone with my son.”

I knew it was greedy. After all, this was Trayne’s first time meeting his son, and he’d been so eager to get him back here, to safety. But I didn’t care. I had Forrest back, and I wanted nothing more than to examine him for myself, to feed him and care for him and ensure that he was really okay. And so, leaving Trayne standing in the courtyard watching us go, that’s exactly what I did.