I want to recount
one odd thing that happened during that time as it may have saved your life.
The night after I introduced Shay at court I was walking, alone, in the royal
gardens. The stillness felt good after all of the bustle at court and I was
still grieving over Alena. I had just reached the royal orchards when a beggar
approached me. This was odd since the castle is surrounded by a fifteen foot
wall, which guards patrolled constantly. I was about to summon my guards to
throw him out when suddenly he collapsed and fell soundlessly to the ground.
Perhaps I should have been more wary, assassins come in many forms, but I
hurried over to him so see if he lived. As I knelt by his side he jerked
upright and looked into my eyes. I cannot remember anything about his face or
even the color of his eyes but I will never forget the power in that gaze.
“I have come to
give you a warning.”
I was shaken by
his eyes, but not cowed. “Sir, you seem ill. Let me take you to the guard
house. They will have food and wine to revive you.”
I began to help
him up but he arrested my wrist. “You have a son in his second year.”
That caught and
held my attention. “What poisonous gossip told you that?”
He
shook his head. “You have hid your first marriage well, perhaps too well. But never
mind what I know and do not know. I am here to give you a warning.”
“Speak,
then.” I said savagely, expecting some exorbitant blackmail request.
“Your
second wife, do not tell her of the child. No matter what she says, no matter
how things seem do not give her the shadow of a reason to suspect the existence
of the child.” If I had thought his gaze was powerful before it was nothing
compared to the raw intensity his eyes as he spoke these words.
Finally
I broke his gaze and looked away. He stood, surprisingly nimble, and began to
walk away. I had half a mind to go after him and demand how he knew about my
son, but my legs felt shaky as I stood and I did not know if I could face that
gaze again. Also I could hear a group of people coming out to the gardens and
did not want any chance of their overhearing anything the man said.
I asked the next
day but no one had seen the man enter or leave. Perhaps he was a dream, but his
warning stayed with me and I never told Shay that I had a son.
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