The Devastation: Unexpected Circumstances Book 7 (7 page)

“You cannot do that,” she whispered.  For the first time, I saw tears form in the corners of her eyes.  “You cannot possibly do that, Branford.  I’m a royal…you…you love me…”

“There is nothing
royal
about you,” I said.  “The only fond memory I have of you is spilling my seed on your leg, and taking your purity was transient and meaningless to me.  Now tell me where you have hidden my wife.”

Whitney narrowed her eyes again, and she lashed out at me with her shrill voice.

“You wife!”  She snorted in disgust.  “She is no more your wife than I am a commoner!  I am your wife!  You just never wanted to admit it!  I became your wife that summer when you first took me!  She is nothing—nothing!  I am your
everything
!  I will carry all of your children, Branford!  You know that is how it is supposed to be!”

“You are delusional,” I said with a gruff laugh.

“You would call me delusional?  You are the one who is obviously mad!  Who else besides a lunatic ignores his duty and marries common trash?”

I flinched as I felt my throat tighten.  I gripped my hands into fists as I moved in closer to her.

“You will never speak of Alexandra in such a way again,” I said with absolute certainty.  “And I assure you I am quite, quite mad.  Tell me where she is.”

“You will not dare harm me,” she whispered, though I could see in her eyes she no longer believed her own words.  “We are meant to be together…”

I tilted my head to one side and then ran my hand through my hair.  I sighed heavily and rubbed the fingers of my free hand into my eye sockets before I took out my sword, lay it across Whitney’s belly, and slowly cut into first her dress and then her skin.  She gasped, tilted her head back and let out a long, anguished wail as she writhed in pain.  I sheathed my sword and pried open the cut with my fingers.

“Where is she?” I screamed one final time.  The horses started slightly, and Whitney cried out as the ropes were pulled tight, stretching her limbs.  She looked up at me in disbelief, anger, and pain.

“She is in Sterling Castle!” Whitney finally cried out through her tears.  “She is surrounded by guards, and I hope they have ruined her for you!”

I took a handful of steps close to her and leaned over her face.

“Swear on your life?” I asked.

“Yes!” She growled back up at me.  There was no lie in her eyes.

“Good,” I murmured.  I rose and called out to the four men who stood at the flanks of the horses with swords in hand.  “Now!”

Each man held his sword high before bringing the flat edge down on the horse’s rump.  The horses whinnied, stamped, and ran.  The ropes tightened, pulled to the very end of each of Whitney’s limbs, and then tore them from her body.

Her screams did not stop for some time as she lay there on the ground, armless and legless.  The blood flowed from the holes in her body and into the dry grass of the field.  I approached her, and her glassy eyes gazed at me.  Blood trickled from the edge of her lips.

“Alexandra is far more than you could have ever been,” I told her though I could not swear her dying torso could comprehend my words.  “She is the true royal.  You are nothing.  You were always nothing to me.”

I turned away and motioned to Erik to bring Romero to me.  I quickly stepped up and threw one leg over the saddle before I looked back out to the other men with me in the field.  I took a long breath to try to steady myself before I called out to them.

“Parnell!  Rylan!  We must ride to Sterling!  With haste!”

The horses’ hooves pounded against the road, but still we could hear the sound of rock smashing against rock—evidence of Wynton’s devices at work—as we rode away.  I turned to look over my shoulder just in time to see one of the large towers crumble into rubble.  By this time tomorrow, Hadebrand Castle would be nothing but dust.

*****

As we rode from Hadebrand to Sterling, I could not help but think of the first ride I took with Alexandra.  She had clung to me with such insecurity, I could not help but feel the desire to protect her.  I had held her close to my chest, silently wishing I had not so much metal between my body and hers.  For most of the ride, I thought of taking her body on our wedding night.

And then I had not done so.

I wanted to.  It had been my right.  I surprised even myself when I did not just slow down and take her anyway, but the look in her eyes made me stop.  She had been terrified of me.  I knew immediately that I did not want a wife who feared me.  I did not want this young, precious girl to dread my presence in our rooms, but rather I wanted her to desire me as I desired her.

Over the next few days, I had thought I was going to lose all semblance of sanity in my unrequited lust.  By the time we had actually consummated our marriage, it ended up being one of the most incredible experiences of my life, and each moment with her since then had only increased those thoughts.

I knew I had made the gravest mistakes during our time together, many of which were not even known to my wife.  Making war without a full understanding of my enemy’s capabilities had been foolish at best, and that had set the stage for the rest of my downfall.  For the first time, I had let my guard down and allowed someone I did not know close to my family—and Alexandra had paid dearly for it.  I did not keep Alexandra close to me the one time she needed me to do so.  My downfall had been the downfall of my wife as well as all of Silverhelm.  Though I thought at the time I was doing what was best for my family and my kingdom, I knew now how wrong I had been.

I wanted to do better—both by Alexandra and my people—but I had no one left to guide me.  Camden had tried to make me understand so many times, and I had refused to listen to his advice.  He had coddled me, I knew this now, and when I desperately needed him, he was no longer there.

My introspections were cut short as the broken walls of Sterling Castle came into view.

There were forces guarding the front entrance though only very few.  Most of the men there appeared to be carpenters and masons though what they were doing there I still didn’t know.  The east tower was completely gone, and nothing but the rubble from the structure itself, furniture, and similar items seemed to be left.  We easily disposed of the men and entered the castle through the hole where the tower used to be, immediately beginning our search.  The upper rooms were cold and empty, and I tried not to stare too long at the bed where Alexandra and I had spent our first night after our wedding.  I knew this castle like the back of my hand, and soon all the main rooms had been searched, save one.

Parnell joined me as we approached the great hall that had served as a meeting place for my father and his small court when he was Lord of Sterling.  Parnell dispatched two men to guard the outer doorway, and we both entered the large room.

“Alexandra!” I screamed out.

There was a small part deep inside of me that knew I was near my breaking point.  It was the part of me that never actually left the hiding place below the bench seat where I was entombed while my mother was brutalized.  That part of me was trying to pull the rest of me back down into the darkness again—close the lid and seal me up tight so nothing could touch me.  Nothing.  No one.  If I did not find her, that was where I would go—deep inside of myself—and I would likely never return.

I had never spoken to Alexandra or to anyone else about it, but that was exactly what I had done for a time as a child.  After being taken to Sawyer and finding out how my parents had died, I had shut myself off from everyone and everything.  I did not eat, or speak, or hear those around me.  I did not even see anyone else as they tried to engage me in conversation or activity.  I existed completely inside myself.  Only Ida and her cries for me managed to bring me back.

Ida no longer needed her older brother, and if Alexandra was…

I did not dare think of it.

The great hall in Sterling Castle was modest and had never held actual thrones when the Sterling family occupied it.  My father was a lord and a duke, not a king.  Now, though, there was a throne sitting on its own in the center at the end of the hall.  The same carved benches I recalled from my youth sat along the sides of the walls, but little else adorned the room.

Between two of the benches was a small door with a heavy bar across it.  I knew exactly where it led though I could scarcely believe Whitney would have gone so far as to put my wife in the actual dungeon.

Of course she would have.

The skin of my arm rose in gooseflesh at the thought though I was still covered by heavy leather and chainmail.  I quickly reached for the handle of the door as Parnell yelled at the other guards to secure the rest of the area.  Beyond the door was a dark, narrow staircase on which I had trod only a handful of times in my life.  Royalty did not venture down here if it could be avoided.  I had to pull a torch from the wall at the bottom of the stairs to see my way down the dank corridor.  With the torchlight flickering, casting eerie shadows, we turned the corner and approached the many barred doors of the Sterling Castle dungeon.

And that is when I heard Alexandra scream.

I did not know whether my heart beat faster from elation or terror.

Though I had never heard such a sound come from Alexandra’s throat, I knew immediately that it was her.  I did not know if it was the quality of her voice, the intonation, or perhaps just blind faith, but I knew my wife was there and crying out in pain.

She lives.

Nearly falling down the next set of steep stairs in the process, I raced as fast as I could toward the sound of her voice.  I could hear and feel Parnell behind me as I rounded the corner and looked upon the rows of barred doors.  Parnell was calling out to me—warning me to be cautious—but I barely heard his words in my haste.  Alexandra was near, and she needed me.  There was nothing and no one that could have slowed my pace.

The door toward the end of the dark corridor was partially open, and I could see flickering light coming from inside.  I had to brace my heels into the dirt floor in order to stop as I turned from the hallway to the entrance to the cell.  I shoved the door open, and my gaze fell on the two figures at the far side of the room.

One was Alexandra.  She lay on the floor near the back wall on a bed of squalid, old straw with her legs curled up and her knees at her chest.  Even as I entered, she cried out again, her body shaking with what appeared to be the sheer exertion of the scream.

The other figure was a guard with his back to me.  He knelt on the ground in front of her, and his hands reached out to grab at her as she cried out.  With my hand still grasping my sword, I approached him from behind with every intention of ending his life without hesitation.

However, the way he held himself seemed familiar, and I recognized his frustrated groan, which stayed my hand.  It had been many years, but this was a man I knew well.  He turned at the sound of our entry, and I saw the deep scar across the face and the scruffy beard of the trusted cousin of my birth mother.

“Greysen!”

“My king!” he replied though his eyes showed no relief.  He turned quickly back to Alexandra.  “My king…I think…I believe the child is coming.”

As if on cue, Alexandra cried out.  The sound was long and low, and Alexandra’s arms wrapped around her bulging stomach as she screamed.  I almost pushed Greysen to the ground as I first knelt beside my wife and then lay myself next to her on the straw so I could reach her better.  I held either side of her tear-stained face and made her look at me.

“Alexandra,” I whispered.  I watched her eyes go wide before she burst into fresh tears.

“Branford!  Branford!” she cried out.  “Are you really here?  Truly?  Am I not dreaming?”

“I am here, my wife,” I said softly.

Alexandra seemed about to say something when she let out another long wail.  I turned to Parnell.

“What do we need to do?” I asked him.

Parnell took a step backwards and placed his hand over his breastplate.

“Do?” he asked, sounding stunned.  “What do you mean
do
?”

“The child is coming!  Shouldn’t we do something?”

“I have no idea!” Parnell replied.

“But you fathered a child with my sister!”

“Then ask me how Emma was fathered, not how she was born!” he yelled back.  “I was not present when she came into the world!”

“How can you not know—”

“Edith,” Greysen said, interrupting.  I looked at him for an explanation.  Greysen nodded emphatically.  “She had been a handmaid to Princess Whitney but now works in the kitchen here in Sterling.  Edith has had her own children, and she has been at the births of others.  She will know what to do.”

I had no idea who this Edith was, but as Alexandra cried out again, I was not about to reject any form of help.  I wondered if she was one of the handmaids Alexandra would remember from her days as Whitney’s servant.

“Where is she?”

“I will find her,” he replied and quickly hurried out of the cell, relief showing itself in his expression as he crossed under the arch of the doorway.  I yelled after him to be quick before turning back to my pained wife.

Alexandra panted, and trails of sweat ran down from her hairline and mixed with her tears.  She reached out, grabbing onto my forearms and squeezing tightly.

“I cannot feel you!” she yelled at me.

“I am right here!” I yelled back at her.

“I need to feel you!”

Hoping I understood her correctly, I pulled back and yanked the chain shirt from my body and tossed it to the side.  I then shoved up the sleeves of the shirt underneath, so when she gripped me again, she could feel my skin.  It seemed to work, and as she closed her eyes, she dug her fingers into my flesh.

I almost cried out myself.

Alexandra stopped yelling though her face was still red from exertion, and her breaths were short and quick.  Distracted by a noise behind me, I looked over my shoulder to find Greysen returning.  At the same time, Parnell seemed to be escaping from the scene altogether.  I yelled out for him, but he disappeared out the door and did not return.

Coward.

I turned my attention back to Greysen and the woman who walked in with him.  She was older and careworn—around the same age as my mother would have been had she lived so long.  The woman—Edith, I assumed—pushed Greysen aside in a very no-nonsense way and headed immediately for Alexandra.  I tensed as I realized I did not know this woman, nor did I have any reason to trust her.  She had been in the service of the Hadebrand family for many years.  What if she were loyal to Edgar’s kingdom?  What if she had heard of the fall of Hadebrand and considered taking it out on Alexandra or our child?

“Well, look at you,” Edith said softly as Alexandra’s moans died down for a moment.  I watched my wife’s eyes open wide as she stared at the woman who approached us.

“Edith!” she exclaimed.  She reached out, and I forced myself to let this woman, a stranger to me, wrap my wife’s fingers in her own.  At least it was obvious Alexandra knew her.

“I have heard so much of what became of you,” Edith told her.  “I was not sure what to believe, but we will have to talk of that later.  First, we need to see how soon this baby is going to be here.”

“Yes.” Alexandra choked out the word as her body shook with another spasm.

“Are there many minutes between pains?” Edith asked.  After a moment of silence, I realized she was asking me.

“What?” I replied.

“How far apart are her pains?”

“Um…well…she’s been crying since I got here.”

“All the time, or does she stop for a while?”

“She stops.”

“For how long?”

“I have no idea!” I yelled.

The woman took a long deep breath, glared at me, and then turned to my wife.

“Alexandra?”

“A minute or two.” Alexandra moaned.  The sweat was back on her brow again though I had just wiped it away.  “No more than that.”

“Let’s see how you are doing, then.”

To my horror, the woman reached down and began to lift my wife’s skirts.

“What do you think you are doing?” I yelled at her as I slapped her hand away.

She backed off.  Her eyes widened for a brief moment, and then they calmed and settled into…amusement?  She pursed her lips and shook her head slightly.

“King Branford,” Edith said as she placed her hands on her hips, “do you think this child is going to come out
through
her dress?”

I looked at Alexandra on the ground, thought of  where I had to be in order to
put
a child inside of her in the first place, and then considered how well
that
act would have worked if her clothing had remained in place.  I felt my mouth open and close a couple of times, but no sound came out.  Apparently, Edith took my lack of response for an answer.

“Then you realize we must remove her dress.”

I didn’t know what to say.  At this point, Greysen had managed to follow Parnell’s lead and had disappeared from the room without my knowledge.  I was left alone with my wife in labor and a woman who looked at me as if I were a fool.

Perhaps I was.

“King Branford,” Edith said, and I heard a strangely familiar quality to her tone of voice.  “I know this will be…unusual for you, but I need you to promise me something.”

“Promise you?” I repeated, confused.  “Promise you
what
?”

“You want to help Alexandra, do you not?  You want to see your child come into this world alive and healthy?”

“Of course I do!” I yelled.

“Then promise me something,” she replied.

I could only nod slightly.

“You are going to listen to me,” she said, “and do everything I tell you to do without question.  If you hesitate, it could be dangerous for Alexandra and the baby.”

Whether that was the case or not, I knew one thing for sure—my wife was in pain, and I had no idea how to help her.  I was left with little choice and no time to ask for the advice of my companions or make other arrangements.

“Anything you say.” I agreed as I held Alexandra’s hand to my chest.

Edith looked me over before nodding, apparently satisfied with my answer.  I realized then what felt so familiar—she sounded like Sunniva when I was young and being scolded.  While I considered this, she removed Alexandra’s clothing almost entirely, leaving my wife in nothing but the loose underclothing that had been beneath her dress.  Even that article was raised up to Alexandra’s waist and tucked into itself so it would stay in place.

Edith then coaxed Alexandra onto her back, and she gently pushed my wife’s legs apart and peered at her.  I felt a little sick as she reached in with her hand, and I had to focus my attention on my wife’s face, pushing the loose strands of hair from her sweaty forehead and kissing her on her temple.

“She is close,” Edith said as Alexandra fought through another burst of pain.  “I can feel the babe’s head.”

His
head
?  Truly?

I tried to peer over Alexandra’s knee to see what there was to be seen, but Edith pushed at my shoulder and told me to rise.  She also stood, and her hands reached for Alexandra’s.  Edith then pulled Alexandra upright until she balanced on the balls of her feet with her legs spread apart.

Alexandra’s cries became louder almost immediately.

“She will need to hold on to you,” Edith said.  Her voice remained quiet and certain, which was the exact opposite of how Alexandra sounded and how I felt.

“Why is she in more pain?” I asked, unsure if I really wanted the answer.

“The baby is close,” Edith told me.  “When Alexandra was lying down, it kept the baby from pushing against the right place to come out.  Getting her on her feet will help bring forth the child faster.  Trust me.”

I was not sure I could, but I also had little choice in the matter.  I nodded, and Edith gave me a half smile.

“And give me your shirt.”

I pulled off my shirt and quickly handed it to Edith before I knelt behind Alexandra.  I wrapped my arms underneath hers and up around her shoulders, holding her upright as she leaned forward and listened to Edith’s instructions.  Alexandra held my arms, and again her fingernails dug into my skin.  I would have complained, but it was then Alexandra let out a long wail.

“Push!”

And another.

“Push!”

And another.

My back and chest were covered in sweat just from the act of holding my wife up on her feet.  My arms ached as if I had engaged in battle for a day and a night.  I could have sworn the whole ordeal lasted for hours though Edith assured me later it had not.  Just as I was about to come to the conclusion that I was not strong enough for this, Alexandra let out a final, shuddering cry and went limp against me.

A moment later, I heard another, weaker cry.

“Lay her down,” Edith said quietly.

I complied immediately, laying Alexandra softly onto the straw of the cell floor.  I felt as though I was being torn in two—trying to decide if I should check first on my wife or on my child.  Kneeling on the straw, I could see Edith with the squirming thing in her arms, and it seemed to me like there was an awful lot of blood.

“Branford?” Alexandra croaked.

I dropped down next to her and held my wife close to me as I stared down at the child in Edith’s arms.  As I took in the tiny form with my eyes, I felt my chest tighten and tears begin to well.  For a moment I could not speak, but then my wife implored me for news of our child.

“You gave me a son, Alexandra,” I whispered against the side of her face, “a beautiful, strong son.  Can you feel him?”

Edith rose up on her knees and held the baby out to me, already wrapped in my shirt.  I took him in my arms, instantly frightened I would hold him too tightly or drop him but also unable to stop myself from holding him first to my chest and then to place him in Alexandra’s arms.  My voice broke, and I looked into her eyes and saw that they were also shimmering with tears.  Warm, wet skin touched my cheek as I held the baby to her.