Next day Barte woke up before the first morning lights, the first thing he did was to rush to the stables to see if she was still there. He had already told his family about her and they were all extremely tense and had urged him to ask her to leave or hand her over to the king. But Barte couldn't do that. He had packed a bag of food for her and had some time during the night slid it in the room she was sleeping in. She looked very pale and gaunt, and his heart went out for her.
He just hoped that Siora left. That was all he could do for her. So, when he reached the stables, the first thing he noticed was the horse that was missing. Barte sagged with relief. The former queen had stolen the horse and hopefully left Galahar. He was sure that no one in Galahar wanted her to return. Even the older brothers of the king were kept in dungeons under very intense vigilance. This was the last thing he had done for the former queen. If she came back, he would hand her over to the king..
It took over four days for Siora to cross the mountain of Tibris and then the charmed forest that surrounded it. As she made her way out of the mountains, and through the harsh winters, she ate whatever she could get her hands on. She had to return to Etaya, but highly suspected that she was alive because she had seen Anastasia married to Ileus happily. The fact that even Iona was there, meant that Iona had escaped from the brutality of Etaya. Did this mean that Etaya was no longer at the helm of affairs? None of them had told her anything about Etaya. But it was not hard to add things up. The four days she traveled out of the mountains, she had plenty of time to plan, to come up with more schemes, but first— first she had to find her allies. And she knew where to find them.
In such moments, they had all decided to meet in one of the caves in the Northern Mountains, which bordered Silver Vales. Thanks to her husband's contingency plans, which no one ever believed. Siora was heading to that cave. The map of the route was etched in her mind. All she had to do was to avoid Silver Vales. And that could only be done if she kept far from the borders of the kingdom.
—
Rolfe and Ileus were watching their wives who had been talking to Darla continuously for the last one hour. The three were pregnant and excited. But the men—they were scared as hell, except of course Aidan. He was looking forward to the baby. Rolfe was also looking forward to having a baby when slowly he realized that his wife had no plans on handing over the child to the nursemaids or to the nannies. That's how his mother, and in fact all the royal mothers brought up their babies. At the moment both Ileus and Rolfe were sitting at his study table where several documents were spread for the crown prince to sign. And the crown prince was having wine with his brother-in-law feeling like a train coming and he was tied to the tracks.
Haldir had repeatedly told them that the mother would need relief after delivery and it would be their job to give her relief. And they had never felt so unprepared. The men would often just meet up together without involving their wives. And they would make sure that Kaizan is a part of their group because he was the only one who wasn't married. They now kind of looked up to him almost admiringly, jealously. The man hadn't found a mate, he was content with his ever changing partners and lived life to the full. But the best part was that Kaizan was making a special room for the kids in his mansion at Silver Vales. It was as if the man was more prepared than the fathers were.
"You know what?" Darla said excitedly. "I found this incredible yoga class for new mothers."
Iona and Anastasia raised their eyebrows at the new word. "And what is yoga?" asked Iona.
Darla rolled her eyes. "It is a new thing in exercises, which relaxes you. The concept has come from the human realm, but is pretty good. We must join these classes."
"Why?"
"They say that yoga helps with delivery. It eases the pain."
Anastasia was immediately all-in. "Of course, I would join. Do we have to go to the human realm?"
"No, but we can get the human teacher here," Darla wiggled her eyebrows. She looked at Ileus.
Ileus put his hands up. "I won't abduct humans for yoga classes in Draoidh!"
"Bah! Spoilsport!" Darla made a face at him.
The three started concocting a plan on how to do yoga. It was later decided that Ileus had to get some yoga magazines from the human realm.
Later that night, Ileus flashed some porn magazines to his wife saying, "You need to still learn, baby."
Anastasia was taken aback. "Really sweetheart?" she said. "After the way my belly is swelling with your baby, you feel I need to learn on how to have more babies?" She flicked his forehead.
"Ah!" he rubbed his skin over there. "It is not about baby making, it's about how to have better sex."
After staring at him for a long moment, she turned to the other side and said, "Good night!" Her husband was incorrigible. That's all. However, she also realized how edgy he had become throughout the night. She was acutely aware of his fear of having their baby. And she wanted to talk to him about it, but he was avoiding the topic. Somewhere during the night, she turned to him and planted a soft kiss on his lips. Ileus stirred and planted himself deep inside her after worshipping her body.
Next morning Kaizan was standing in the study. He had called Ileus for an urgent meeting. He was looking at the maps of Silver Vales when Ileus stepped in.
"What's with you so early in the morning, Kaizan?" asked Ileus, irritably because he had left the warmth of his wife's body to listen to him.
Kaizan took a deep breath. "There's a messenger from Galahar. Siora has escaped." He hated that woman to the extent that if he ever saw her again, he was sure he would snap her neck. And this time he was hell bent on searching for her and doing the same.
"What?" a voice sounded from the door.
They swiveled their heads to see that Rolfe was standing there. He walked up to them. "She has escaped? That's impossible!" He was sure that she would go to Galahar. And he couldn't thank his stars enough that he had brought Iona to Draoidh. With Siora on loose, he would leave Iona in Draoidh under the protection of her brother and sister-in-law, and would go and hunt her. "This is too dangerous!" he said, stabbing his fingers in his hair. "If she was able to cut through the spells, her magic has depleted, which I am sure she would regain or try to regain fast!" Unease settled in his chest.
