Without love no man is a king

41.

Weeks past and their was no news of the missing princess or her child. The prince and king made a slow recovery, weeks turned to months and finally the prince was able to stand unaided again, his leg fully healed from the multiple breaks falling from his horse had caused.

"The weather is turning again" the prince observed out of the window, Yuletide will soon be a faded memory, we are in the depths of deep winter."
"She will not be the first Dreconton to carry a child in the winter months Roland. They are used to the harsh weather and their primitive way of living."
The prince nodded fiddling with Inara's socks and slippers
"Bless her. She was so excited when you gifted her those slippers Roland."
"She was. It was the only shoes she would wear, she liked the hand embroiled birds" he smiled "with her over sized knitted socks. No doubt the brute tore them from her feet when he took her. Her toes will be so cold. She has got used to having warm feet. It will be a harsh change. She must have grown larger by now father." He smiled with a tear rolling down his cheek "if my child still lives...or my wife. Her disloyalty to Cedmond and Dreconton would not go unpunished. He murdered his own wife for helping us, helping me."

"I do not know son but we have to keep hope she is still alive and growing your child. He is not due until the spring months. We still have time."
"I am going to go and train with the men father. Rebuild my strength. Then Digory and I will ride out and ask around. Someone may know something, seen something. They may tell me if I ask personally. If they see I am still looking for her. That I have not abandoned her. We will be back tomorrow evening. We are going to try the border to Kinclade. I hear rumours that the Drecontonian army have been spotted there. At the very least we can send word that they have an ally if they wished to fight back. My hope is that word will find its way to her that I am alive and looking for her."
"Very well, take a few more men with you though. To be on the safe side....I have had your crib brought out of staorage. Do you wish me to bring it in your rooms, so you can start to prepare. I know you said you did not wish your child to reside in the nursery."
"My Inara will not permit such a thing." He chuckled to himself "she was outraged when I took her to see it. She did not understand and thought I was gifting away our child, rejecting it.....I do not think I can bare the sight father. Leave it where it is for now."

Roland practiced his sword fighting with the new recruits, as well as his hand to hand combat. Taking out his frustrations on sacks of straw. Imagining his fist and sword were cutting down the man that had taken his wife from him.

"You feel any better?" Digory asked mounting his horse
"If I am honest. No. I have my fathers permission to run my sword through Cedmond if he has harmed her. I dream of it nightly, with the little sleep I do get. That and the horrid dreams I have of her suffering. My mind is troubled."
"As I'd expect it to be. We will find her Roland. She is a determined little thing."
"That she is. If she has been remarried. It will be a hard blow"
"It will not be legally binding in the eyes of our law Roland" Digory trotted along next to the prince.
"No it will not." He sighed

"You sowed your oats in lady Stephanie you can hardly talk if she has had to give it up to another man to keep herself and your son alive."
"I know" the prince nodded sadly "the thought still does not sting any less though. I just want her back in my arms. I have heard the mumblings. That this was all preplanned and arranged with her father, a rouse. That it was always the plan to return to Dreconton once I had seeded an heir in her. It is not true. In my heart I know it is not true. No one knows my Inara like I do."
"Her loyalty and love were true Roland. I had the pleasure of witnessing you both fall in love, in my stables." He smirked  "I knew before you knew that you were falling for that wild beauty."
"My father says the same." The prince chuckled