The True Queen- Book Two

Chapter Sixty-Six: Rayana

Rayana tosses and turns, her mind flickering in and out of visions. Most of what she saw were glimpses of her father and Tristain as they continued their affair. She also saw visions of her mother pregnant with Fallon.

"It's too soon," her father says.

"I need to have a boy," her mother replies.

"You'll hurt yourself being pregnant this soon after giving birth, wasn't your lover against it?"

"He understands the importance of my needing to have a son. My children can't go through the Queen's Trial as I did. Plus," she sighs, "he can't visit here often. Only once or twice a year in fact. Maybe not even twice."

The vision had faded then but Rayana had rubbed at her temples, trying to dig into the visions and get a glimpse of her mother's lover. When she tried, there almost seemed to be some sort of block there. She could get nothing about her mother and her pregnancies. All she would see is her father and his life. Her next vision with her father has her running for the toilet to be violently sick once she is free from it. She recalls it in her book with shaking hands.

The castle is tense. I can see it from the way the servant's faces are pale and there is a strange silence in the air.

"Another girl," my father says after mother had not long given birth to Fallon. My mother gulps, her face pale as she kisses Fallon's head.

"She is beautiful," mother says, smiling softly. When Fallon opens her eyes, my father physically recoils, seeing grandfather's cold blue eyes gazing back at him. There is silence between them for a few moments and then my father clears his throat.

"He's coming, isn't he," my mother says. Father nods his head slowly, not looking at Fallon.

"How will he react to it not being another boy?" she asks.

"I don't know," he whispers, finally looking back at Fallon. He lifts his arms and gently picks her up, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"I'm sorry little one," he sighs, "I didn't mean to act like that. You have his eyes though," he gulps, "but I'll make sure that monster never lays a hand on you, I promise." He pauses and looks up at my mother. "How?" he asks.

"What?" she gulps.

"How does she have the same eyes as my father? I thought she wasn't mine."

"She is a little bit yours," my mother finally replies. My father frowns and shakes his head.

"What is going on, Yaz?" he asks, sitting down on the end of the bed.

"I don't know how to explain it," she begins, "not in any sort of detail. It is a magic I don't understand. All I know is that I have to pass these children off as yours and in order to do that they must inherit some of your family's features. My lover gave me something, a potion," she explains.

"What?" he almost shouts. "What the hell does it do?"

"If I drink it not long after the babe is conceived with my lover," she begins, "and have sex with another man, you, the babe will inherit one or two physical features from the second man, from you."

"How can something like that even exist? Who the fuck is this mystery father?" he almost growls. "And does this mean every time you get pregnant from this man, you're going to come to me and we're going to-"

"Have sex, yes," mother replies casually. "What? You didn't mind nine months ago when I got pregnant with Fallon," she smirks. He raises an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't like me that way," she teases with a wink. He groans and rolls his eyes.