Confused by the past of the future

Chapter 2: *Jude*

I was walking through the garden as I needed a little break from my royal duties. The fresh air has always helped me think and clear my mind.

The council meeting from this morning was still lingering fresh inside the front of my mind. For some reason the council hasn't been able to agree with each other lately, and it has been giving me almost non stop headaches.

Which they didn't seem to notice or they just completely ignored it as they didn't think me worth their time. Luckily for me I had an amazing husband by my side who had been keeping an eye on me since the first time he noticed, which now almost always led to him stopping the meeting to be resumed at a later notice.

I thanked him with a quick passionate kiss on the lips today as I told him I would be going out for a quick stroll to rearrange my thoughts. He had a smirk on his face as we departed and just when I had turned around to walk away he had given my arse a smack, to which I had given him a playful glare in return, which he also knew meant that I would punish him for that later.

I could still feel his eyes on me when I was about to turn the corner to the next hallway.

Thinking about my cruel prince made me smile, and it quickly reminded me of the little creature we had created together, which was now growing inside of me.

Every time the memory of me telling Cardan I was pregnant replayed itself inside my mind I had to hide a chuckle, this time wasn't any different. At that moment he had looked at me with big puppy eyes asking if what I was telling him was really the truth and when I confirmed to him that it wasn't a lie, he had picked me up as he twirled me around inside the quietness of our chambers. To which he swiftly realised I was carrying our future child inside of my womb and put me down, as he went into his overprotective lover mode, but this time in a more extreme way than he has ever done before.

It was cute how he cared so much about it already, at first he hadn't even let the court of shadows get closer to my side than a few feet, which they didn't understand very well, as we had not told them about my pregnancy yet.

So I quickly took matters into my own hands and decided to persuade him into letting them be able to get close to me without being given a death sentence, as they were there to protect me after all. It took some time, but then I got something, because the shadows were now ordered to have at least one eye on me at all times, he didn't care which one as long as I and the babe were safe. The shadows of course wanted to know the reason behind all of Cardans fuss and when we told them the reason they didn't need to be ordered twice. I couldn't get rid of them anymore, they were always close by and with every sound I made that was slightly abnormal they came rushing over checking if I was okay.

So when I heard footsteps behind me I wasn't on as high of a guard as I would have liked to be.

"Jude, is that you?" I heard a feminine voice say behind me which I knew wasn't Lilivers. So the first reaction my body came up with as it had been almost muscle memory, was swinging Nightfell at the person who had dared to creep themselves up behind me. When I looked up to see who was at the end of my sharpened sword I wasn't able to hide my shock.

There he was, the man which I thought I had pushed out of my life standing right in front of me, it looked like he had never even left the land of Elfhame, Madoc the man who took me and my sisters in after killing my parents.

"Daughter, what are you doing, put the sword down," I looked at him in disbelief, after all he has done that is the first thing he spoke out to me.

At that exact moment I heard movement from behind him and when I looked up at the people who were with him I was confused out of my mind, the princes and Locke should be dead, murdered even, all three of them were supposed to be six foot under.

Then I saw my sisters, they were here with, him... I felt betrayed again, for the too many't time in my life, but that wasn't my biggest concern right now, but I definitely would get answers later. Right now the protection of my land and its people are my top priority.

I swung Nightfell at the man I used to call my father and he was weirdly surprised I did, making me have an easy advantage which led to me quickly being able to disarm him.

Putting the tip of my sword back at his throat I saw the surprise on all their faces, which they didn't even seem to cover up and I felt content by it, but I also noticed the way I had my breathing in less control then I usually would have had. It was one of the things I greatly disliked about the pregnancy, my shape wasn't as good as it used to be. That did not mean it was bad, but I wouldn't have been breathing so hard, like I am doing at the moment if I wasn't carrying an unborn child inside of me, which was constantly making my body ache in one way or another.

At the thought of my child my hand immediately went to my belly and at the feeling of the babe its movement I let out a quiet sigh of relief. The moment I felt that relief wash over me, it was instantly ruined by a quiet gasp coming from my sister's mouth. Everyone's heads turned to look at her, but my stare did not waver from its target, whose throat was connected to the tip of my sword.

Then I heard her quiet voice say the one thing I did not know I feared. "She's pregnant." I swiftly cried out for help not wanting to risk the baby its life today or any other day, if I was to be honest. A member of the court of shadows was probably near enough to be besides me at any moment now.

When the males of the group in front of me heard my shout for backup they moved forward in a swift motion, but Locke was being pulled back by my scared looking sister. That didn't stop the supposed to be dead princes to come at me though, Dain looked at me with his eyes full of betrayal and Balekin was looking like a madman, both were about to attack, when part of my guard, the bomb and the roach finally came rushing towards the battle between me and the intruders and it didn't take much longer for their whole party to be shackled up, kneeling on the ground before me.

The only damage they had been able to cause me was a cut to my cheek, which wasn't that bad as it only stinged a little. I had made sure they weren't able to harm my womb even though I knew Dain couldn't possibly be so cruel, knowing that Balekin was able to torture his own blood though didn't make me trust him anymore then I already did and gave me more reason and motivation to want and kill him, again.

I did not know how those men in front of me had risen from the dead or how Madoc had gotten here together with my sister, looking like they were about to walk into my court and have a party.

I wanted answers and I wanted them now! And of course good ones if possible, which I knew I would get one way or another.

I knew that this was going to be much more enjoyable than this morning had been for me, that's for sure.