A Crown Of Blades(ARTK, Book 3)

Chapter 96-97

Juhna 1st,3330 A.G

Typheinne could not bring herself to let go of their hands. With each step she continued to feel the commoner's stares, the questions likely swirling around in their heads of what in the hells she'd be doing with whore's children- but she paid them no mind. Eventually, they would understand. The boys would need an adjustment period before formally being introduced to the world, and she could give them that. There were no doubt in her mind that servants would talk long before then, but that were to be expected.

  She did not stop walking (slowly, so their small legs could keep up)- until they reached the main entrance of the.... Were she allowed to call it a castle, with Nara Ashhand having been their queen so long? Would the ban around the word 'castle' still hold- now that 'throne' were no longer banned?

  She doubted it and yet.... She'd been calling her home 'the main home' since the day she were born. It would take some getting used to- just as these boys would likely needs months to understand no one would take this away from them.

  "Why are we going in there?" The taller one asked. They weren't completely clueless. At some point, some one would have told them that the lord of Kaeles and his family lived here- possibly that they looked a lot like him.

  Typheinne smiled, bent down so they were eye level and placed a hand on each of their cheeks.

  "This is where you will live- likely the rest of your lives." Typheinne said. "There will be those who will say you don't deserve it- that your bastardy makes you unworthy, but if you wish we will simply have them beheaded."

  "I don't want to behead anyone." The shorter one said. "I want to be nice. Nicer than people have been to me."

  At those words, Typheinne nearly broke down crying. The tears started to prick at her eyes, but it were one of the door guards coughing that brought her back. He would know that she hated to present anything but a strong front when around the commoners...... so he'd definitely done that on purpose, she told herself. She would command their coin keeper to add a small bonus unto his monthly salary.

  She gave him a small nod and continued through the open doors with the children; ignoring every hello she got and every smile they got. The servants would question their presence, but they would not question the orders they'd receive to prepare rooms for them. They'd help care for them like they were their own children; as Typheinne had noticed they did with hers.

She walked them straight into the small hall where her son were having breakfast alone, picking at a few slices of bread and butter while it appeared that the mere thought of anything else made him nauseous- then he looked up.

   To Typheinne- and to the children who immediately began playing with a table leg that had a mountain carved into it, pretending that their fingers were people. He looked back and forth between them, into their eyes a few times before it registered.

  No-

  But that would mean-

  "They are definitely yours." Typheinne said. "No one who sees you three side by side could deny it."

  The same hair color, same noses, chin, eyes, eyebrows- the only thing separating their appearances were twenty one years of aging.

  That meant he.....

  "I would like you permission to send people to look for other bastards on the other continents-  at the other whorehouses I'm sure you've visited." Typheinne heard the poor choice of words the second they left her mouth- but how else could she put it? It were a simple fact that he'd frequented such places, especially in the years where he'd done a lot of traveling.