ICE SWORD : A CURSE OR DESTINY

3- The Royal Meeting

Chris' POV-

I reached the royal court and realized how late I was. All the Chiefs and other Royals had already occupied their designated seats . I looked at my father and bowed to him before sitting on the seat closest to the King as I am the heir to the throne , the future king of the whole of Artemis . My father looked angrily at me and suggested me to sit down , he did not utter a single word of anger, but I knew this silent conversion is far from over .

Shortly after I sat, my father commenced the royal meeting by saying, " I, King Charles of the kingdom Artemis , have summoned this meeting to formally announce the commencement of the Royal Tournament of the Champions to find the one true warrior , the warrior who was born to change the course of destiny, the warrior who will lift the sacred Ice Sword and free the Kingdom of Artemis from the curse . This tournament has been held after every ten years for the past two hundred years, but no one has ever been able to pass the final level of the challenge to lift the Sword. This time I want the Ice Sword to be lifted and I want it to be you - Chris. " I nodded at my father's appreciation, after all I have trained for years for this day to come and here it's now and I'll give my best to become the one true warrior.

My father continued his speech snatching me back from my thoughts " In this tournament not only will my son Chris participate , but other Princes, and great warriors from all the other kingdoms will participate too. This tournament will take place ten days from now. It will have different levels to test the challenger's overall skills, compatibility, determination and dedication to truly be claimed as the one true Warrior , the Saviour of the Kingdom of Artemis from the ice age cursed upon it. This meeting is over, dismissed all of you except Chris, you'll stay back as you have some explaining to do" Everyone nodded and bowed to the King before leaving the Royal Court. I knew my father would ask me about my tardiness, but I didn't except it to be now.

My father walked closer to me and said in a very dominant tone like the dominant person that he is " Chris this is the first and the last time I'm letting your tardiness slide . Next time no matter what you are doing or who you are fucking, you have to be present when I summon the Royal Court . Also, all the Princes will start arriving to our castle ,and I want you to welcome them. "  "Yes, father" I nodded . My father left the court room. I thought , how do I tell you father that your son is also going to be a father and that you are going to be a grandfather. How do I tell you dad that I have a baby on the way - the baby that you'll never let grow , the baby who'll never be allowed to see this world , breath this air or to take it's first steps if you find out that the mother of my child is just lowly maid, an illegitimate daughter of her father who killed her own mother during her birth . My little baby who's growing peacefully in it's mother's womb, who's heart's beating now , will be ruthlessly killed by it's own grandfather just because it's mother has no social status - and I'll never let that happen . I wish if I could tell my father that I was late to the meeting because I was spending time with his grandchild. But that's not going to happen anytime soon.

I felt something- a sudden pulse of sadness, at first I couldn't understand what it was, but then I realised it was what my baby was feeling. Now, I could feel what the baby was feeling because the golden magic bond had already connected me to my baby just like all the other werewolf dads feel their baby's emotions while it's still in it's mother's womb even from miles away. But why was my baby sad? Did Sona say something to my baby to takeout her frustration about what I said earlier? How could she say hurtful things to my innocent little baby who's just developing in it's mother's womb. I sprinted and rushed to find Sona and scold her for hurting my innocent little unborn . I tried to follow her scent , but it did not lead me to my room , perhaps she left my room , so I tried to follow her scent even more closely and it led me to her room - which wasn't actually a room but the attic which was extremely cold and I saw her standing in front of a broken mirror with her one hand on her upper belly and the other on the lower belly caressing our baby.

Sona's POV-

I felt so good when Chris broke me the news of my pregnancy . Words cannot describe how happy I'm to carry our baby inside of me . I really thought this baby could bridge the differences between us. I thought that finally Chris would love me for real now that I'm carrying our unborn in my womb. But he doesn't, he doesn't love me at all- not even one tiny bit . He disgusts me so much that he doesn't even want the world to know that I'm the mother of his child . He despises me so much that he cannot bear people knowing the fact that he has a baby on the way with a bastard maid. All my feelings were shattered by his painful remarks. I probably shouldn't stress so much about it as I'm not alone anymore, I have a beautiful life growing inside of me , breathing the same air as me , feeling the same emotions as I am. So, I decided that I was hoping for too much and he was right , I shouldn't stress our baby over my useless fantasies. I'm carrying a life inside of me now and all I should focus on now is our baby, only and only our baby. I was still tired , but I gathered the strength to wakeup from his large bed and went to my room in the attic. The entire way from his princely room to my shabby, poor chamber I kept both my hands on my tiny belly growing our baby ,protecting our child.

I reached my chamber and stood in front of the only mirror in my room , a broken mirror, with one hand on my upper belly and the other one my lower belly and I started talking to my belly "Hey my little fighter in there, mommy didn't know that you were in there. Even though you are so little,  you are so strong just like your strong dada. You resisted and fought against so much torture that mommy went through for the past few weeks when you were in there. But you didn't give up on your mother and you fought to stay alive , I love you so much for that . Thank you so much my little kicking baby for coming in my life , for giving me a reason to live , a reason to love again. Baby, I have never loved anyone except your father but now I have someone else - and it's YOU, my little baby . " Oh you are kicking " I said while my lower hand gently rubbed our unborn and letting my baby feel all the motherly love that I can give. I love you so , so so much . I have never had a family , never had someone to call my home,  but I have you know . I promise I'll love you and cherish you forever. I'm sorry little baby that I didn't stand up for me when I was being whipped and even today when I was being hit in the stomach . Had I shown a little courage, you wouldn't have to go through so much torture . From now on, I'll stand up to my bullies and protect you forever. I cannot kiss you because I cannot bend with you inside me , but when daddy will come he'll kiss you so much that it'll even make up for my kisses. I kissed my one hand and placed it on my belly " for now adjust with mommy's palm kisses"