Kiera Amell thought her life was set before her. A talented Spirit Healer, she assumed that she would spend her life in the Circle of Magi healing the sick and mentoring apprentinces. That is, until a blood mage betrayed her trust and left her to pa...
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"Garrett?"
The warrior turned to Kiera. They'd finally found a Revered Mother in a larger town that would marry strangers to the town, assuming they were elopers. "Yes, love?"
"I assumed you were a noble by the way you carried yourself, but I had no idea you were the brother of the Arl of Denerim."
Garrett sighed. He knew the topic would come up eventually. "Vaughan wasn't Arl when I left, just the spoiled and bratty heir to our father's holdings. Father let us do whatever we wanted as long as we stayed out of the way. I found constructive ways to stay out of the way. Vaughan didn't."
Kiera could tell there was no love lost between the two by the way he spoke.
"He entertained himself by terrorizing the servants. He was worst when Father was away, terrorizing the Elves in the Alienage."
"You sound as if you didn't like your brother much."
"I hated him. The last straw was when he locked me in my room so he could do what he wanted with a couple of Elves he took from the Alienage. He told me he would have me killed if I told Father about it. As soon as Father returned, I spoke to the Knight Captain in Denerim about joining the Templars. I haven't written or spoken to them since."
"I'm sorry."
"If Vaughan is Arl now, that means Father was one of the casualties of Ostagar. He advised the throne after all." He shook his head. "I didn't want to have anything to do with that life anymore." He sat next to Kiera and placed his hand on her stomach. She was barely showing. She looked down and placed her hand over his. "For the first time, I'm free to make my own life with someone I love more than life itself. And I swear I will not treat my child as my father did my brother and I."
SEVERAL MONTHS LATER
"You need to rest," Garrett said, looking at his wife with concern. Kiera was wearing a full-length dress now to accommodate her changing body. And she looked weary.
"We can't keep stopping on my account."
"You look like you're about to drop where you stand."
Kiera finally relented and allowed Garrett to ease her onto a fallen tree. She placed her hand on her belly and smiled. "She's kicking again."
Garrett chuckled. "You're convinced it's a daughter." He knelt in front of her and she placed his hand when the baby was moving the most and he smiled.
"I'm a healer, remember?"
"How could I forget?"
They heard a horse and cart approaching and Garrett stood, Kiera throwing her cloak over her stomach.
