Dalliance

Chapter Thirty Three

Dawson had found a bad feeling to linger deep within his body. Something about the King never added up with him. Even when they struck their deal. Everything about his relationship with Holly was fishy-wrong especially, but curious nonetheless. Dawson had done whatever he could to discover the truth of their relationship. He knew she did not love him, but was desperate to know why she agreed to marry him to begin with. Dawson tracked down everyone he could that had an association with her; from her chambermaid to her taster, to even the dove she used to send messages to her acquaintances. And through all of his determination, he had found the only thing he had learned was that she spent most of her time looking out her window and talking to her bird that she called Wish.

Beginning to believe that perhaps there would be no one who would come forward with the knowledge he needed, he sat outside of the servant's entrance to find a man dressed in a thick robe begin to walk towards the castle.

"Good day." He went to speak before Dawson took his arm.

"Are you the healer?"

"Yes, boy...can I help you?"

"You have been looking after the Queen?"

"Yes."

Dawson suddenly drew a great idea from a page of an enemy's book. Pulling the man away as he was quite stronger than the fragile man, he took him deep in the forest. Placing him against a tree, he held a dagger towards him.

"I have come to understand that there is something abnormal about her condition...You will tell me or I will gut you now..."

"Please...if you do not kill me, he will...please do not make me."

"I promise to protect you if you tell me the truth, and now..."

"You expect me to believe you would help me? You are the one threatening me..."

Although knowing it was a risk, Dawson withdrew his weapon and placed it upon the ground. "A show of good faith. I beg you tell me. You know the truth of her coming here, you know she had a life before here. I was that life. I beg if you have any information then you will confide it."

"I cannot."

Dawson closed his eyes.

"It was not a poisoning...no poison causes that amount of blood on linens. She could also move and was without fever-only with pain. Someone harmed her-didn't they?"

The healer remained quiet.

"Please, I have never begged in my life. Holly and I belong with one another. We have not been separated since we were saplings-I am asking you to do this as a favor for a man who would give anything for her. I swear to you, that no one will know I heard such a truth from you. But if you do not speak, then I will have no choice but to find out in other ways..." He went to pick up the blade as the man threw up his hands to show he surrendered.

"If I speak this to you, you must not run to kill him."

Dawson's expression changed to victorious to fearful.

"What has he done."

"I will only tell you if you promise to not take vengeance. Promise me, boy...or we are all as good as dead." Dawson remained quiet. "If you go after him, you will not get so much as a league close without being beheaded-if you are lucky. Otherwise they will torture you. I am doing this for sweet Holly. She is a victim of a wicked fate, but if you allow yourself to be blinded by hatred and vengeance-you might as well kill her yourself."

"I promise to not take vengeance by killing him."

The healer nodded.

"Holly arrived at the castle in a fit of breathing difficulty. Her skin had been burned slightly and with the grace of oils and herbs, this was fixed within the first few days. But as months passed, she grew ill. Particularly dizziness with vomiting and a pale complexion. We had altered her diet to believe something had perturbed her stomach...but with my inspection...I discovered that she was pregnant."

Dawson's eyes came wide open.

"She had a child? Did she know?"

"She suspected but I was ordered to cast doubt-to force her to believe that it was a multitude of diet and stress. She was forced to rest and under easing narcotics, she would be in a dream-like state. She would go without knowing her growing stomach or odd cravings...her swollen ankles even."

"What happened to the child."

"The King was elated at the news of the baby. But when discovering that it was a child born a bastard, he disowned the thought." Dawson clenched his fists. "I was instructed to remove the child while she was under a deep sleep."

"You killed the baby?"

"I had no choice...I will never forgive myself...but I was told if I would not do it, that they would kill all the servants and Holly as well." He paused. "I knew the procedure would be risky at best. I used my most sterile tools and best prodigies, but there were complications. It appears she was too far along to have such an act done unto her...she slipped into a coma and did not eat for weeks. This made her ill-and by some miracle, she awoke a few months ago."

"You spoke of there being...complications...what do you mean?"

"She bled too much to survive-and yet she did. From the moment I saw her, she was an angel....too kind for the likes of this earth. And in that moment when I saw her still breathing despite what she endured, I knew it to be true. I know her life was before the King, she deserves a happiness...but keep in mind that you are not fighting a commoner, boy...you are fighting the only man in this world who has the power to order a death for any reason he sees fit."