Armana's Gift

VERA

He was the missing Prince. Right there, on the bed before her. She had forgiven him and suddenly the why he needed it was so much more.

He had abused his station as Prince to get what he wanted out of females. And his words rang with clarity.

"I was a high station and I didn't respect that. I used it to convince others to my bed, thinking that if they wanted to use me, I could use them."

Yes, she could see why others would have wanted to use him. Once he reached sexual maturity, every female he met would want to father his children and gain access to the Royal House. It made him bitter before he even got to that point of his life, meaning females had already been trying to push him into relationships that would secure their rights to him. It must have been brutal.

"Are you okay, Priestess?" Reshan asked her again. She hadn't heard the first time, since she'd been lost in thought after helping Reshan put Liam in the bed.

"Yes," she sighed. "I know, I need to take it easy and be careful. I just want you to know that I didn't get into bed with because of who he is. I didn't know. I felt a calling from Armana to offer him-"

"You don't need to tell me, or even him that," Reshan snapped softly. It made her turn to him, eyes wide. Owls were normally not so... snappy. "He knows you didn't know. He got that when you fainted. Now we have bigger things to worry about, like the fact that you may give birth to the only heir of Rianda's line and she will be here in slavery."

"I could have a boy," Vera whispered hopefully.

"When can you do that rite?" Reshan asked, looking to the bowl for the pregnancy rite.

"Based on how long it's been, a couple more months." She sighed. "He was so angry at me, Reshan."

"I highly doubt he was angry at you," Reshan pulled her to him and held her close. He was older, entering the Long Decline, roughly five hundred years of steady aging until an Avium passed away. Suddenly, she thought of him more as a father then her own had ever been. "I think he's scared of what this means for you both, for all of here. Everyone is going to know who he is, at least the Aviums, if you have a daughter."

"I hadn't thought about that yet," she mumbled into the owl's chest.

"Yes, well you've had other things to worry about. A child is big deal no matter who's it is." He rubbed her back gently. "I've raised a couple myself, so we can handle this."

She nodded into his chest and fought back tears. She was going to be a mother. She wanted to rejoice and scream in terror all at the same time. She wanted to soar and she wanted to hide.

"What's the plan?" She whispered to him, praying he had one. Reshan always had a plan.

"We tell Nazani, I think. First. Appeal to her being a female. Tell her just how rare it is for Avium to have children is. She knows who he is. He told me that, though not how he knew. Well revisit that conversation later." He took a long breathe and walked her to the couch by the fire. Sitting her down, he grabbed her robe and covered her. "You need to stay warm and healthy, child."

"And after we tell her?"

"She'll hopefully help us with things we need to raise the babe. She'll definitely have the babe collared once it's old enough to be but it will be alive and healthy." He sat next to her. "We'll ask her who should tell Lornak. She might want to, or maybe have Liam do it, since Lornak gave you to him and this is a bit of his fault."

"I didn't... I didn't sleep with him because Lornak gave me to him though," she whispered softly.

"I know. I sensed the change in him after whatever might have happened. I figured you offered him peace in the way only a Priestess can. It worked, he was at least until tonight, peaceful in a way I'd never seen in him,"

"She wanted him forgiven for his behavior as a youth." She wanted to cry at the idea of his youthful years. Being Royal must not have been easy to embitter a young male before he was even really in the game to try and be a parent to make him behave that way. Not that his behavior was acceptable, but he had earned Armana's forgiveness and she knew none of those women who treated him like that would have. Armana was Juneta's older sister. Juneta's blood was in the Royal House and it made all of those who served Armana protective of the Royal House. They were, in a weird way, family dating back to their origins.

"And so, you gave him Armana's forgiveness."

She nodded, looking into the fire.

"I love him," she sobbed. "I fell in love with him, too."

"I know," Reshan held her. "I know you did."

They sat there for a long time while her wild emotions ran their course. It was hours of late night talking. They made plans and prayed to the gods together to protect the child now growing in her.

Finally, Liam rose and she watched him walk into their bathroom, ignoring them both. He had two days off, so there would be no escaping him. He would be around the slave quarters and near her. Looking at him when he came out, she realized he didn't want anything to do with her. She felt more tears well up and Reshan left with Liam to discuss plans for the day.

She cried until her heart felt sore and she fell in the bed for any amount of sleep she could get.

;font-family:'TwEl!