Page 84 of The Moon Blessed King
‘She hadn’t been moving,’ Kassandra whispers. ‘But after the prince…’
‘He saved her life,’ Fen says. ‘I can feel him…echoes of him, still circulating through her. His intention, his hope, his desire: for her to live and to be healthy and strong. There are only a few reasons I can still feel him, and the most obvious is this: my lady, your child would havediedwithout his involvement. He saved her in your womb. His power is literally what gave her life.’ Kassandra sniffs loudly. One hand goes to her eyes, and she cries against her palm. Aniya’s bottom lip warbles as she looks back and forth between her mother and Fen.
‘I didn’t know he was the prince,’ Kassandra repeats. ‘I just…I didn’t know what he did.’
‘He didn’t want you to know,’ Fen tells her. She knows that for certain. If Elician had wanted Aniya as his daughter, he would have named her before court. He would have followed up with her after returning to Alelune. He would have told somebody, anybody. He did none of that. He chose Adalei as his heir, and he swore himself to Cat utterly and completely. ‘This isn’t what Elician wants,’ Fen says. ‘More importantly, is this whatyouwant?’
‘No,’ Kassandra hisses. ‘Aniya ismydaughter, mine and Aisha’s.’
‘Where is Aisha now?’ Fen asks.
‘I – I don’t know. They took us while we were at the market. Hamad’s men. We were supposed to go home but…I don’t know what’s going on.’ Kassandra’s hand drops from her eyes. Still wet with her tears, it latches on to Fen’s wrist. ‘Please, Aniyaisn’taprincess, she’s…she’smydaughter. I just…I just want to take her home.’
‘You have to be certain, Kassandra,’ Fen says. ‘Listen to me very carefully, becauseyou have to be certain.If you make this choice now, there is no going back. Your daughterdoeshave a claim. It is weak, but it could be enforced. Elicianisher father as far as the law is concerned. When he helped your daughter be born, he took that responsibility on his own. Aniyacouldgo to Himmelsheim, shecouldbe raised as a crown princess. Aisha and you…There is no reason to believe that you wouldn’t be able to go with her. She would be your daughter still, but also his. She would be his heir. But if you choose this, if you choose to refute this, then she will never get that opportunity again.’
Kassandra trembles before her. ‘She’s my daughter,’ Kassandra whispers. ‘She’s not a queen.’
There aren’t many people in the world who would withhold a crown from their daughter when it is freely given. ‘Tell me something,’ Fen asks. Aniya is staring up at them with her big brown eyes, curious but patient and sweet. ‘What would you do for her?’
‘Anything,’ Kassandra swears.
‘Would you die for her?’ Fen asks.
‘Anything,’ Kassandra repeats.
Fen nods. She places her hand on Kassandra’s shoulder. ‘All right.’ Kassandra looks at her with uncertainty. ‘I need to ask you to trust me, my lady,’ she murmurs. ‘The next few weeks are going to be incredibly difficult for you, but please…please trust me. And if you do, if you doeverythingI say…I promise that I will do everything I can to get you and your daughter back to Aisha. Can you do that?’
‘Yes.’ Her eyes flick to the door, then back to Fen. Fen supposes that between the two of them, Hamad would seem like the less honourable person to depend on. She supposes that knowledge might even make her happy one day if not for the dread it fills her withnow. She nods to Kassandra one final time, then, taking a deep breath, she stands.
She steadies herself, clears her thoughts and squares her shoulders. Aniya watches her. Kassandra shivers violently on the bed. She pulls her daughter into her arms and Fen wishes that this could be easier for her, but nothing from this point onwards is going to be easy.
Fen walks towards the door and opens it. It’s not locked. Not yet. Lord Hamad is waiting just on the other side. He raises his brows speculatively and Fen tilts her chin up. ‘Maywenow speak in private, my lord?’ she asks. He nods and takes her to a room across the hall.
‘Well?’ he asks her. He turns about so quickly to look at her that she marvels for a moment at his balance. His impatience is leaking from every pore. Fen breathes in nice and slow. She breathes out.
‘Aniya is Elician’s child,’ she confirms slowly. The smile on Hamad’s face could outshine the moon. He looks like a man who has reached into his well water and pulled out pure gold. His teeth sparkle in the torchlight. ‘Adalei will deny the claim,’ Fen continues.
‘Will you defend it?’
Find answers to questions that haven’t been asked, Adalei told her to do once.
The greatest intelligencer in all of Soleb,thathad been her father.
Fen takes another deep breath. She forces her heart to calm. She meets Hamad’s eyes and she commits herself, wholly and without question, to the path before her feet.
‘Yes,’ Fen says. ‘But as you said…Aniyawillneed a regent, and if I must focus on healing others and you mean to depose Adalei entirely…who then? Queen Calissia?’
‘The Queen abandoned her people when Anslian took the throne. The Queen will not be respected.’
‘A council then? Elician’s advisers?’
‘Do you believe Wilion d’Altas will choose our king over his bride-to-be?’
Fen bites her tongue at the question. It is one that she has never needed to contemplate. Lio has been Elician’s brother in all things. But in this…‘Perhaps not,’ she says, and the maths is so very simple from there. Without Alest, Adalei, Fen, Lio or even Calissia there to provide any voice or influence, she sees where Hamad wants to lead her. She asks the question he wants her to ask, wide-eyed and hopeful: ‘Canyoulead us through this crisis until my brother returns from Alelune, Lord Hamad?’
‘I can,’ Hamad swears. ‘I will do what I must to ensure that the proper leader guides us through this turbulent time. Adalei’s decisions have put our people at great risk. Wemustfollow King Elician’s original plan. A quarantine must be enacted, health measures put into place, barricades raised.’
‘There is a problem, though,’ Fen says. ‘I’ve spoken with Kassandra. She doesn’t want her daughter on the Sun Throne.’
