IN THE WAKE OF THE DAWNW
hen Remeta ran out on her mother, Baski had tried her best to chase her, but she was no match for the fifteen-year-old. Remeta ran faster that lightening itself.
So, Baski went back to the palace and waited for her daughter to return. She went to Danika’s bedroom because she knew it was the first place Remeta would come to when she returned.
The wait was killing her. She wasn’t sure if her daughter would return, considering the way she ran out.
She tried to keep herself busy. She emptied all the leaves on the table from the new herbal leaves they picked and began grinding them one by one.
She was in the middle of the task when her door burst open and Chad entered the bedroom carrying —
“Oh, heavens! What happened to her!?” she shouted as Chad rushed to the bedroom and gently laid Danika on the bed.
Sally and Remeta entered behind him, crying. Baski was happy to see her daughter safe and fine, but she begged to know what happened. “Why is Danika in this state!?” As she asked, she hurried around to dispose of a bowl of water to make use of the bowl.
Sally forced herself to push back her pain, and in a halting, tearful voice, she relayed everything that happened to Baski.
Baski sat beside Danika and used the water to wipe the blood from her body as Sally finished telling her what had happened. The blood between her legs caught and held her attention.
Did they rape her too!? she asked herself, horrified. “Sally, rush to Argie’s house and call him here immediately,” she said.
Sally nodded and rushed out of the bedroom to get the royal medicine man. Baski dismissed Remeta, too.
At first, Remeta just kept crying and refused to go. In the end, she turned and ran out of the bedroom.
Alone, Baski quickly got up and raised the torn pieces of Danika’s clothes, but the blood was too much to be caused by rape. Her brows knitted.
Too much or too little, she wasn’t sure anymore, but she had a strong feeling it wasn’t rape.
Could it be?
No. No way; it couldn’t be, she quickly dismissed. The king was sterile.
So, what could it be?
Baski rid Danika of the remaining torn pieces of clothing, ignored all the other bruises, and focused on the blood that kept coming from her core. She examined her.
Minutes passed. Her fear was confirmed. All the blood drained from Baski’s face.
“By the gods…” she trailed off. Danika is pregnant. Danika is indeed pregnant.
Was pregnant, she quickly corrected herself, because the baby didn’t seem to be there anymore. Baski stood, shocked for one full minute. When the shock wore off, pain replaced it. How could she have done something like that?
How could she? She never expected it from Danika at all; why would she? “Oh, Danika. Why would you do something like this?” she groaned in agony. Tears filled her eyes.
Because she told Danika that she didn’t need the herbs that prevent babies, Danika thought that the herbs in her were still protecting her and she slept with another man?
Baski closed her eyes, doing her best to rein in the hurt. King’s slaves do that all the time in secret, cheating on their kings and hoping not to be found out. She just never expected that Danika would do that, too.
Was she raped by another but kept it a secret? No. If Danika were raped, Baski would have known about it.
Baski stood and disposed of the water, then poured in fresh water. She hurried to her herb bag and quickly made herbs that would stop the bleeding first. For a moment—just for a moment—she contemplated making herbs that would flush the pregnancy out completely. Already, she thought the baby was no longer there, but she could still give her herbs that would flush her system. Heaven knew that she’d be doing Danika and that child a favour.
The king would have her head if he found out about that development.
And poor Danika didn’t know that the king could never father a child.
Should she flush the baby?
But then she shook her head. She couldn’t decide like that without Danika’s consent. She really had to explain when she woke up. For now, she’d concentrate on saving her life.
Baski paused in the middle of grinding her herbs and looked at how bloody Danika’s body was. Tears filled her eyes that the people would do something like this to someone. A pregnant woman.
For now, she would concentrate on saving her life, Baski resolved firmly.
Later, when she was awake, she could get furious at her for cheating on the king and carrying another man’s child.
Several hours passed. Night had fallen.
Chad stood beside his king in front of Danika’s bedroom. King Lucien had been staring at Danika with that unreadable expression of his, and they’d been standing there for a very long time. More than an hour. His face might be unreadable, but Chad could have sworn he saw banked up rage in the king’s eyes.
The king had been coming back from his walk with the princess when Chad told him everything that had happened in the marketplace. King Lucien showed no visible reaction, but Chad had seen his muscles tense. He’d looked like he wanted to punch someone. The violence and rage in his eyes when he heard what happened to Danika were unmistakable, and it had surprised Chad.
“Chad.” King Lucien’s deep voice pulled him away from the recent past.
“My king.” He looked at the formidable man standing beside him. His eyes were still on the fragile woman who laid on the bed, every inch of her body bandaged.
“You ate from the silver bowls too, didn’t you?” he asked calmly.
“Yes, Your highness. Many times.” Chad groaned, still feeling guilty. He had felt no anger for King Cone’s daughter—not even the first day the king collared her. And today, he was relieved that he had never hurt this innocent woman fighting for her life a few feet away from them.
The king’s throat worked as he swallowed tightly. Chad wondered what was going through his mind. Whatever it was, the king hadn’t stopped staring at Danika for the past half an hour.
“The two women?” King Lucien asked.
“Zenia and Coria, the perpetrators? They are in the dungeon, my king.”
He nodded. “The crowd?” he questioned, just as calmly.
Chad walked to the window of the bedroom and looked out of it. The crowd was still at the gate. Almost all the people were sitting at the palace and refused to move away—those who took part in beating her up and those who did not.
The news about Danika’s goodness and innocence had spread round the town, and the people felt bad about what happened to her. They refused to leave until she was well again. It had been hours. No one had left the crowd to eat or do anything. The people of Salem were used to starving, so food wasn’t their problem. Instead of getting smaller, the crowd kept growing. Children sat with their parents, and most of them were still crying.
Chad walked back to where the king stood and shook his head. “The crowd is still here, my king.”
He remained silent. Time dragged by. So much time.
Chad didn’t know how to ask, but he had to. “Isn’t it time to leave, Your Highness?” He rushed on when the king said nothing. “It-It’s courting week, and it wouldn’t look good that you’re here. The princess might find it disrespectful and offensive; she might take it the wrong way because your spare time is supposed to be hers alone during this period.”
King Lucien said nothing. Did nothing. If he heard what Chad had said, he didn’t acknowledge it.
Chad was almost sure that the king had been standing here for over two hours.
The king was still standing. The king hadn’t stopped staring at Danika, either.
“Chad?” he said at last.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You can go back to your duties now. Tell anyone and everyone who looks for me that I am busy at the moment and shouldn’t be disturbed.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“What about Vetta? Have you heard from her since morning?”
“No, Your Highness. But I heard she went out of town to see a distant female friend of hers today. She should be back any time now.”
“She did not say a word about this to me,” he reasoned in a cool, blank voice. “Did she take the carriage?”
“I’m afraid not, Your Highness.”
A pause. “You’re dismissed.”
Chad bowed his head and walked away.