“That’s mine!” The little girl appeared beside me, snatching the key.
The crow cawed again, swooping at me as I covered my head.
When I looked up again, the girl was gone, the garden gone, the crow, everything.
I sat up in my bed and looked around.
The key.
On my dresser, the music box sung when I opened it and moved my treasures aside; David's moonstone bangle, my coral earrings, my engagement ring and—phew, still there—my key. I closed my hand around it, feeling its warmth, then tucked it safely back in the box and closed the lid. But somewhere, maybe resonating from within that dream, I thought I could still hear that child giggling—like the sound was coming out of my fireplace again.
I shook the idea off quickly. If there were actually ghosts haunting this place, I was not going to go looking for them.
Outside, the sun was quite high in the sky, and despite today being Sunday, it seemed odd that no one had come to wake me. I wandered over and looked out my window, seeing Jason down in the Garden of Strategy, running about with Petey and some old rag they were using as a chew toy.
He stopped as Petey ran off to fetch the cloth, and looked over his shoulder, right up at me.
I waved; he waved back and went about his game.
He was a different kind of guy when he played with that dog, almost like a younger, freer version of himself. I liked that version—a little too much.
I turned away, shut my curtain and headed to get ready for the day.
Morgaine pulled a chair out next to her when I stepped in late to the council meeting. But, since learning she might be a traitor, I’d had a hard time pretending to be her friend, so I stood slightly behind her instead, pretending not to have noticed her gesture.
“It wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Quaid said. “At least then David can come home sometimes, since it’d explain the scent.”
“True,” Blade said.
“It’ll also explain a pregnancy if it ever happens,” Falcon added.
I realised then that they were discussing the idea of my feigned relationship with Jason.
“I say we fake a pregnancy so we can crown David now—why wait until Ara actually conceives?” Morgaine said.
“Hey, good idea, Morg,” Quaid said. “What’d you guys think?”
“I'm okay with it,” Eric said, and it seemed everyone else agreed.
But not me, because it spoiled my plan to draw out Morgaine’s motives. I shrugged when they looked at me. “Works fine for me.”
“No,” Mike stated, standing taller. “It’s out of the question.”
“Mike, they will force her to marry soon, and I can't be back there yet—”
“Why?” Mike cut David off. “All your reasons for being away make no sense, given current events, David. What's really going on?”
Morgaine shifted in her chair; I finally sat down.
“I'm with Mike on this one,” Eric said, looking at the phone. “How can we protect our queen, and our nation, if you’re keeping things from us?”
“It’s like I said.” Morgaine stood up. “What Margret or Walter or any of the Ancient Rune Readers have to say is irrelevant. Drake believes David to be the knight of the prophecy, and the only reason he didn't attack before the coronation is because, Ara might be powerful, but she is not worth a damn without that child.”
“I agree,” I said, though I didn't agree. In truth, I knew David had things to hide, but I trusted him. After all, he was the one person who absolutely had my best interests at heart. So, I’d help him keep those secrets for now, even if I didn't know what they were. “David's been busting his chops trying to find another Lilithian—trying to find Vampirie, and you guys have the audacity to question his motives.”
Everyone looked at me.
“He has nothing but our best interests at heart, and you would all do well to respect his decisions,” I finished.
“Right,” Morgaine said. “We stick to plan A; get this prophecy child conceived and get David crowned under disguise of Jason.”
“And to do that, Jason has to be Ara’s husband,” Mike yelled. “They have to wed!”
“Not if she’s pregnant first,” Morg reasoned. “They don't have to be married if he is king by right of heir.”
“But the child has to be born first, doesn't it?” Quaid asked.
“Nope,” Blade said. “As long as it’s conceived, the father will have rights to be ruler.”
“Yes, which get revoked if the child dies,” Morg finished for him.
“Right. So, again, we’ll feign a pregnancy and crown David in Jason’s place,” I said simply. “Like we planned before you started debating this, Mike.”
Mike dropped his head against his fist. “Ara, you're killing me.”
“We won’t really be together,” I said. “And it means David will inherit greater powers from the Stone, too. Who knows, maybe he and I can kill Drake together.”
Mike sat down.
“How long before we can announce a pregnancy?” Emily asked, her voice quieter through the phone than David's had been.
“A month—maybe less. Better give it about that long, anyway, since Jason’s only just arrived,” David said. “I'm not sure how the people would react to an instant pregnancy.”
“Right.” Mike nodded, pushing off the table to stand up again. “A month then.”
“Good,” David said. I knew he was happy because that would give him a month longer to do whatever it was he was doing out there. But I was sad because it meant a month longer that he’d be gone—for reasons I knew nothing of.
“Okay then.” Morgaine clapped once, seemingly happy with all this. “Then Jason will officially be Ara’s new boyfriend.”
“Ara?” David said, his voice disappearing under the crappy connection.
“Yeah?”
“Take the phone somewhere private, please. I want to talk to you.”
I felt everyone’s eyes on me as I snatched it, then flew up the stairs to the Throne Room, switching it from loudspeaker to handset. “Hey, what's up?” I said chirpily.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For covering for me in there.” He paused. “I’ve been an absent husband—left you alone, yelled at you, confessed that I'm keeping things from you, yet you stepped up to support me despite that.”
I smiled to myself. “Well, what else would I do?”