Dinner Conversation

The walk to the Gathering was unbearable as the stench of roasted meat wafted through the halls of the main house, but Rosemary was starving, and her stomach grumbled in pain.

Seeing her stumble through the hallway, Nicholas hustled to her side and took her arm in his. “Allow me. I’m so happy to see you out of your room. The fresh air will do you good.”

She breathed a hundred different ways through the nausea that gripped her. “I really don’t think so. The smells are intolerable.”

Usually, Daniel was by her side these days, but the growing threat at the border between the city by the sea and the lands once ruled by Asnamar was becoming harder to manage and required more careful observation.

Rosemary’s shallow breaths and dark eyes were challenging for a father to bear witness to. Without Daniel nearby to comfort her this evening, she looked particularly grim. “Are you taking the elixir I made for you?”

She made an audible swallow and nodded. “Yes. It’s a good sign, though. It’s a strong child.”

Reaching his arm over his abdomen, Nicholas took Rosemary’s cold hand in his and smiled. “Yes. It is a good sign. This will pass soon enough.”
He ushered Rosemary to her place beside him at the table, and the horses ran up the cobblestone path above them. Nicholas bent down into Rosemary’s ear as she rested against the bench. “He’s home.” Still pushing him away with her half-hearted attempt, Rosemary lost her will to go on without him. Just knowing that he was home safely chased away a bit of the queasy sensation.

Turning her nose away from the plate placed before her, Rosemary shook her head and looked to her father. “I can’t.”

He placed his hand on Rosemary’s, and the ancient warlock pulled a trick from his sleeve as he said a blessing over his daughter in the old language. For a moment, the dull misery of morning sickness lifted. “Thank you.”

Sitting down across from Rosemary at the gathering, Daniel could see how fragile she was becoming. The sickness overwhelmed her every waking hour, and it was rare even to see her at the table anymore.

She pushed the food around her plate like a child, and she closed her eyes before she hurriedly shoved a mouthful of food in her mouth. Every urge in her body demanded that she give it back, but she knew she couldn’t go on like this much longer. After swallowing the few bites that she could, Rosemary fanned her face as the waves of heat and sick began to creep back in.

“When are you due, my lady?” Rosemary glanced to her left to acknowledge the traveler watching her fight her way through her meal.
In her sweet way, she smiled and said, “Not for a few more months.”

After he finished his cup of wine, the man asked through sloppy slurs of his words, “And where’s his father?”

Glancing at Nicholas, Rosemary tucked her hair behind her ear. She wasn’t oblivious to the reactions travelers shot her way, but no one had been so rude as to speak it. “He’s gone.”

As the air began to heat around them, Nicholas wrapped his hand around Daniel’s forearm. “Control yourself. He’s just a drunken man. He’s of no harm.”

Agamori glanced between the two of them and spoke to the traveler about his homeland. Ignoring Agamori’s attempts to rescue him from a situation spiraling out of control, the traveler turned his attention back to Rosemary. “Well, how do you intend to take care of your little bastard without a husband?”

When the table fell silent, Rosemary hurried to her feet. “Excuse me, Father.” Whatever came next would be ugly and dangerous, and she knew she needed to be far away.

The man realized that he had offended her and quickly apologized as Rosemary walked by. “Oh, I didn’t mean nothing by that, really.”

While Rosemary fled through the Gathering Hall, the traveler grabbed at his neck as he gurgled and choked and gasped for breath that couldn’t pass through the invisible hold that Daniel had on his throat.

“Stop this, Daniel!” Nicholas rose to his feet and went to the traveler’s aid. Looking back to Daniel, the ancient wizard’s hair lifted from his shoulders, and his shadow grew long against the floor as his warlock came forward and spoke in the ghostly echo of a hundred voices. “You will stop this now! How dare you use the dark magic on a guest in my lands. Release him now or be on your way!”

“Fine.” Releasing the man from his mind’s grasp, Daniel stood to his feet and approached the traveler only to have Mage block his path.

He placed his hands up to Daniel’s chest and shook his head. “No, brother. It’s not worth it. He’s just some drunk idiot. Rosemary needs you; go get her.”

Looking over every soul in the hall, Daniel ended every whispered conversation and hushed rumor. “I’m the father of Rosemary’s child, and if any man here wants to claim otherwise, do it now.” Every dish and cup on the table shook and vibrated when his fist slammed against it, and his booming voice echoed through the whole city. “I fucking dare you to cross me.” Pointing to the drunken traveler, Daniel shook his head. “If I ever see you outside these city walls, you’re dead.”

He stomped off across the stone floor, searching his mind for Rosemary, and saw her running through the woods for the clearing. Her way through the trees laid before him like a lighted path. Every tear and cry of shame drew him nearer until he found her on her hands and knees by the brook.

Rushing to her side, Daniel dropped to his knees and pulled her to his chest. “That man is no one. All that matters in this world is the three of us.” She slid her hands up his chest and wrapped her arms around Daniel’s neck. He threaded his hand under her legs, then lifted her in his arms. “Hold tight.”

Fearing that misting would be too strenuous for her now, Daniel carried her back through the woods as he spoke to her while she buried her face in the warm comfort of his neck. “No one will ever speak to you that way again, I swear it.”

Nicholas observed from the stairs as Daniel came into view again from the dark woods. Agamori came to his side, and they watched Daniel carry Rosemary across the Great Hall, then up the stairs to the family’s quarters. Agamori crossed his arms and glanced at his father. “He wishes to reclaim his family’s kingdom for them.”

“And we will give it to them.” Nicholas turned to go back to the Gathering and laid his hand on Agamori’s shoulder. “Ask for volunteers and send them to training immediately. Daniel is meant to be a King; he cannot be contained here much longer. His power is too great for these borders.”

As he swung the door of his room open with his will, Daniel carried Rosemary through sideways, then laid her on his bed. He covered her in his blanket, then kissed her forehead. “You stay with me now, Rosemary. I will not take no for an answer anymore. We need to be close.”

Hearing her internal dialogue, Daniel shook his head. “I don’t care what people will think.” He slid his fingers through her soft, red hair and snickered to himself. “You’re already pregnant, and I’m a time-traveling monster. How much worse can the rumors be?” He traced the soft curve of her face with his fingers as his eyes followed along. Daniel settled on her eyes and sighed. “There is no reason to hide our love for each other. No one cares anyway.”

He took her chin in his hand and leaned in a little closer as he looked into her mind. The bitter memory of her attack was never far away, so Daniel snatched it from her brain forever like a man reaching into a barrel for an apple.

Rosemary searched the holes in her mind, then looked to him with teary eyes. Clicking his tongue as he pinched his eyes closed, Daniel wrenched his neck and buried it deep in his mind.

With the memory carefully locked away in the dark corner of his brain, Daniel looked back to Rosemary then kissed her knuckle. “We’re getting married.” Shaking his head at any potential objection she may have, Daniel said, “Don’t even bother trying to change my mind.”

She threw her arms around his neck when she realized every ugly memory and nightmare was gone. “Thank you.”

Sweeping his hand down the length of her head, Daniel rubbed his lips against her cheek. “I’m not a good man Rosemary, but I’ll be a good man to you and our baby. Just trust me to do what’s right for us now.” He guided her shoulders back to the bed and slid his fingers above her brows. “Sleep now.”

When her eyes shut, Daniel placed her hands over her chest then slid his hand to her belly. “Sigrid. There you are. I remember now.” Smiling down at the ancient spirit, Daniel smirked and rocked back and forth as he closed his eyes and evoked the vision of rocking her in his arms. “It won’t be long. I can’t wait to see you again either.”