The Lonely Warrior Queen

{Chapter 65}

Lady Arista's POV:

We were almost there.

After many weeks of travel, I finally came upon where Martin resided. My husband, I reminded myself while a shy smile.

We wedded just before we departed our home at the peaceful mountainscape. It was the most beautiful day of my life. Martin was everything I wished for in a man.

Charming, talented in the arts of love, and overall, a brave and sweet man. His words were always full of affection and the way he looked at me could bloom a thousand flowers.

My father had agreed to my hand and his army in return for his share of territory. Hence, it took a long time for me and my family to arrive at this place, as we had an entire battalion of thirty thousand men and their horses.

Our settlement remained at the mountainscape and they would wait for us to return after the war is over. I missed all my friends back there. Though I was allowed to bring one girl, Sierra, with me.

The night was dark and cloudless and thousands of stars were spread across the sky. I withdrew my fingers from the curtains of the wheelhouse and smiled dreamily. My mother, who sat across from me, looked up from her sewing work.

"I liked to be back at our old place," she sighed and put her needlework aside. "Had your husband told you where we are headed to?"

I shook my head and pouted curiously. Martin had never told me about where we were going. He told me that it was home or the place where he stayed. I did not mind where he was taking me. As long as I was with him, I do not care.

"Do you feel dizzy, daughter?" I found my mother's questioning. "Uncomfortable? Morning sickness---"

"Mother!" I shouted, with a wild blush across my face. "I am not with child,"

"You two have been at it far before you sealed your matrimony," she said, her eyes accusing. "You are just a girl. Seventeen!"

"I am a woman!" I argued, crossing my arms. "And I am already married to him. I want to be a dutiful wife and give my husband all my love and all the children he wishes for,"

My mother looked as if she was scared of the mature words I spoke. My husband and I were four years apart in age, which was far better than the thirteen years between my parents.

"Giving birth is painful, child..." she sighed, leaning back in the cushioned seat. "I have seen many die while birthing,"

I sighed and put my feet on the comfortable settee in the spacious wheelhouse. We had been in this massive pot throughout the journey now and I was getting tired of it.

I wanted to ride my sweet mare but my father refused. And so did mother. All of a sudden, we came to a halt and I shuddered. Did something happen?

However, a few moments later, I heard a familiar voice that assured me that everything was fine.

"Mother," Daryn's head poked through the windows. "We shall rest here for tonight,"

My mother nodded in response. My brother looked at me unkindly and left without a word. I puffed my cheeks. He is jealous that I got married before him.

I opened the door and was met with chilly winds, right at my face. I was pulled back into the wheelhouse by my strong mother.

"You are barely wearing warm clothes!" she hissed and covered me with a fine wooden cloak. "And look at what you are wearing! You must not go out like this. How many times must I tell you about modesty?"