First Daughter of the Moon

Chapter 21

  " First thing first," Dillus announced at the meeting. " We must come up with a plan in order to stop Marc from coming back here. We already know his strengths more than his weaknesses." 

" And that his eldest son is married to Vesta," Selina added. " The daughter of the sun." 

" There's another one of you?" a noble asked. He then scoffed. " Great, another one of you cursed children. How many more of you bastards are suppose to pop up?" 

" You better watch your tongue," Dillus said through clenched teeth. " You are speaking to your queen now and your speaking is considered treason. Wishing a queen or king's death, along with their children is considered treason. Also, speaking ill of your rulers is another rule. Now, do you want to keep your tongue?" 

The noble sat down quietly after the King's threat. Selina then cleared her throat before speaking once more. " Yes, Vesta and I are the same with the villages, but she is much stronger than I am at the moment. I do not think I can defeat her in this case." 

" And what are you useful for?" another asked. 

" Almost all of us are alike," she explained. " I can tell her weaknesses and strengths just by looking at her." 

" That is not all," Prima said. " Vesta has the same cruelty as my older brother. The love for killing people. I remember hearing her talk about you My Queen and that is why she stabbed you in the stomach at the wedding." 

" Because she was jealous of me?" Selina questioned. " Sounds about right." 

" Since she is dangerous, we must take her out first," Dillus said. " We can not have her stabbing you in the stomach once more." He immediately took her hand and gently ran his thumb over it. He wanted to protect her at all costs. He didn't matter if he died in the process.

" My King, we have to figure out what we are doing. Sitting here talking is not doing us any good," a noble said. "Perhaps Ulfic and Rowan can sneak into the palace?" 

" Ulfic and Rowan have families they want to take care of. I am sure they do not want to die in this war." 

" Why not? Being a soldier means putting your life on the line for others to live. Like us nobles," one said.

Dillus's right hand clenched into a fist. He had wanted to punch the noble in the face, annoyed of his attitude towards his wife and his friends. " Again, if you speak once more I will have Alistair cut your tongue out. I do not need you causing more trouble here." 

" Are you threatening me?" 

" I can threat whoever I want. Talk once more and your tongue would be gone." 

The noble let out a dry chuckle. " Oh, did you forget that I was your father's right hand man? You can not kill me or my family and I would pick up our things and leave this place." 

" And where would you go? The South would be bound to kill you, it is better to be here since you're safe. Are you really risking your family's life because of a simple threat?" 

" A threat will turn into something real. Your grandfather was the same way he made threats and did them. He also tried to make peace with the south's king and look where that got him." 

The King slammed his fist onto the table, echoing around the room. The nobles flinched as they watched the young King get frustrated. " Do. not. speak. about my grandfather. He did his best to make this the best place for you people and here you are talking bad about him." 

" N-not speaking bad," one stuttered. " Just...questioning his authority." 

" You did not do that years ago." The King shook his head and sighed out of frustration. " No, forget about it. What will happen is some of us can go and demand the King to surrender. If Selina is there or if we take his eldest as a prisoner, surly they would give up." 

" Good plan, but there are still some flaws. Perhaps you can discuss it with the chancellor when he comes back," a noble said. " He has better plans than us together." 

" Alright then, perhaps you are right. Then we can postpone this meeting until the next time." 

The nobles nodded, getting up from their seats and left the room. The only ones who were left were the twins and their wives. Dillus sighed as he sat down in the nearest chair. " Those nobles are quite hard to reason with." 

" The Chancellor is even more difficult brother," Leon said. " He will forget your plan and come with a new one. I understand this is hard for you with our father's death and suddenly becoming King, but you have to get your head straight. You can not keep spacing out like this." 

" He's worn out," Selina told him. 

" And he will be worn out even more than before with this war on his shoulders. Selina, you can not baby him." 

" She's not babying me," The King snapped.

" Really? Because a queen standing beside her husband all the time is considered babying." 

" Enough Leon," Dillus said. " I can make my own choices. For now, we just have to wait until the Chancellor has come back. I do not think you have met him before Selina. Here is some advice: you must keep away from him. He is not a man to be messing with." 

The wielder nodded. " I understand." 

" Now, we can head off to bed. Though, this will be on my head for a while." 

~

In their chambers, the King had been looking his plans for the war to share with the Chancellor tomorrow evening. As he read them over, the Young Queen rested in their bed, looking up at the ceiling with one hand rubbing her stomach gently. Her stomach had slowly been getting bigger, making it harder to hide. Even if she fought in battle, someone would bond to strike her stomach, that is if they could damage the palace in less than a month. 

" Dillus, come to bed." 

" I have to keep working Selina. I have to come up with another plan with the Chancellor and all the ones I have are not doing me any good at the moment." 

" Maybe resting would make you think of another plan?" she suggested. 

" No, I will only have nightmares and flashbacks." 

"Of what exactly?" 

The King closed his book before turning to her. She now turned her head to the side to get a better look at her husband. He almost looked apologetic when he started talking, " Nightmares like you dying from that wound in your stomach. I ever had a dream that our child died that night and your were dying as well, from the lack of blood." 

" That will never happen," she reassured him. 

" And what happens if it does?" he asked her. " Selina, I understand your body heals quickly but what happens when you give birth and you're losing blood? Your body can not possibly make that up quickly. You would die from childbirth." 

" Maybe death is the way to go," she muttered. 

Dillus clenched his jaw as he glared at her. " Don't you dare say something like that." 

" What happens if it is true Dillus? There have been things I survived in the past, but childbirth is already making me nervous. I mean, pushing a child out of my body is certainly something extreme." 

" It's not if you pray to the Gods." 

" Sometimes that does not work." 

" It will work," he said sternly. " I will not have my wife die right before my eyes. You already frightened me when you got stabbed. You will not this time. I need you alive so you can finally live a happy life, the one you always deserved."

The Queen sighed, shaking her head. She already knew something would go wrong with childbirth. If it wasn't her child dying, it would be her eventually.