Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

T he baby was a carnivore. Of that, Malissa was certain. Like all pregnant women she had cravings, but hers were simple and consistent.

She craved meat, rare and bloody.

Following the incident, she insisted upon taking all of her meals at a small wooden table in the center of Drachenval's kitchen, where she could watch all of her food being prepared. The servants no doubt thought it strange. Perhaps they even thought her a bit mad, but Malissa didn't care.

She found she rather enjoyed dining in the kitchen. The room was like a cave. It was windowless, to keep out flies, and the only light came from the cookfires and a few torches snapping and sputtering in their sconces along the walls. The air was thick and hot, and the cooks—hefty men in aprons—were always sweating, but Malissa liked the temperature. She liked it a lot.

It reminded her of Beliath.

Malissa also liked watching the food being prepared, and not just because it reassured her that no poison had been added. What she really liked was the meat. She especially liked to watch as the butcher carved it up in the scullery adjoining the kitchen. The sight of the pink, uncooked flesh made her mouth water.

She would have eaten all her meals raw, but she reckoned that would be a step too far. Then the servants would really think she was mad, and they would lock her away in her bedchamber, where she could no longer watch her food being prepared—and no longer sneak out to visit the father of her child at night.

So, Malissa allowed her food to be cooked, though she would have much preferred to eat it raw.

Her baby would have preferred it too.

The child seemed to be doing well. Precisely two days had passed since Beliath had performed his healing, and Malissa had suffered no more bouts of pain since then. Not even the slightest discomfort. She had wanted to return to the darkstone ring that very night, or the night after, but heavy rain and thunder had kept her inside the castle.

Today, however, the storm had finally broken. Tonight, she would go to see Beliath.

There was a time not so long ago, when the thought of visiting the darkstone ring had made her heart race in terror. Now it made her heart race for entirely different reasons.

She needed to eat well. She needed her energy for the long trek through the forest. And after that…

"You called for me, Your Highness?"

Malissa turned away from her plate and looked toward the voice. Droanna was standing in the doorway of the kitchen with her hands folded in front of her, and her eyes watching expectantly.

"Ah, yes. I wanted to speak with you about something. Just a moment."

Malissa stabbed the last red morsel of meat with her knife and tucked it into her mouth. She chewed it slowly, closing her eyes while she enjoyed the savory juices. Then she swallowed, dabbed her lips with a cloth, and got up.

"Come with me," she said.

She didn't say anything to Droanna right away. The lower levels of the castle were bustling with servants and guards. Too many ears. The spiral staircase leading up into the keep was no good either. You could never be sure whether someone was just around the corner.

Malissa waited until they were in the empty corridor leading to her bedchamber, and even then, she kept her voice low.

"Droanna, you know this castle better than I do. Is there anyone here who would wish to harm me… or my baby?"

The maid let out a startled gasp.

"Your Highness! Has something happened? Did someone threaten you?"

Malissa smiled calmly.

"No, nothing like that," she said. "I just want to be careful is all. Call it a mother's protective instinct."

Malissa had not told anyone about what had happened to her. She had planned to at first, but then, on her way back to the castle after Beliath's healing, she had thought better of it. She was no longer experiencing any symptoms of the poison she'd been given, and there was no way for her to explain her miraculous recovery. She sure as hell wasn't going to tell anyone about the darkstone ring and her unholy paramour who resided therein.

Better, she thought, to say as little as possible for the time being.

But perhaps Droanna could give her some clues.

"Your Highness," the maid said. "If I knew of any plans to harm you, I would come warn you right away."

"I know you would," Malissa said. "But can you think of anything at all? A disgruntled courtier? Someone who might bear a grudge against me?"

Droanna stopped, and her face became ashen.

"Not against you, Your Highness, but…"

"Yes? What is it?"

The maid glanced nervously down both ends of the corridor. She was trembling, as though she feared the very walls themselves had ears.

"Come with me," Malissa whispered. "Into my bedchamber."

Once they were inside and the door was firmly shut, Droanna took a moment to look around the room to make sure no one else was there. Then she stood very close to Malissa and whispered so softly the young queen could scarcely hear her.

"It's Dr. Jaeger," she said.

"What about him? Has he said something?"

"No, Your Highness, it's not that, but…"

Droanna chewed her lip nervously. Malissa placed her hands reassuringly on the woman's shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"It's alright, Droanna. I won't tell anyone that you spoke to me about this. Not even my husband."

That seemed to calm her a little.

But only a little.

"Before he came here to Drachenval, Dr. Jaeger lived in the south, in the land of Esmoria. They say the citizens of that land were an ungodly people. Warlocks and witches, the lot of them. There aren't many of them left anymore. King Wulfgang's father, Wulfmar, conquered their lands and put most of them under the sword."

"But not Jaeger."

"He would have only been a boy then. He was brought back to Drachenval as a slave, but he showed such an aptitude for alchemy and such, that Wulfmar allowed him to apprentice under the previous doctor of the castle. When the old doctor died, Jaeger took over his position. By that time, Wulfgang had already ascended to the throne."

"You think Jaeger might try to harm the king, to get revenge?"

Droanna dropped her eyes.

"I'm just a maid," she said. "Tisn't my place to say who the king should or shouldn't allow to serve under him. But I've never trusted that Dr. Jaeger. There's something about that man that just isn't right."

She lifted her eyes to Malissa's face again, and leaned even closer. When she spoke again, her voice was little more than a faint exhalation.

"I think he's a witch, Your Highness. I think he's had congress with demons. Black magic." She glanced around fearfully. "He could be listening to us even now."

Malissa gave her shoulders a squeeze.

"Thank you for telling me this, Droanna. I promise I will not repeat anything you told me just now. And I have one more task for you."

"Anything, Your Highness."

"I want you to keep an eye on Dr. Jaeger for me. If you notice him doing anything out of the ordinary—anything at all—I want you to let me know right away."

"Yes, Your Highness."

After Droanna was gone, Malissa spent some time pacing the length of her bedchamber, pausing occasionally to glance at the portrait of Wulfgang on the wall, or to look out the window at the afternoon light. She did not really see any of those things, however. Her attention was all turned inward.

She had not taken Jaeger's concoctions since the incident with the poison. She suspected that was how the poison had entered her system in the first place. The only thing she hadn't been sure of was the man's motive. She'd thought, perhaps, it was because she had refused his advances several weeks before. Now she knew the real reason.

Jaeger didn't care about her. She was just a means to an end, a way for him to get revenge for what had been done to his people.

Malissa almost felt pity for him.

Almost.

If he had only tried to kill her, that would have been one thing. But he had tried to kill her baby, and for that he would have to pay.

Come the equinox, Beliath would be free from his prison, and he would make Jaeger experience pain the likes of which few mortals had ever known.

Which reminded her…

She needed to pay a visit to the dungeons beneath Drachenval. There were a few items she needed to gather for tonight.