The Arranged Marriage (25 page)

“It is almost time for me to leave you
Rohesia,” He said suddenly, as she held more tightly on to his
hand.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do my child, and believe it or not
but I am happy to go.”

“What?” She heard her own strained
voice say.

“Your mother is waiting for me, I can
sense her. It has become stronger today, and now I have done my
duty by you it is time for me to leave.”

“Done your duty by me?”

“I have loved you deeply Rohesia and I
always will, but now I see you happy with Ison and your own family
that is ready to arrive, I know that I have done my
job.”

“Father,” She croaked, her strength
weakening. “Don’t leave me.” She was begging.

“I will always be here for you my
sweet, always, but it is the right moment for me to leave you
now.”

“No,” She shouted, the tears starting
to flow.

“I will always be here, I will always
be looking down on you.”

“Don’t leave me papa, don’t leave
me.”

“I love you Rohesia.” Were the last
words ever spoken from her father’s mouth.

Chapter
Fourteen

The burial of her father had been
hard, but to stand here and feast on food with the people of
Ecripian in their hall, all expressing their sympathies and not
leaving her alone to just grieve was almost too hard to bear. Even
the presence of Fabian, and a select few of the Mookai who had
turned up to show their respects, had done nothing to make things
easier; especially as Fabian was forced to keep his distance in
front of his people and her own.

Yena obviously loved the attention in
her new black gown, taking the sympathies with grace. All Rohesia
just wanted to do was shout out to everyone that she could be the
very reason why her father was dead in the first place. She hated
her, with every last bone in her body, and she wished she could
just make all of these people go away so she could just
think.

Ison had tried to be there for her,
but she couldn’t stand it at the moment. She feared that if she let
him hold her or touch her in any way she would collapse in his
security and never wake up.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Yena addressed
the crowd as soon as everyone was seated, and waited patiently
before she began the traditional speech. “We come here today to say
goodbye to a wonderful man, husband, king, and father,” She looked
over towards Rohesia who had bit hard on to her lip to keep from
shouting. “We shall move forward during this time but it will be
hard for all of us,” Yena hid a sob, too obvious for Rohesia to
believe it. “And we have to take heed that he is not only looking
down on each one of us, but that he will live on in the child that
he has left with me, in here.” A silence followed her declaration
as people looked on at her rubbing her stomach, wondering if they
had heard her correctly. Ison looked over at his father who had
joined them for the burial, only shocked that this had happened so
quickly, but then his concern was for Rohesia who was already out
of her seat.

“No,” She shouted, making her way over
to where Yena stood as the gasps and murmurs came from the crowd.
“You know damned well that you,” Ison caught her from behind before
she could finish her sentence, gently pulling her off to one side.
Roscaar rose out of his chair and made his way over to Yena to
guide her out of the room before she could do any further damage.
He signalled his own wife to take charge of the crowd and ensured
that they all got out and home safely.

Rohesia waited until they were out in
the privacy of the hall before she turned on Ison.

“Why did you stop me?” She shouted as
she pushed him away from her.

“You can’t let her know yet that we
are aware of anything just yet, do you hear me? I have things under
control now can you trust that?”

“What are you going on
about?”

“Will you trust me Rohesia? That is
all that I ask.”

She went to argue further but she
noticed Roscaar leading Yena out at the other end of the hall. She
felt her legs carrying her quickly before Ison even noticed that
she had moved.

“You hateful, murdering, troll.” She
shouted as she approached Yena’s smaller frame. She didn’t hesitate
to jump on her quickly to hit out at her again and again, only
feeling satisfaction when she made contact with her, blocking out
Yena’s pathetic screams.

“Get her off me, get her off me.” Yena
was screaming as Roscaar and Ison struggled to pull them apart.
Ison managed to get his hands around Rohesia’s waist and lift her
away from Yena, holding tight on to her fighting body as he carried
her off to their bedchamber.

“What the hell do you think you are
doing Rohesia?” He shouted at her as he gently pushed her into
their room.

“She is the one who is responsible for
killing my father, I know it.” She shouted back, her heart racing
as the sobs were promising to come.

“She wasn’t here Rohesia, remember?”
He lowered his voice this time.

“That doesn’t mean she didn’t
orchestrate it. Why did you stop me?” She screamed.

“She is with child
Rohesia.”

“So am I,” She screamed at him as the
grief finally came. “So am I.”

Her sight was blinded with tears as
she staggered away from him.

“Now you have everything that you
wanted Ison, a kingdom, an heir, and a wife who has no choice to
bow down to you. Oh and lest I forget the murdering hoyden
conveniently situated next door for you to romp when you damn well
feel like it,” She was becoming hysterical she knew it, but now she
had started she just couldn’t stop. The sobs were starting to come
faster. “I have nothing,” She screamed as she leant up against the
door. “I have no one left, I have no one.” She sobbed, feeling the
pain and the relief at the same time as the tears finally fell, all
of her anger and sadness rushing out.

Ison didn’t know what to do. He
watched her helpless as she screamed at him and slid down against
the door. The fact that she had told him she was with child, his
child, had no choice but to be pushed aside for the moment as he
reached out to her. He knew she was hurting, and he would have
fought a thousand men if he knew it would make the pain stop. If
only a thousand men were here.

After a few moments that seemed like a
lifetime, he did the only thing he could as she sat there sobbing
hard against the door. He walked up to her, no words, and crept
down beside her, lifting her swiftly into his arms.

Ison was worried. He had ordered a few
men to go into the Quart and question the people after the attack
on Rohesia, and he had sent them in again when they had finally
discovered the truth about the tunnels and the old mine; but still
they found nothing that would point the finger at the rebels. It
was as if the whole of the Quart were harbouring something, maybe
even secretly hoping that the rebels would succeed in relinquishing
themselves from Ecripian. None of them realising that in order to
do so, it would result in a war. He hesitated then as his thoughts
came back to the present.

He had been sitting at a table in the
empty dressing chamber next to their room since Rohesia had fallen
asleep from her tears. He had lain there with her until he was
certain she was resting and then moved out of the chamber as
quickly as he could. He knew he had been a coward by moving out of
the room, away from her; but every time he had looked across at her
exhausted frame it cut him deep, especially knowing she was now
carrying his babe. He just didn’t know how to feel. He put his head
into his hands and sighed aloud. A knock on the door made him lift
his head again and put an instant guard on his emotions.

“Enter.” He shouted out, expecting it
to be Kaya.

“I will be leaving shortly Ison,”
Fabian advised as he entered the chamber. Ison stood up in greeting
as he invited the leader of the Mookai in.

“She is resting at the moment, she’s
finally sleeping.” He advised Fabian, assuming he had come to
request a visit to see Rohesia.

“I won’t wake her. I would like to
request that you tell her I will be in touch shortly without my
entourage,” He looked sheepish all of a sudden, losing his cool
veneer. “I know it hurt her today with me not being able to speak
to her properly, even if she understands.”

Ison nodded, not knowing what to say
next. Fabian hesitated and then seemed to make a decision to enter
the room. He shut the door behind him and sat on the seat that Ison
had occupied earlier. He placed the ceremonial staff he was
carrying to one side as his cool veneer returned.

“She looks to you for a lot Ison. I
hope you are prepared to give it to her.”

The sudden statement threw Ison back
as he leaned against the window with his arms across his chest, as
if ready for a battle.

“She is my wife, I will protect her
with all I have.”

“But do you love her?” He asked with
no qualms about his directness. Ison suddenly felt very
uncomfortable.

“Like I said, she is my wife.” He
moved his foot to rest over his other, making his discomfort
obvious to anyone, let alone a member of the Mookai.

“And like I asked, do you love
her?”

“I thought the Mookai were supposed to
know people?” He replied, trying to deter the question.

“We do, to a degree, but there are
parts of ourselves that are not meant to be shown to onlookers,
they are only shown when we choose to show them.”

Ison shook his head as he knew
Fabian’s ramblings were coming again.

“What are you getting at?” He
asked.

“What do you think love
is?”

Ison laughed. “What type of question
is that?”

“Another one you are obviously trying
not to answer.” He challenged. Ison looked at him in such a way
that suggested he would prefer to drive a sword through his
stomach.

“I just find your questions a little
intrusive, what do you think love is?”

“Oh I know what love is,” He advised
as he took out his Mookon pipe. “What I would like to know is what
you think love is.” He lit the Mookon leaves and sat back in the
chair whilst he inhaled. Ison stood there, trying to think of a way
to get out of this awkward situation without offending the one
person who could cause him further hassle. He decided to answer, as
quickly as he could.

“Love is all about things I just don’t
do. I don’t do flowers or poetry or senseless ramblings about a
woman’s prowess. It is not me, and Rohesia seems pretty satisfied
with what she’s got.” He pushed himself away from the window before
leaning back against it again. Fabian stared at him for a moment
before speaking.

“That is not love what you describe
Ison,” He said when he finally spoke, his tone gentle. “That is
romance, something that supports love, that supports lust as it
supports love, but it is not love,” He smiled as Ison gave him an
odd look. “I shall tell you what love is Ison,” He put his pipe
down before continuing. “Loving someone, aside from our
unconditional love, strives from many factors,” He stood to meet
Ison’s height. “Love is frustrating, confusing, annoying, amazing,
all of those things wrapped into one, if you are with the right
person,” He came to stand by Ison’s side. “When you see that person
walk into a room you feel better, you get frustrated when they do
things that could harm themselves, you want to learn them,
understand them so you can make them happy, you want certain
moments with them to never end, just in case one day they decide to
stop loving you, and,” Fabian ended carefully. “You would fight a
thousand men just to stop their pain.”

Ison snapped his neck up to look at
him; those last words echoing his earlier thoughts. He didn’t know
what to say.

“That is the only way I can explain it
Ison, for it takes more than words to fully understand,” He
continued into the silence. “And it is something we all have to
choose to show. The one thing that cannot be taken from us against
our will,” He put his hand on Ison’s shoulder as he just stood
there, a thousand emotions attacking his barriers all at once. He
needed some air.

“Ah,” Fabian said as he removed his
hand. “I do sense that our Rohesia is awake, may I just go in to
say goodbye? I shall not stay long.”

Ison nodded with relief, desperate to
be in his own space again.

“I shall make my own way in.” He said
with a nod of respect and goodbye. Ison returned the gesture before
rubbing the back of his neck and turning to the window, thinking
that if it wasn’t for Rohesia he would run away like a crazy loon
right at this moment, and never look back.

“
Hey sleepyhead,” Fabian
greeted Rohesia with a smile and a warmth in his appearance that
was very rarely shown. He pulled a chair up to her bed and took a
hold of her hand. She smiled up at him from the pillows. “You’re
not doing so well are you?” He asked her quietly. A tear fell down
her cheek as she shook her head.

“He’s dead because of me.” She
whispered as more tears came.