1.1 CHAPTER SEVEN: THE PARTING GIFT
Karme opened her eyes and was greeted with a sight of a distraught Maya. The older woman's eyes were misting with unshed tears as her hands clasped Karme's. The de Serin lady laughed lightly at her, but Maya looked offended.
"I was worried sick, my lady! You lost consciousness!" she cried.
"No doubt," Karme answered as if it was all too obvious why.
Which was no doubt true.
But–there was something about Maya's expressions that told her there was something else.
She sat up, which earned a scowl from the older woman but helped her nonetheless. She looked around the room and saw the bitter medicine on the table. She sighed. It was that time of the month once more. She reached for it and drank it in one gulp. She shivered at its taste.
It was different from the usual bitter medicine she was always forced to drink. But she shrugged the thought away,
As she put down the bowl, she turned to her attendant.
"What is it?" she asked, trying to understand the unusual expression on the older woman's face.
"The cleric came to check on you, my lady," Maya started. "Because it's rare. For you to faint,"
Karme sighed. "Well, despite popular belief, I do get. . . tired," she supplied, not sure what word to really use for what she was feeling.
"The cleric. He said something,"
"Out with it then, Maya," Karme pressed. "Is it my medicine? Had they added a dose? It tasted different,"
Maya shook her head. "He said–that you are. . . Well, that you're. . .expecting,"
"Expecting?" Karme repeated with a confused look until her attendant's words became clear. "I . . I'm pregnant? Are you sure?"
"Yes, my lady," Maya nodded. "Congratulations, my lady?" she added, unsure if it was the right word to say. After all, the husband had already left.
Karme's mind was in turmoil. She could not be pregnant. It must have been a mistake. She shared a night with her husband before he left. It was just one night.
And yet. . .
Her face reddened as the events of that night returned to her mind. She could remember how insatiable he had been. He took her countless times. Karme could not even count how many. All she knew what that he only stopped just before the first ray of the sun.
But was it enough?
She looked down at her stomach as her hands instinctively rubbed it affectionately. She could not stop the smile that graced her lips as she started to imagine her child yet to be born. Whether a boy or a girl, all Karme wished was that they grow to be as strong as their father.
Heaven knows Karme could never be.
She closed her eyes, seeing a child who resembled a combination of her and her husband. She could not wait. A child of her own! Even if her husband would not return and ultimately abandon her, Karme had made up her mind.
She would raise her child.
With love overflowing from her, she promised herself she would never make her own child feel and go through the things she had in her father's care.
"Are. . . Are you happy, my lady?" Maya inquired as the lady she served still had not spoken a word.
Karme turned to her. Her eyes misted with unshed tears, and her lips into a smile. "I am," she answered, her voice barely a whisper. "He might have left me, Maya. But he left me with the greatest gift of all,"
Maya cried with her as Karme's tears flew down from her eyes quietly. She took the younger woman into a tight hug and repeatedly told her that she would be there every step of the way.
She was in a dream.
And it was one she never wanted to wake up from.
She closed her eyes as Maya started a conversation about baby names, excitement flowing through her voice, and Karme laughed.
She wanted to tell one person more than anyone else. She convinced Maya to allow her to leave her room. Her attendant, though reluctantly, helped her dress appropriately for the weather outside. As the two walked the castle hallways and towards the garden, there were only laughs between them.
Upon reaching the garden, Maya stayed back as Karme walked towards the Iloe tree to give her privacy. After all, she knew how important it was for the younger woman.
Karme gently knelt in front of the tree and caressed the words she had carved with her mother. With a smile, she started talking–imagining it was her mother in front of her.
"Do you think. . . I'll be a mother as good as you are?" she whispered.
Despite being elated at the news of her being a parent, the fear was there inside Karme. The fear that someday in the future, she might be just like her father. Merciless and unloving. After all, he was all she had, for Karme only knew her mother short of seven years.
Was it enough?
She rested her forehead towards the trunk and closed her eyes.
"Please, guide me well, mother,"
And out of the silence of the night, a haughty laugh came from behind her.
Karme straightened as she looked over her shoulder to see Krianna towering over her. Her face set into the cold expression reserved for Karme. She had her arms crossed over her chest. Her clothes shine beautifully under the night light of the moon. Krianna was the lady Karme could only dream of being.
"I heard the news," Krianna spoke, her voice full of contempt.
Karme closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she stood up. "I fail to see how that is your business, your highness,"
Krianna smirked. "Oh, my, oh my, oh my," she sang patronizingly. "You plan to keep it?"
Karme raised a brow at her. Her twin sister's tone sounded like she was shocked. And that the opposite was the most obvious answer to have. She frowned at her as she took a step back away from her.
"Of course I am," she answered, her tone firm. "It's mine,"
Krianna quivered as if she was trying hard to not laugh. She uncrossed her arms and reached for Karme, who squeezed her eyes shut, expecting to be hit. But Krianna merely removed a stray strand of her away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.
Karme opened her eyes in bewilderment. It was an act of gentleness she was not expecting from anyone, much less Krianna. But once she saw her twin's expression, Karme knew the gesture was anything but loving.
Krianna held a countenance of contempt and conceited like she was looking at something so disgusting.
"Keep being so foolish, Karme," she whispered, her tone menacing. "It is so pleasurable to see you hope and have it shatter in front of your eyes. While knowing that there is nothing you can do about it,"