The night was cold and unusually quiet except for Ramses's deafening incessant cries.
The night birds didn't sing neither did the wood cricket make a single sound,but Carolene could not sleep.
It was not just Ramses cries that kept her awake but an eerie feeling she couldn't shake off,one that filled her heart with turbulent and perilous thoughts.
Ramses had began crying few minutes after they got here which was now hours ago.
He had not slept or eaten for the night and it was almost noon,all her attempt to stop his crying were to no avail.
He had never cried this way before.
Carolene feared greatly for his health and the punishment she would recieve from the emperor.
She placed a hand on his head as she rocked him on the emperor's bed,but her hand yanked back as if scaled by the intensity of his fever.
After gently placing him on the bed,she hurried out to prepare some medicine and cold water.
She entered with a ceramics tray carrying the things she needed along with a candle stand in the middle.
As she drew closer to the bed,Carolene looked down to see quick flash Gerald's reflection in the water.
Her heart skipped a beat and a small scream escaped her lips.
She dropped the tray, completely shattering it along with the ceramic plate in it that contained the medicine.
Carolene quickly bent down to clean up the mess when a small shard of the broken ceremic cut her fingers.
At that instant, Ramses stopped crying.
Carolene licked her fingers and swung the curtain of the bed open to find the baby staring straight at her,his huge grey eyes glistening in the moonlight that entered room the opening she made in the bed curtains.
For a moment she thought she was staring into the eyes of a matured man.
The fierceness and anger in it sent a chill running through her veins, freezing her in terror.
She had never seen him look this way before.
Carolene blinked again and his eyes was back to an infant's normal for his age.
For a brief moment she held his gaze then he turned and his cries recommenced.
She placed a fist to her heaving chest entranced by what she had just seen.
Her thoughts drifted to Gerald,had something happened to him which enraged child was trying to tell her about.
"No!"she yelled out.
She wouldn't believed it.
Carolene quickly discarded the thought, convincing herself she was just imagining things.
She pulled the curtains shut and slapped her cheek.
"Stop being so pessimistic for reason!"she scolded herself.
As she cleaned up the mess,she cursed herself for having haboured such Ill thoughts over a man she loved.
Even if she went ahead with Mia's request and said such despicable words to him,deep down Carolene knew he would never give up on her.
Mia had approached her with an impossible request causing her to cook up her own plan,the only way she thought could stop her.
A few days after his return she would break the news of her carrying Gerald's child to Mia and make sure to bed him,that way she was sure to give up on him.
The thought of her bedding him sent sparks of excitement through her.
Carolene touched her abdomen and her face flushed.
Her plan was so perfect it would make both her and Gerald's dream come true.
Gerald had promised to marry her when he returned and she would never give him up for anyone or anything.
She might as well end up being a Knight's wife when he returned.
Becoming a Knight's wife was a honour for the servant she was,what more the Emperor's Knight's wife.
Had his feelings not been mutal she could have kept her promise to Mia but he had surprised her by tell her how he felt that night.
Thoughts of the taste of his lips came flooding in,it broadened her smile making her feel on top of the world.
She could not get the memory of his kiss out her mind no matter how hard she tried.
Carolene touched her lips and arose,her face flushing,that was when she realized she had been smiling to herself.
This knight was full of suprises and deep down she wanted more of it,more of him.
Carolene reentered with another medicine she prepared, gripping the tray as tight as she could.
She placed the tray on a small table close to the bed and carried a wailing Ramses whose mouth remained open, letting out bouts of loud screams.
Holding him in one arm,she used the other to pour a small quantity of the medicine into a tiny cup to enable the baby drink it.
She raised it to his lips, praying he wouldn't be so stubborn today,he had always hated medicines.
Ramses turned his head head from side to side to avoid the cup as she moved it in the direction his face went.
She held his head steady and forced it into his lips.
Ramses took in the liquid then opened his mouth to let it spill out allowing it stain his white tiny cloth.
Carolene forcefully dropped the cup on the tray in fraustration.
As expected,this child would never take his medicine,tonight he had even refused breast milk,what was she going to do.
Just as other servants,she was born without abilities,healing him was impossible for her.
He had to be better before the emperor returned or she would be punished, perhaps with a lashing or even worse.
She carried him in both hands holding him so close to her chest,as a small sob escaped her lips then she voiced out her thoughts
"Please Ramses....please don't do this to me...don't get sick,who knows what your father would do to me when he returns...I beg of you".
Immediately Ramses stopped crying.
She pulled him slightly away from her chest when she noticed and found him watching her closely,then he silently closed his eyes.
Carolene watched him for a while,then dropped him on the bed.
He had heard her no doubt and had stopped crying.
This child never stopped to amaze her, sometimes it seemed as if she was breastfeeding a grown up stuck in a child's body.
He understood the world and everything going on around him.
Carolene couldn't wait for him to start speaking,she yearned to hear his thoughts.
She watched his eyes for a while,when they didn't open and his tiny red lips didn't move,she knew he had fallen asleep so quickly and on his own.
He must have heard her clearly and did not want her punished.
She placed a hand on his forehead and discovered his fever was gone,her hand retracted immediately.
He had healed himself as well.
Carolene gasped and abruptly shifted slightly away from him.
He frightened her, always had.
Being careful not to scream from fright,Carolene jumped out of the bed and stood by it's raised curtain she held open with one hand, watching the baby.
This child was strange in more ways than one he was the strangest she had ever met.
Babysitting he imperial prince was more difficult than her servant duties.
If she could choose,she would rather go back to being a servant.
Carolene swung the curtains shut, leaving the tray behind and retired to the smaller bed chamber nextdoor where she always slept.
Sometimes she wondered how emperor Tyran managed to sleep close to the child at night,she would die from nightmares if she dared to.
Carolene blew off the candle light and crawled into bed.
The night was completely quiet now that Ramses had stopped crying yet she still could not sleep.
Her eyes stared into the darkness as she recalled seeing Gerald's reflection in the cold water she carried.
For some reason she couldn't get him off her mind, could he really be in danger.
She decided she wouldn't shut her eyes, wouldn't sleep until she sees him.