Manon's Child

Part 51

Dorian hurries from the room, and I follow behind him, pausing only at the tower the humans have begrudgingly put aside for the witches to stay in. "Marissa?" I call, and the witch soon appears.

She's here the most often of all the Crochans, and I like to think we might have become... friends. She certainly spends a lot of her time with me, and seems very invested in the babies growing in me. "Manon!" the witch exclaims, coming up and hugging me. Her insistence to always do this has me perplexed, but I don't pull away like I would usually.

I smile slightly. "I have a message for you to deliver," I say, my grin widening at the information. "Only for Glennis's eyes. It's very important."

She takes the paper with more than a little curiosity, but I trust her not to peek. She walks over to her broom, and nods smiling. "Fly quickly," I say as she jumps from the window.

When she's gone, I rush to the bottom of the tower, where Dorian's waiting for me. He says nothing as he offers me his arm, escorting me through the castle to the throne room where he's to greet his family. Although he looks confident, I can sense how nervous he is. My hand rests on my stomach as we wind through the busy corridors.

Somehow, Dorian has acquired another, equally magnificent throne, placed beside his for me. I don't hesitate to sit on it, my feet aching despite the small amount of time I've been walking. The humans murmur as I sit down, the whispers increasing as Dorian says nothing, just sits down next to me, sending them an even greater message. I lean back on the throne, hands cradling my stomach, my hair, which I left unbound, shielding my face from view. I look almost human.

Dorian calls for his family to enter, and the grand doors swing open to reveal a brattish boy dressed up in the most unpractical amount of finery. From one glance I can tell just how charming this young man will be - not at all. He's shortly followed by a very haughty woman, in even more jewels and finery than her younger son. I wonder if she realises more than half her people are starving. The guards quickly announce, "Prince Hollin and Georgina Havilliard of Adarlan."

"Dorian!!" the woman exclaims, squealing so loudly my ears hurt. The boy just stands to the side rolling his eyes, and says nothing. "Now," his mother continues, "I took the liberty - " she pulls out a long list from her pocket, the waves of paper falling all over the floor. She frowns at it, then motions for a servant to clear it up as she comes towards us, having somehow not seen me. 

"Mother," Dorian says, and the woman stops. He stands to greet her, motioning for me to do the same. I do not. "May I introduce-"

His mother interrupts him again, not even glancing at me. I smirk. "Now, Dorian, aren't you going to say hello to your brother -"

"I'm hungry," he moans, not waiting for his mother to finish talking. He claps his hands, several servants rushing for food. So they're scared of him. Interesting. Dorian's mother and brother continue speaking over each other, so loudly that he can't get a word in edgeways. The guards start murmuring again, finally standing and coming over to stand by Dorian. He's staring helplessly at his family, his mother now reading names of the list the servants have cleared up.

Without warning, not hiding my rounded stomach or my face as I gently take his head in my hands and kiss him in front of the entire court. He stills, the kisses me back, his hand snaking around my waist.

The entire hall goes silent, Georgina gasping loudly. Though we haven't hidden the fact that we're - together, it's the first time we've shown any sort of affection in front of his entire royal court.

I pull back a moment later, Dorian flushed, as I turn back to the gaping queen. Dorian keeps his arms around my waist. "As I was saying," he continues into the heavy silence, "Mother, this is Manon Blackbeak-Crochan, Queen of the Witches and the newly reclaimed Witch-Kingdom, pregnant with my children."

Georgina and the entire royal court are gaping at us, but Dorian isn't finished. He pulls his other arm out of his pocket, and I turn to face him again as he flicks open a ring box. "And," he adds, grinning, "My future wife."

He hold out the expensive ring to me, a human custom I don't fully understand. I take it anyway, ruby and black stones glinting in the golden metal. I slip it onto my finger, grinning despite myself. I look into Dorian's eyes, the sapphire sparkling with - love.  I jolt, and Dorian's expression quickly turns worried, but I'm saved as a motion behind us catches our attention.

We both spin around as the former Queen of Adarlan lets out a little noise, and faints, her expression frozen in classic shock-horror.

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As soon as she hits the arms of the servant diving to catch her, the entire room erupts into chaos, the perfect opportunity for the youngest Prince of Adarlan to disappear. No one notices him leave, except me. However, I decide to leave him to his sulking focusing instead on the court in uproar. 

There are shouts of 'the queen', and 'she killed her', all of Dorian's attempts to get silence unnoticed. He raises a hand for them to shut up, but no is paying attention to him, crowding around Georgina. 

"SILENCE!"

My iron teeth and nails snap out simultaneously as I step out of Dorian's grip and stalk towards the useless, panicking human court. They all spin around to stare at me as I pause, picking at my nails in the centre of the hall. "It is punishable by death," I say, my voice dangerously smooth, "To ignore your leaders, in my kingdom. Maybe, when I'm your king's wife, I'll see to it that we introduce some of our customs into your culture; perhaps then you'll show more respect." I sneer the last few words, turning on my heel and stalking back to Dorian.

He opens his mouth to issue commands when a mighty crash sounds, and Bronwen and Petrah crash through the glass windows and into the hall. "Manon," Bronwen pants, eyes wide. "There's a problem."

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HI peoples,

this is hopefully the last slowish chapter for a while bc I have a great idea for the rest of this part of manon's pregnancy (so before the wedding) and i'm very excited to write it, so hopefully you'll like it.

in case you haven't noticed i've been kinda unmotivated to write soooo soz about that.

also, soon i'll be breaking for the summer holidays up so i can't promise reliable posting as i'll be away and spending time with my family.

thanks so much for reading and stay safe :)