Chapter 6: With Child

Evanara

  Hours had gone by,hours that turned to long dreadful days,days that turned to wicked weeks. It had been two weeks since the incident. Two weeks of hell for me. I had not stopped seeing him. I feared going outside for I would be considered mad if I had another episode. It had been two weeks since I looked myself in the mirror. I was scared of my own reflection. No one came by to see me...not that I wanted them to. Adrienne would normally come to visit but after my episode that day, he promised to give me some time to myself. Thankfully, my marriage to Adrienne was set to the end of the month. I hoped by then,I would be fine.

   I twirled around carefully so as not to trip myself. The other girls were dancing beside me but in their own different manner. No one had dropped any coin in my tin today. They did not as much as look at me. Perhaps, they knew I was not pure anymore. I could hear them laughing in my face but I ignored them and continued dancing. The coin did not matter at this moment. I wanted to heal. I wanted to forget. I wanted to be myself once more.

   I pushed my hands above my head and them brought them down slowly only to stretch them to my side. I was to take a twirl when my head felt light. Ignoring the sudden feeling,I took the twirl.

My eyesight blurred, but not because tears were welling up. Everything became fuzzy; then I saw nothing at all. My consciousness was floating through an empty space filled with a thick static. Throughout the inky space my heartbeats pounded loudly, echoing in my ears, alongside fading pleas for help.

It felt like my innards were being replaced by some kind of black hole. Then nausea crept from my abdomen to my head.

Feeling in my body drained away until finally all was black.

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I woke up to a cold splash on my face. There was a huge crowd around me and a physician was peering down at me. I sat up slowly. I was still at the Circle. That was not hard to tell as the dancers surrounded me and they seemed to find something very funny.

   Erika laughed at something Gaia said and made a comment that startled me.

"How else? She probably got herself knocked up by some low life like herself."

Fear gripped me. What was happening? What happened to me? I looked around me. The Circle stood around me in a circle and they were all pointing and talking.

  The Physician who I recognized as Sir Othello, who used to treat father, peered down at me with worry. I arced a brow. "What is it Sir? Is my sickness critical?" I asked recognizing the look on his face. He gave me that look almost a decade ago when he told me father had passes on. Perhaps, I was sick too.

  "No. You are not sick Evanara. You..." He trailed off,making me suddenly nervous.

"You are with child Evanara. You are pregnant. "

   My breath got stuck in throat as I thought I did not hear properly. "W-what...what did you say?" I stuttered.

Erika snorted. "You are pregnant, slut. So much for pretending to be the goddess of holiness. Now,there is surely no way you will escape death this time."

   My world came crashing down on me. Pregnant? Child? No. No. No. No. Life could not have dealt me such a blow. I was with child? My eyes stung with tears as I dragged myself from the floor. No. No. It could not be true. Fear and shame hit me.

   Fear. In Avalor,intercourse outside marriage was punishable by death. Death by hanging. If provided with sufficient proof that a woman who was not a courtesan and was not married had sexual intercourse with a man,she would be hung and the man would be castrated. If a woman had an illegitimate child,she was to be burned alive with the Everlasting flames along with her child.

   Shame. They all knew. They knew I was impure. It must have spread like wild fire by now. Fear. I was not safe anymore. The Keepers of the Everlasting flames would be here any minute from now. They always found out when some crime had been committed and they would fish out the perpetrator at all cost. I did not want to die. Who would take care of Kevan? My child. I hated its father but it was still my child. There was no way it was going to die without seeing the world. I spun around and pushed my way through the crowd that moved away from me as I ran.

   "Do not run Evanara. Your punishment will worsen!" I heard Sir Othello shout from afar but it fell on deaf ears. What punishment would be worse than the death of my unborn child?

   People on the street stopped and pointed fingers at me while I ran. So then I was right. It had spread like wild fire. Evanara, the witch, the parent slayer was with child.

Would I run home? What if the keepers were there already? I should go to Adrienne's. He was off duty today. He would help me for sure.

   After a few minutes of running,I saw the familiar path I used to reach Adrienne's on various occasions.

I came across the fig tree and the scenery grew more familiar. I did not stop until I reached the building that stood out amongst the others as it was the only one that had colors on them.

   I ran to the brown door and jammed my fist into it continuously.

I heard a curse from inside then footsteps before the door finally swung open.

"Nara." Sir Gilbert said with a lot of emotions haunting his face. Worry. Hurt. More worry. Confusion. Yet more worry.

   "Is...is Adrienne in?" I rasped out,panting.

   He nodded and opened the door a bit wider,letting me in.

  Adrienne paced about in the slightly large sitting room and his mother was sitted on a chair that rocked her back and forth.

Upon sighting me,Adrienne's jaw tightened and fury blazed in his eyes. I had never seen him angry before. Never. I swallowed as shame washed over me again. He loved me very much so he would surely trust my words. That alone pacified me.

   He approached me with clenched fist and an intent glare that almost made me shrink but I refused to. My child's life was at stake and only Adrienne could help me at this point.

  "Evanara, mother and father heard disturbing rumors on their way back from the market. Evanara... are you with child?" He asked trying to keep his anger under check but it still leaked from his tone.

  I swallowed and opened my mouth to speak but the words never came. My gaze dropped to the floor where my bare foot stood. I could not meet his gaze.

  "Are you with child or not?!" He shouted,causing me to gasp slightly and look up to meet angry eyes. His eyes were narrowed, rigid, cold, hard. In that moment I knew he was already far away. His lethal stare felt painful and piercing, as if his glare was tearing my heart apart with a blinding grey light. 

  I nodded swiftly. "You wench." He said and his hand cracked across my face, snapping it back with the force of his blow and causing my head to reel sickeningly as I collided with the ground behind me.

  Holding my cheek as I felt my eyes water,I stared up at him with shock. His eyes were a knife in my ribs,the sharp point digging deeper. Adrienne had never raised a hand to me before. Never raised his voice even but he'd just hit me.  I was still dazed as I could barely see for a few seconds.

  "Adrienne!" Sir Gilbert shouted and bent beside me and embraced me.

"I did not teach you to hit a woman. More so a pregnant one."

   "She deserves it ,Gilbert." Adrienne's mother said. I did not notice when she stood from her rocking chair. She was glaring down at me with pure hate. I was used to hers by now but not Adrienne. Not my Adrienne. I released myself from Sir Gilbert's hold and I rushed to Adrienne's foot. I hugged it as I pleaded.

   "It is not what you think Adrienne. I should have told you earlier but I was  scared you would not believe my words. I thought it would pass eventually. I did not know it would lead to this. I was raped Adrienne. I swear on Kevan's life that I am not lying." I cried but all I got was him removing his foot from my hold.

   "Who was it Nara?" Sir Gilbert asked behind me but I did not look back to face him. My eyes remained on Adrienne who refused to look at me.

   "Emperor Gawain." I cried and what followed was a hysterical laughter from Adrienne's mother.

"So...his Majesty, Emperor Gawain...he raped you and got you pregnant? You are actually worse than I thought." She said.

   I ignored her. I just wanted Adrienne to believe my words. "Adrienne I swear on Kevan's life  it was him. You known how much I love Kevan. "I cried and held his foot again. He bent over and grabbed the hand I used to hold his foot and used it to pull me up. After which pulled me along with him to his room.

   I smiled amidst tears. He trusted me. Relief  washed through me and I followed. Upon entering his room, he slammed the door hard behind him and bolted it.

  " Adrienne I..."

He closed the distance between us in a few seconds and held my wrist tightly.

   He held my wrists tightly and flung me on his four poster bed roughly. Fear gripped me as he undid the belt of his pants.

   "Adrienne... What are you doing?" I sobbed.

   "How much did the lowlife who got you pregnant pay you? I will pay you triple the amount. There is no need to be scared. After all,we are getting married in a few days." He said with a crazed look on his face.

   I jumped out of the bed and ran for the door but his strong hands caught me before I could open up. I screamed as he turned me to look at me and hit me across the face again.

  I fell harder this time,landing on the floor.

"Adrienne... Please...don't do this to me again... Please..." I cried as my worst nightmare was reliving itself.

   "What is it Evanara? I am not appealing enough? Do not worry. I will be gentle." He said. I had never seen that side to Adrienne before. Was he really the man that claimed to love me? Why was he doing this to me? Why?

   Someone came knocking on the door.

"Adrienne... Open the door. Adrienne! Open the door before I break it down." Sir Gilbert said at the other side.

  I wailed as I scrambled to my feet. "Sir Gilbert...help...please!" I cried when Adrienne grabbed my hand.

   Sir Gilbert hit the door again but it fell on deaf ears. Adrienne reached for my gown and while I tried to move away, he got a handful of it and shredded it apart. The very familiar experience made anger surge through me and I pushed Adrienne back and hit him as I hard as I could across the cheek. He paused, looking at me hard and stunned.

   "You're a bastard." I said before unlocking the door and running out with tears running down my cheeks.

   I collided with Sir Gilbert as I ran. He looked at me with shame in his eyes but it did not matter to me.