“But you should,” Lacey exclaimed with a laugh. “As for the queasiness, it passes, after the first few months.”
I stood very still, foreign, excluded, forgotten. All three women suddenly laughed together. “No wonder you were so anxious to have word of him. Did he know, before he left?”
“I did not even suspect it then. I so long to tell him, to watch his face.”
“You’re with child,” I said stupidly. They all turned to look at me, and then burst out laughing anew.
“It’s a secret, still,” Kettricken cautioned me. “I want no rumors before the King has been told. I want to be the one to tell him.”
“Of course not,” I assured her. I did not tell her that the Fool already knew, and had known for days. Verity’s child, I thought to myself. A sudden strange shivering raced over me. The branching of the path that the Fool had seen, the sudden multiplying of possibilities. One factor emerged above all others: the sudden removal of Regal, pushed one more step away from the throne. One more small life standing between him and the power he craved. How little he would care for that.
“Of course not,” I repeated more heartily. “This news is best kept an absolute secret.” For once it was out, I had no doubt that Kettricken would be in as much danger as her husband.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Threats
THAT WINTER SAW Bearns devoured slowly, as a cliff is eaten by storm tides. At first, Duke Brawndy sent tidings to Kettricken on a regular basis. Word came to her by liveried messengers coming on horseback directly from the Duke. At first the tidings they brought were optimistic. Her opals rebuilt Ferry. The folk there sent her not only their thanks, but a small chest of the very tiny pearls so prized by them. Odd. What had been too treasured to be sacrificed even to rebuild their own village was freely offered in thanks to a Queen who had surrendered her jewels that they might have shelter. I doubt that the significance of their sacrifice would have meant as much to any other. Kettricken wept over the tiny chest.