Free Eden Forest (Part one of the Saskia Trilogy) by Aoife Marie Sheridan

looking with
    dark circles surrounding her eyes.
    I smile at her. I could make all her worries go away. “Please,
    sit.” I gesture to the armchair across from me. She sits, nervously
    fumbling with her hands. “How are you, Corrona?”
    She looks up at me, startled. “I am fine. Thank you, my lady.”
    “Corrona, I know losing your baby caused you a lot of pain.”
    I pause and let the sorrow cross my face. “But it causes me great
    pain, too, to upset such a valuable member of the castle.”
    She doesn’t look at me and when she speaks, her words are
    clipped. “I am sorry to hear you are in pain, my lady.” So she is
    still upset, stupid girl. She is already getting on my nerves, but I
    don’t let my irritation show.
    “Well, I would say you are wondering why you are here, so I
    will get to it. Why did your friend Marta leave Saskia?” Before
    she answers, I raise a single finger. “And more important, who
    helped her? Because we all know she did not get across by
    herself.”
    Corrona looks down at her lap. I can see the tension in her
    paling face. “I don’t know, my lady.”
    “Corrona, look at me.” She does with pure fear in her eyes.
    “I know whoever helped her would be banished, but I am
    considering to overlooking that. If you answer just one question.
    And also I will give you something in return. I will give you
    your baby boy back.”
    Tears run down her face. She whispers, “What is the
    question?”
    Good, now we are getting somewhere. “Why did Marta
    leave Saskia?” Corrona starts crying. I look in the fire and
    inhale a breath, letting her know that my patience has run out.
    I am not one to bargain, so she knows this is not an offer I
    shall make twice. “You can leave now. You must not want your
    son back.” She stands up, still crying. “And if guardians come
    to your door and take Dominic, don’t be surprised, since you
    helped a criminal.”
    She is nearly at the door, but her footing falters. She pauses.
    I smile. I will get my answer after all.
    “I will tell you.”
    I stand and face her. “Go ahead. I am listening.”
    She wipes away her tears. “You must give me your word first,
    that I will get my baby back.”
    Clever girl. In Saskia, if we give our word, we must stick by
    it, so it is never given lightly. I don’t need the child for anything.
    There are plenty more. “You have your queen’s word.”
    Corrona’s eyes fill with tears again. “She was pregnant.”
    It all makes sense now. I knew she was secretly meeting
    Morrick. I could see it from the day of the festival, the way
    he looked at her, so I spoke to Javan to make sure Marta was
    matched with Taurus so I could keep an eye on them. But since
    Taurus told me she didn’t want him and Morrick’s disappearing
    acts, I knew they were meeting. So Morrick was the father.
    Was this why the child was so powerful? Clive or Luna are
    not powerful. Yes, they have an affinity each, but only one,
    nothing like what Lucian is looking for. It doesn’t matter. At
    least I know now what I am looking for.
    I look up at Corrona. She is still standing there. “Taurus.”
    He enters. “Could you bring Corrona to the maidens’ quarters?
    I have given her permission to take her baby back.” He bows
    and leaves with a guilty-looking Corrona.
    I pace my chambers, thinking of how best to deal with this.
    Taurus re-enters. “It is done, my lady.”
    “Taurus, can you arrange for Clive, Felix, and yourself to go
    to the library? I will meet you there shortly.”
     
    We gather around the library table and I tell all three of them
    of their tasks. Clive is getting upset again. “He has another
    child?”
    “Clive, not now. Look at the overall picture.”
    He stalks towards me, his anger nearly visible around him.
    “Mother, he should be exiled to the mountains for his crimes,
    like all the other criminals over time.”
    He is lucky he is my son or I would have silenced him already.
    “Son, we will deal with that later,