Pawns and Queens--A 15th Century Gwynedd Story--Chapter Twenty-Two

[Evie]

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Chapter Twenty-Two

July 4, 1464
The Duchess of Carthmoor's apartment
Rhemuth Castle

"So this particular stitch helps bind the magic to the fabric," Catalina said, demonstrating the correct technique for making the dainty stitchwork, "though I'll end up pulling that one out because in addition to forming the stitch properly, you also need to be fully focused on a prayer of protection while you work it. The exact verbiage of that prayer is less important, except that it should clearly state the intent of your protective magic, but it has to be the focus of your thoughts with every stitch in the project for the protective effects to work. A short breath prayer you can repeat at a set rhythm tends to work best. So while the basic skills involved are quite simple, in actuality the working is highly complex, because you need to be completely distraction-free when you are working on it." Catalina exchanged a wry smile with the Queen. "And these days, when are any of us fully distraction-free?"

"Maybe if I lock myself in a garderobe, I'll have time to finish half a bookmark," Alixa joked.

"Speaking of garderobes," Catalina said with a look of sudden distress, "I'll be right back." She scurried off, dropping her project on the floor in her haste to leave the room. Startled, the Queen looked around the small solar questioningly as she picked it up and placed it carefully on Catalina's window seat.  "Is your lady unwell?" she asked. This was the second time that morning that her sister-by-marriage had abruptly needed to excuse herself from the room.

"She might be in the family way, Your Majesty," the pretty brunette Andelonian lady-in-waiting who had been introduced to Alixa as Lady Eleanor said. "She has not started feeling unwell until two mornings ago, aside from feeling very sleepy at times, but I think enough time has passed since it could have happened that she is beginning to feel reasonably sure about the cause for her symptoms." She finished securing a thread in the gown seam she was working on before adding, "I think Her Highness was hoping to inform her lord husband of the happy news before she makes it more generally known."

"Of course," said Alixa, stunned but delighted. "And she would not wish to make a public announcement too early in any case. But I hope she is correct."

Catalina returned, picking up her project with seeming unconcern, which lent some reassurance that nothing was seriously amiss, but Alixa felt the need to make certain. "Are you alright? If you wish to go seek out our Healer, I can always return at another time."

"I'll be fine," the princess answered, although she still looked slightly pale. "I assure you it's nothing that seven and a half more months of patient waiting won't cure. The nausea should subside on its own before the noon meal, if today is like the past two days have been."

Alixa beamed. "I hope it's just that, but you should visit Master James anyway, or I can summon a midwife if you would prefer. They can confirm if it's a child and if all is proceeding well, and suggest a regimen to help ensure continued health for both of you. I'm sure you'll wish to share the news with Colin as soon as possible."

Catalina gave her a wan smile. "I was hoping for the opportunity to tell him in person, but with the state of things at the front just now, I very much doubt I'll get the chance anytime soon."

"A chance can be arranged," Alixa reminded her, looking determined. "I can ask Camber to arrange it. He needn't be told why, if you'd rather not share the news with others before you've had a chance to tell your husband privately, but if you wait for Colin to return to Rhemuth on his own time before you tell him, you might be presenting him with a babe in arms by then!"

Catalina laughed. "Oh, mercy, I hope not! We can't afford for this war to go on until next February! Let's hope we can turn things around soon and he'll be back much earlier than that!" She sighed, considering the grim alternative. "Otherwise, I could be raising this heir in exile in Andelon, waiting for some opportunity to retake Gwynedd from our invaders. But let's not dwell on that unhappy thought!"

#

July 6, 1464
The King's Council Chamber
Rhemuth Castle

Prince Camber shook his head, looking frustrated. "I tried to go to the encampment last night, but the portal there has been destroyed, likely to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. I was finally able to reach Colin late last night at the usual hour, but the army is on the move, heading westward downriver in hopes of getting to Ramos in time to prevent Ramos from falling to the siege, since the Duke of Cassan has his hands full attempting to liberate Valoret. The good news is that the Duke of Corwyn seems to have our eastern border more or less in hand, for the moment anyway, especially now that some fresh Tralian troops have arrived, so some of Prince Alarikos' Beldourian troops have been sent westward to help prevent the enemy from moving any further southward."

"With the enemy already having command of Valoret less than fifty miles from Ramos, they'll easily be able to send in their own reinforcements as well," Catalina said worriedly.

"Yes," Camber confirmed. "This is shaping up to be a major battle, not simply one of the hit and run skirmishes we've been faced with thus far. Though hopefully it will be a decisive battle, and one that ends up falling in our favor rather than theirs."

"Well, I have a little bit of good news," said the King. "Richeldis has sent a message saying that she is expecting a child, so Philippe is planning to head this way in about a week or so with additional reinforcements. In the meantime, she says she is being quite coddled by her mother-by-marriage for her prompt work."

"They certainly didn't waste any time, did they?" Camber said with an incredulous laugh. "Did Philippe's braies even manage to hit the ground first?"

"Thank God for springtime and young love, I suppose," said Cinhil. "We could certainly use his help and fresh troops. The message says he is also planning to stop in Llannedd along the way to pick up a few extra Connaiti and Llanneddan troops from there, so that will be a slight additional delay before they get here, but hopefully they will arrive in time for me to send them to combine with Colin's forces, unless by that time we need them elsewhere instead. I may need you to lead them, Camber, as much as I'm loath to have both of my heirs out in the field. You will be much more familiar with the territory I'd be sending them into, not to mention I don't want foreign troops fighting in our kingdom without Gwyneddan men leading and fighting alongside them."

Catalina sighed. "Speaking of heirs, I had really hoped to be able to tell Colin first, but there will be another little Haldane this upcoming winter, around February, and I am fairly certain now that he's a little prince."

There was a stunned silence, broken by the King's delighted grin and laugh as he congratulated his brother's wife on their happy news. Prince Camber sprang from his chair, picking up his startled sister-by-marriage and whirling her around once in exuberant joy before setting her carefully back into her seat. "Thank you! I have never been so happy to be made expendable," he joked with a swift brotherly kiss on her forehead.

#

July 20, 1464
The City of Ramos
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Morning

The forces led by Prince Nicholas, Duke of Carthmoor, arriving from the northeast converged with those troops led by Prince Alarikos and the Duke of Corwyn's able lieutenant, Declan O'Flynn, Earl Derry, on the eighteenth day of July about fifteen miles due east of the besieged City of Ramos. The following morning, the Prince sent the Beldourian prince's army south of the city, his own troops continuing towards Ramos from the northeast, in hopes that between the two of them they could effectively surround the enemy army laying siege to the city and force them to rout or surrender. His own forces, he moved to a position just a little over a mile outside the city, setting up a temporary encampment there where they could claim a few hours of uneasy rest, sentries on high alert taking turns guarding the camp until the morning, for he did not wish his men to engage the enemy fresh on the heels of a long, tiring march.

On the morning of the twentieth, the Duke of Carthmoor's forces formed battle lines and marched the rest of the way to Ramos to find King Torval's forces expecting them, his battle lines spread out between Nicholas's army and the walls of Ramos, well beyond the range of bowshot from the city walls, since Torval wasn't foolish enough to leave his soldier's backs vulnerable while they faced off against a newly arrived enemy. The Nördmarcker's scouts had doubtless informed him of the Gwyneddan encampment just on the other side of the low rise and denuded fields that had separated them from the field before the city walls. Nicholas had expected that; Torval's security would have been lax indeed if he had been completely unaware of a large enemy force approaching so closely to his position and setting up a base camp there.

The Gwyneddan prince was pleased to see fewer enemy cavalry than he had expected to find, especially here in the relatively flat grasslands of the Duchy of Haldane where they could be used to best advantage, for in the earlier days of the war Torval's army had been well supplied with a large contingent of cavalry as well as infantry units. He wondered if some might be held in reserve, ready to surprise him from one of his flanks, but thus far none of his scouts had reported spotting any, although one had reported back saying he had encountered Alarikos's men moving into their hidden position. He hoped that the vast numbers of cavalry he remembered seeing with Torval's troops back in March had been lost by attrition over the intervening months, though there was also the possibility that they were wreaking havoc elsewhere with either King Haakon's and Queen Ingrid's troops or with Prince Rémy's, which were still causing major problems in the north of Travlum according to Nicholas' latest intelligence.

Nicholas called for a halt. His formations stopped, facing off against the enemy lines a few hundred yards ahead. There was a ripple in Torval's troops, the men in his immediate vicinity stepping aside to allow him to pass along with his standard bearer and two escorts. Nicholas glanced at Sebastian briefly, then beckoned towards Lord Geoffrey Arilan and Richard, Earl of Marley to attend him as he rode out to meet Torval halfway between the lines, Sebastian bearing his standard and the two older lords flanking their prince.

"Welcome to Ramos!" said King Torval, greeting Nicholas with a sardonic smile. "I would invite you in, but we're still attempting to gain entry ourselves."

Nicholas's steely eyes slid towards the half-constructed siege engine behind the enemy lines. "So I see. I would very much appreciate it if you didn't." He took the measure of the man before him. The Nördmarcker King carried himself with a haughty, arrogant confidence, blue eyes sizing him up even as he studied his opponent, his expression under the open visor of his helm mocking.

"I take it you are Nicholas, the second of Our late cousin Uthyr's cubs. You look far too healthy to be Cinhil and not pious enough to be a priest, so it's unlikely that you're Camber. So, Nicholas it is, then. Shall we call you Kolya?"

"You do that," said Nicholas, unfazed. "Though if you're expecting to find Camber wearing a hairshirt, I'm afraid you'll be sadly disappointed once you do encounter him. Assuming you live long enough to make his acquaintance."

"I would like that very much," said King Torval. "In fact, I would like to propose terms of peace between our people."

Nicholas raised a sable brow. "Would you now? After coming all this way, that seems improbable. What sort of terms?"

"Simply peacefully cede all lands east of the Lendour Mountains, and my army will gladly withdraw from the field."

"Oh, so I'm to simply carve off roughly a third of my brother's kingdom and hand it over to you?" Nicholas laughed. "Let me propose better terms, Torval. Withdraw from the field peacefully, and my men and I will personally escort you all back to Nördmarcke with no further blood drawn unless you provoke hostilities again."

"Ah, Kolya, you're no fun." Torval sobered, giving Nicholas a steady look. "By all reports, your King is not long for this world. If this war goes on for much longer, you will be inheriting little more than decimated towns and scorched earth. My allies are blood-thirstier than I am, and it is growing increasingly more difficult to keep them in check. It profits me little to completely destroy Gwynedd in the capturing of it, and I grow weary of war and destruction. So let's try this instead. Join forces with me. You can keep Gwynedd; in return, I simply want Cécile of Joux and an alliance. In turn, I will assist you in capturing Haakon and Rémy."

Nicholas was dumbfounded. "So you are proposing doing a volte face in the middle of a war and sacrificing your allies to me...for the Queen's sister? Why?"

"I'm fond of the little bird. She carries my child. Unless Haakon caused her to miscarry, in which case I claim bloodright over him. You can have Rémy to do with as you will, but if Haakon has killed my child, I will rend him apart limb by limb."

Nicholas was absolutely certain there was some catch, likely some very important omitted detail, though he was Truth-Reading Torval as the enemy King spoke, and he appeared to mean what he said, at least on the surface of things, which was thoroughly baffling. Not that Nicholas could accept the offer. Bargaining the life of an innocent young woman in order to buy a truce and an unexpected alliance to rid himself of his other enemies seemed akin to selling one's soul to the Devil in exchange for special favors, only to find out too late that there were unseen strings attached.

"And what of Ingrid of Eistenmarcke?" he asked, remembering Torval's other ally that he had left unmentioned. "I imagine your new Queen would take a dim view of your proposed deal."

Torval chuckled. "Ingrid mainly wants Kheldour. She's been a little obsessed with vengeance ever since her late husband died during a raid on your Kheldish coastline. I have no objection with letting you deal with her as you wish, though I would prefer if you could hold off a few months longer until our son is born."

"So you would have me believe you will give up all claim to Gwynedd and turn on all of your allies in exchange for a girl you knew for barely a month?"

Torval shrugged. "Safe conduct through your western lands simply for the purpose of gaining access to the border and the coast would also be appreciated. But an agreement to look the other way if I happen to move my troops into Beldouria from any direction would be sufficient."

"Ah. So it turns out Gwynedd was a bit more of a mouthful than you were prepared to chew, so now you'd prefer to fight a bit closer to home. Then what? Once you've reunited the halves of Old Torenth under your banner, you'll turn on me next? Since that's what it appears you do to your allies."  Nicholas grinned.

Torval smiled back. "It would give you a few more years to recover your Kingdom's strength and regroup, Kolya. It's not such a bad deal, even if you don't trust me."

"It's a very amusing deal, to be sure, but one that I'm afraid I can't accept. The Queen would never forgive me, nor would Princess Cécile for that matter. I fear she found her brief visit to your kingdom far too traumatic to ever wish to return there."

Torval shrugged. "Her feelings on the matter may change if I bring her Haakon's head as an apology. Or any other body part of her choosing."

"Most women would prefer flowers, I should think. If those are the best terms you can come up with, I'm afraid we'll have to deal with this conflict of interests in the more usual way." Nicholas sketched a mocking bow at his opponent and withdrew from the field, returning along with his men to their position in the battle formation even as King Torval did the same.

#

July 20, 1464
The City of Ramos
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Evening

The fighting had gone on for some hours, with Nicholas's forces sometimes gaining a little ground, sometimes losing it, both lines sometimes breaking apart to regroup before rejoining in the fray. There had been a fair number of casualties on both sides, though fewer than Nicholas had originally feared, for both sides had been disciplined enough to hold their respective lines and keep their shield walls strong. At last Nicholas had been able to maneuver his right flank forward, causing the enemy's left flank to retreat and their line to turn in such a way that they had the sun shining into their eyes, making it more difficult to see when Prince Alarikos's forces joined the fray at last, surprising Torval's on his line's weakest side. King Torval, recognizing he was outnumbered and that his men were growing too exhausted to continue the battle, chose to retreat from the field rather than sacrifice more troops for a lost cause. Nicholas briefly considered following, but his men were exhausted as well, so he allowed them to depart, Alarikos's fresher forces following behind them to ensure the enemy did not intend to simply double back and attempt to regroup, despite the lateness of the hour, but it was soon evident that the enemy was retreating towards the safety of occupied Valoret. Let them, the two commanders decided; they had the dead to bury and wounded men to tend to.

#

July 20, 1464
The City of Ramos
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Night

Prince Nicholas's men spent another night in the field, in the camp that they had hastily set up the day before, since his quartermaster was still securing lodgings for the troops within the city itself and ascertaining whether the provisions stored up within the city walls would prove sufficient for the needs of their army as well as the local citizenry, or whether it would be better for the army to move on once it seemed more certain the enemy would not simply return a few days later to continue the siege. The walled city would be a very convenient place to establish a base camp if the enemy continued to use Valoret as their own, but with the location of Haakon's and Rémy's forces less certain, it might be better for his own army to remain on the move, which would put less of a burden on the people of Ramos as well.

Then again, it would be easy enough to establish a supply line from Rhemuth over to Ramos. Nicholas mulled over that possibility as well. A steady source of provisions entering the city could end up benefiting the local population as well as his men, allowing them to live on more than meager rations while attempting to re-establish their crops, though until the enemy was also rousted from Valoret, it would be more prudent to continue maintaining gardens within the city walls, since crops grown outside those walls might end up serving to provision the enemy.

There was no perfect solution, but Nicholas had a growing certainty that well-rested and more regularly provisioned troops able to sleep behind secure walls, even if those walls might come under siege yet again, would make for a fitter army once they were ready to move on, and he thought some balance might be struck which would serve to maintain his army's needs while not entirely losing the good will of the people of Ramos forced by circumstances to make room for them. And a second siege was less likely unless King Torval were to combine forces with his allies again; it was one thing to besiege a city that only had a small garrison of soldiers to send out for the occasional brief raid beyond its gates, and quite another to attempt to starve out a city that could send an entire army out to defend it long before reaching a point of desperation.

They would be like two Keeps on a cardounet board, each keeping a wary eye on the other, each unable to take the other until such time as other forces came into play to make the taking more of a strategic move than a foolhardy risk. Very well, then. Nicholas could settle in and wait to see how long King Torval was willing to play the living form of cardounet.

Three men entered the royal pavilion. All were familiar, but Nicholas noted with approval that the sentry on guard requested their names and the day's pass phrase anyway, and he also extended his shields briefly to ascertain each man bore the expected psychic signature. There had been an incident a month earlier when one of Torval's Nördmarcker spies had attempted to infiltrate their camp and had only been discovered when one of the more keen-eyed sentries had spotted the familiar features of a man walking through the camp whom he had witnessed dying earlier that morning. Assuming a miracle of resurrection had not occurred, the sentry had overcome and taken the Deryni spy into custody and brought him before Prince Nicholas, who had made certain, after gaining what little information about the enemy's plans the man's mind could supply, that the spy swiftly followed the deceased infantryman whose features he had assumed into the afterlife.

Lord Geoffrey and Sebastian looked wiped out, and Sebastian in particular seemed to be brimming with some inner turmoil only barely contained within rigidly tight shields. Master Devyn, while also looking tired, seemed a little less in need of falling directly onto his bedroll, since although the troubadour had fought skillfully with his sword rather than his pen that day, he had been in a position within the line that had seen less direct engagement with King Torval's forces than the right flank where Prince Nicholas had led from.

"Do you think you might be up to doing just a little more exploring tonight before you sleep? Nothing that will call for you to go into enemy-held territory, just a bit of looking around within the city," the prince asked Devyn.

"I suppose I could stay up an hour or two longer if you need me to," Devyn said, "though at this hour I'm fairly sure the night watch won't be eager to open up the gates to admit me."

"I suppose you're right. Still, it would be helpful if you could enter the city tomorrow morning and try to get a sense of whether there might be a Portal already available in some easy to access location, or if we'll likely need to build one. I would like to have an easy means of access to Rhemuth, but in a location that can readily be secured or even destroyed if need be, and somewhere within the city walls.  But before we expend that level of energy, it might be nice to know if a Portal exists there already, maybe in a cathedral or church sacristy. You know the most likely places where one might be found if Ramos has one."

"Given Ramos's history, I imagine any sacristy portal would have gone dead from lack of use unless it was built in fairly recent times, but I'll see what I can discover," Devyn said.

"True," said Nicholas, "but the Cathedral in Nyford has a functioning one, and before Kelson's time that was hardly a safe place for Deryni to pop in unannounced either. So you never know for certain what you'll find until you go looking."

"I'll see what I can find out for you as soon as the gates reopen in the morning," Devyn said with a yawn. "In the meantime, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll slip over to the baggage train for a few minutes. One of the camp followers has proven to be a very useful source of information."

Nicholas's eyebrows shot skyward. "Hopefully not a source of the pox as well."

Devyn chuckled. "She's just providing information for me, nothing more, though her price for that is just as steep. Well worth a few spare coins, though. She feeds me some interesting observations, some of which prove more useful than others, and in the meantime she gets a few minutes of freedom from someone pawing at her, so it's mutually beneficial."

The prince nodded his dismissal, and Devyn slipped out into the night. Nicholas entered the curtained-off inner section of his pavilion and allowed his squire to assist him in removing his armor, the squire handing each piece off to his father to hang onto the nearby armor tree or place in the chest next to it for Sebastian to clean and polish in the morning.

"What's wrong?" Nicholas asked his squire quietly as Sebastian bent to tug off one of his boots.

"There's no way in hell you're sending the princess back to Nördmarcke once all of this is over, are you? Or even to Eistenmarcke? Especially to Eistenmarcke."

Nicholas was startled. He'd nearly forgotten King Torval's ridiculous terms from earlier that morning. "No, of course not. I can't imagine she'd wish to return to either."

"Or to Joux," said Sebastian as Nicholas shifted his weight to his other foot, allowing him to tug the other boot off and set it aside.

The prince considered what he had learned about Alixa's childhood from his wife. "Nor will I send her back to Joux, unless she wishes to return there, though why anyone would wish to return to Renier of Joux, I'm certain I can't imagine." He studied the squire's bowed head, puzzled, as the lad moved to set his boots to one side before returning to unlace the cuffs of his arming jacket.

"And if King Torval tries to lay claim to the child later?" Sebastian asked, his stormy gaze rising to meet his knight's.

"You mean after the war?" Nicholas asked. "I'm rather hoping he won't be in any shape to ask. But if he does, I imagine that's a dispute for the two of them to sort out. Why do you ask?"

"She's been through quite enough, don't you think?"

Nicholas nodded. "She has. Which is why if the situation ever happens to arise, I would ask the lady herself how she would prefer the situation handled. I think she's likely had enough of men making such decisions for her, don't you?" He kept his voice gentle, it finally dawning on him why his squire might be so agitated.

Sebastian sighed, looking away as he put up the last of his knight's armor and rummaged through a travel chest to produce a clean nightshirt. "Quite," he said, his voice brusque.

"Go on and get some sleep," Nicholas urged his squire. "I can take it from here."  As the youth left the partitioned area, the prince glanced over at Sebastian's father with an upraised eyebrow.

Lord Geoffrey shook his head. "I think my son fancies a princess. Much good that will do him. When I told him to aim high in life, I wasn't intending for him to take my advice quite that much to heart." He chuckled. "Oh well, he's only seventeen. In six months he'll have some completely different fancy."

Nicholas thought back to himself at seventeen. "That's certainly possible, Geoff, and maybe even quite likely. Though at seventeen I became a father, and I can't exactly say that time has made my children's mother any less captivating to me." He cleaned the worst of the battle grime and sweat off his skin before pulling on the nightshirt. "It's hard to know how anything will turn out, but for right now, let's just take matters one moment at a time. I'm for bed. I suggest you find your own; dawn will come early enough for us both."


Next chapter: https://www.rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,3244.0.html

[Demercia]

It's hard not to warm a bit to Torval, if only in comparison with his allies.  But he does seem to have some genuine feelings for Cecile.  Not that I am suggesting Nicholas should have countenanced his offer - no spoon long enough exists.

[Evie]

It's hard not to warm a bit to Torval, if only in comparison with his allies.  But he does seem to have some genuine feelings for Cecile.  Not that I am suggesting Nicholas should have countenanced his offer - no spoon long enough exists.

Torval has never met anyone else who simply cared about him for himself rather than for what they could get from him--money, power, military aid, Court prestige, etc. Granted, he's never met anyone he truly cared for without strings attached either, except possibly his own son. Love for its own sake is a complete novelty to him, and the closest thing he's ever experienced to that was with Cecile. His heart has walls upon walls when it comes to protecting himself from others wishing to use him, but he has no defenses against love that is detached from selfish impulse.

But you're right, even at his best, he is far from trustworthy. He does have a sense of honor that his other allies lack, so if Nicholas had accepted the offer, Torval would have followed through on everything that he'd promised. But as Nicholas correctly surmised, the truce would have only been temporary, and once Torval had accomplished his goals in Beldouria, he would have been back to attempting to conquer Gwynedd, and even stronger than ever.

[Demercia]

I hope at least Cecile gets to hear how angry Haakon he is.

[Evie]

I hope at least Cecile gets to hear how angry Haakon he is.

Well, that was shared on the field of parlay, so while hopefully neither of their full armies were within earshot (since that would be very injurious to Cecile's reputation, since she was married to Haakon, not Torval), there were a few people on both sides who would have heard what Torval said to Nicholas, so it's not completely out of the realm of possibility that an account of what was said in the parley might reach Cecile's ears someday.

[DerynifanK]

Well I wrote a reply this morning, hit post and it's not here. Do not understand what happened . My DD1 would say operator error but it could also be my phone which has been squirrelly lately.

[Evie]

Well I wrote a reply this morning, hit post and it's not here. Do not understand what happened . My DD1 would say operator error but it could also be my phone which has been squirrelly lately.

Oh dear! Just on the off chance, in case you might have hit "Save Draft" by accident instead of "Post", click on your name beside any message and see if you might have any saved drafts in your drafts folder. If you accidentally saved the message instead of posting it, it should be in there.

My daughter's phone has been acting very squirrely this past week also. She said there is some sort of service disruption that is affecting lots of phones right now, at least with her mobile carrier, so it could be yours is also being affected by whatever is causing her issues.

[DerynifanK]

Well I certainly did not expect that offer or offers from Torval. He does really want Cecile back not to mention their child. He seems to really care for her. But I wonder how Cecile feels since he stood by and did nothing while Haakon abused her and tried to murder her.
I get the feeling he is not happy with his Eistenmarck alliance and would like to get out of it without too great a loss. I do think Nicholas was wise not to accept.

[DerynifanK]

Thanks for the suggestion. I did check but no drafts. However that is good to know

[DerynifanK]

Happy to hear that Catalina is expecting. I hope she will be able to tell Nicholas soon. I see Nicholas in quite a quandary in the future, loving two women, having children by both, legally married to one. Wonder how on earth he will solve it. I know it's in the future as the war is the priority now. But just wondering.

[Evie]

Well I certainly did not expect that offer or offers from Torval. He does really want Cecile back not to mention their child. He seems to really care for her. But I wonder how Cecile feels since he stood by and did nothing while Haakon abused her and tried to murder her.
I get the feeling he is not happy with his Eistenmarck alliance and would like to get out of it without too great a loss. I do think Nicholas was wise not to accept.

I'm sure Cécile feels quite abandoned by him, since he wasn't in a position to intervene, though as I explained in my comments on Chapter Sixteen, there was nothing else he could have done without ending up getting killed himself if he had tried to do anything heroic. Haakon and Cécile were warded, so he couldn't have done anything to stop Haakon even if he had somehow managed to fight off the hundreds of Eistenmarckers surrounding him while he tried to pull off some rescue attempt. The only possible survivable thing he could do was exactly what he did, and even with that, he took a risk by arguing with Ingrid about Haakon's treatment of Cécile while surrounded by their loyal followers.

Happy to hear that Catalina is expecting. I hope she will be able to tell Nicholas soon. I see Nicholas in quite a quandary in the future, loving two women, having children by both, legally married to one. Wonder how on earth he will solve it. I know it's in the future as the war is the priority now. But just wondering.

Hopefully she won't have to wait until the war is over to tell him, though seeing him sooner might depend on whether he manages to gain access to another portal and if there is enough of a lull in the fighting that he feels he can leave his army in the hands of one of his other commanders while he returns to Rhemuth for another brief visit. And yes, I think he's got quite the quandary on his hands, though as you say, that's a worry for another day.

[DerynifanK]

Monday seems a very long way off.

[Evie]

Monday seems a very long way off.

I've just had a peek at Monday's chapter while doing some last minute proofreading and line edits. I think y'all should have some nice comment fodder in that one.     (Then again, sometimes I guess wrong, because y'all sometimes surprise me with which scenes or details you readers decide to comment on or not comment on.)