Page 176 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Harlan could only stare at the man. It was like the words didn’t quite make sense. Another son?
“Ezekiel, what do you mean?”
His brother-in-law didn’t answer.
The tingling edged its way toward Harlan’s elbow. Son. Another son. Asa. Who was the mother? Certainly not Rose. It wasn’t possible that Ezekiel could’ve hidden another child for over a decade. He’d never seemed the type to take a mistress, though Harlan guessed it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. He just hadn’t thought Ezekiel able to set aside his grief long enough to—
Oh shocks.
Harlan’s eyes flicked to the newspaper he’d set down when his friend had entered the room. Ezekiel’s haggard face stared into his soul. Right beneath the article about the Cerl Queen, her mourning period complete.
The consequences. The ramifications.
His heart hammered in his chest.
If it was true, it could very well be the spark that started the war waiting in the wings, the one Harlan had been working hard to prevent.
The gravity of that truth might just send the world into chaos. An emissary and spy having an affair with the enemy Queen? Surely, his brother-in-law hadn’t been so careless. Surely, the man in front of him wouldn’t have risked everything Harlan had stood for, that Jayde stood for.
“For the love of the stars, Ezekiel, if you have—”
The door slammed against the wall, rattling the clock. Harlan leapt to his feet, his hand ripping open the drawer where his flashpistol lay. The Cerls. They were here. They knew.
But instead of an attack, the orderly sprinted inside, his eyes wide.
“Apologies for the interruption.” Private Grantham panted, parchment crumpled in his hand. “Your wife, Brigadier General. Lady Celeste. Water broke. Refusing to go to the Guild.”
Harlan’s headache flared. He squeezed his eyes shut and willed the pain to wait. He shut the weapons drawer.
Ezekiel could wait.
Harlan could only handle one crisis at a time.
“Is my motorcoach—” Harlan started, but the man interrupted.
“In the front drive, Sir.”
“Thank you.” Harlan walked briskly to the door and grabbed his hat. “Come with me, Ezekiel.”
He nodded to the orderly. “Send my regrets to the Lord Kapitan.”
Fear raced through Harlan’s veins as he and his brother-in-law sped through the corridors and down the front staircase. Harlan saluted the men and women he passed, but he didn’t take the time to do more than that. He couldn’t.
Why Les would refuse to go to the Medic Guild, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t surprised. Last time, they hadn’t allowed her to bring her books. She was probably being petty even if her medic had recommended going when the time came because of her age.
Stubborn woman. He loved her anyway.
And soon, he would be a father of four. A spark of hope threaded through the fear of loss—for his wife, his children, and Ezekiel.
THE LABOR LASTED HOURS, TOO long for a fourth birth.
Les was weak. Harlan was haggard, and yet, the baby had yet to arrive. All of Harlan’s medical knowledge was useless. He’d researched many complications after Rose’s death, but all he could remember in the time he held his wife through the pain was that Rose died.
They shouldn’t have had another child. They had three strong, healthy boys. Ezekiel had gone to help the nanny attend to them. He wouldn’t be much help in his state, but Harlancouldn’t worry about his brother-in-law, not when the life leaked out of his wife.
Was this how Ezekiel felt? Helpless? Les was too pale. Her pulse was too weak.
Was there anything he could do to prevent the worst from happening? Would saving her mean sacrificing the babe she carried? Would Harlan do that? Would he wish that? If it would save his wife?
