Page 92 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
He took a cursory glance at her stomach. In his initial assessment, he’d failed to notice the size of it. The roundness had receded considerably, which had to mean the squirming bundle was Kase’s…
Oh stars. Oh shocks. If Jove was never found, did that mean Kase had to take over fatherly duties?
He’d told his brother no. But was that why Clara was here now?
Dread, nearly heavier than the revelations he’d received in the Stradat Lord Kapitan’s tent, filled his stomach. Kase opened and closed his mouth repeatedly. “Clara, you…is that…when did you have the baby?”
With the thick bundle of blankets, Kase couldn’t tell much—not even if the baby was a boy or girl.
“A few weeks ago.” Clara gave him another sad smile. “We need to talk.”
No, we don’t. We don’t, because Jove will be fine. We don’t, because I can’t be a father figure. I’m under house arrestand will probably be executed at some point. The baby can’t lose two fathers so young in life.
“Of course,” Kase said instead, moving out of the way so she could enter his canvas prison chamber. She moved past him, and the bundled baby in her arms opened its eyes.
They were blue as the sky on a clear day.
Kase froze. Those were Jove’s eyes. Kase’s eyes.
He let the flap fall. “Clara, I…”
She held up her free hand. “I know Jove is missing. I know your mother…hasn’t been found yet.” She took a moment to compose herself, wiping the stray tear that bubbled over. She swallowed. “I don’t need an explanation of where you’ve been. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
Kase blinked away the burning in his eyes, relief and shame mixing. Here he was, panicking because he thought he was going to have to take responsibility for the child in her arms, the child that Jove wanted to entrust to his brother if anything should ever happen to him…and his sister-in-law was only here to make sure he was okay.
Kase was most definitely a screw-up.
Clara perched herself on the edge of the cot and gestured for him to sit beside her. Silently, he did. She took a shaky breath and said, “I don’t know the details about what happened three years ago. I’ve heard the rumors by way of the papers and eavesdropped conversations since I’ve been here, but I don’t care.”
Kase didn’t look at her as he said, “It’s true. I started the fire.”
Best to just come out with it. Better she hear the absolute truth from him.
Admitting it to Hallie had been hard enough, and it hadn’t gotten any easier. Clara’s family lived outside the city. Her friends were all upper-class and had avoided the worst of theblaze, but she’d also lost Ana. Kase was the reason she no longer had a sister, either. Ana had been so excited to have another girl in the family.
Clara’s hand found his forearm. “I know. But I also know you. You wouldn’t have done that on purpose. There is more to the story, and I want to hear it.”
Kase’s throat wasn’t working properly. Ana had been his best friend first and his sister second. She’d been right beside him and Eravin on countless adventures. Kase deserved this house arrest.
Clara added, “But I don’t need to know, if you don’t wish to tell me. I trust you. Jove trusts you.”
Kase pinched the bridge of his nose. “They don’t even know where he is.”
With how many goodbyes he’d had to say lately and all the losses he’d suffered, the pain and shock should’ve gotten easier. It hadn’t.
Hallie would’ve told him that it shouldn’t get better, that it was normal to feel that way. But Hallie wasn’t here. And Kase might very well lose her too.
“They’ll find Jove,” Clara said firmly. “Or he will find his way to us.”
So optimistic. Kase wished he could feel the same. “How did it happen? The Stradat Lord Kapitan didn’t really elaborate.”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t…I wasn’t there.” Her voice sounded far away for a moment. She cleared her throat. “I know everything will be all right, because all things work together for good, even if we might not realize the goodness in the moment. I have faith.”
Kase looked up, still blinking the prickling in the corners of his eyes away. “I don’t understand.”
All Kase knew was that he couldn’t win. It was as if fate itself stood against him.
“You will. One day.” Clara took a deep breath and shifted the bundle of blankets in her arms. “Until then, it’s high time you meet your nephew.”
