The Shadow, the Orc, & the Princess: Part Two (special preview)

The first few months of Bronn’s life were hard. Due to his small size and the extremely cold weather he was often sick. We were all worried for him, losing sleep and appetite during the darkest of moments.

“He’s one of us,” my father would say. “He’s strong, he can do this.”

I kept looking at Bronn, worrying about how tiny he was and how hard he had to work to breathe. I didn’t say a word, because anything I might say could turn into a curse upon my tongue.

“There dawn can’t seem bright without the night,” my father said reassuringly. “Your mother told me that once.”

I looked away from Bronn’s crib and into my father’s eyes. He was exhausted beyond all reason, but he was still smiling.

Tears welled up into my eyes. “I feel like dawn isn’t coming.”

“Come here.” He beckoned me over and held me close. “It will come. One way or another, it will come.”

A year to the day after I was told Bronn was coming, he laughed for the first time. I was holding him and sneezed very loudly. I was terrified I had startled him, instead he began laughing.

Bronn began to come out of night and rise into the dawn. He began to grow and gain weight, and he obtained a vicious little appetite. By the time summer was at an end he was walking and following us wherever he could.

“Look at these strong legs!” My father announced to anyone who would listen. “He was built to be a warrior!”

“Maybe a dancer,” my mother would interject.

“Leo had legs like these when she was little. Did she not?” My father set Bronn on the ground and grinned into his face. “You’re going to conquer worlds, aren’t you my little raven? You’re going to cast shadows over everything you see.”

I was a bit uneasy about my father’s words, so I just told myself it was baby talk. “He will do as he pleases,” I corrected. “Remember? You said that to me when you announced he was coming.”

“I stand by that!” He huffed. “But look at him! He will be a beauty to his lovers, and a monster to his enemies.”

My mother rolled her eyes at me and I smiled. She then looked at a letter and she scowled deeply. Ever since Bronn was born, letters from Arda the First had been coming in more frequently. She was demanding that she see the new baby and to make sure it didn’t turn out ‘like the last one’.

I snatched the letter from my mother’s hand. “I would love to give her a piece of my mind.”

“Now, now Leopoldine, she has her ways and that’s what she lives by. You certainly wouldn’t want someone telling you that-” She stopped herself when she caught what she was about to say. “In any case, I’m going to tell her once again that Bronn is sick and that we can’t travel.”

“She can’t even get off her bony ass to come down here?” My father snapped.

“She thinks you’ll kill her dear,” my mother huffed.

“Good! That’s what I want her to think.”

“We can’t keep her at bay forever though,” she huffed. “The older she gets, the more impatient she grows.”

I looked at the letter in my hand, and it felt thicker than the ones that had come before. I opened it and read it for myself. It didn’t take long to come across the first thing that set my blood to steam.

“She says she has ideas for my marriage,” I guffawed.

My mother rolled her eyes. “She always has ideas.”

My father picked up Bronn and carried him over to trade with me. Bronn sat happily in my grasp as he read over the letter.

“She’s crazier than I am!”

My mother slouched back in her seat. “By how much, dearest?”

My father made sneering and mocking faces at the letter. “Leo has an intended already lined up! I have plans for her!”

Another turn of phrase that sunk the metaphorical dagger of fear into my liver.

“You’re still on that?” My mother rose and took Bronn from me. “But what is she on about?”

“She says since we now have a male heir we need to worry about what will happen to Leopoldine. Talking about her as if she’s going to die alone or destitute because of ‘my worrisome ways’.”My father ripped the letters into shreds then tossed them into the fireplace. “It isn’t her place to say how I should worry about my heir!”

I looked into Bronn’s big brown eyes for reassurance.

My father was huffing and puffing enough to suck in the castle walls. “And besides, Brevalan is the only suitor I will accept for Leo.”