I headed out early, before Mrs. Timmon awoke, to get some sweet treats for the seven village children I tutored. I found they worked harder when rewarded, so we began with a lunch, then worked and then they got their treats.

Early mornings were my favorite time of day, when the air was cool, and the only sounds were birds busily chattering to one another. With my basket in one hand and my other on my belly, I walked along the stone path, occasionally kicking a stray rock in my way. A rumble of hooves disrupted my reverie and I looked up to see the warrior astride his gray stallion bearing down on me. I stopped as he pulled up his horse, who pranced sideways, unhappy that his run was interrupted.

"Where is my lady wife headed?"

"To the baker's for some sweets for the children I tutor."

Swinging off his horse, he graced me with his smile. "I shall accompany you."

"No, I do not wish your company," I shook my head at him. "You should continue on your ride."

"I am where I want to be," he said simply. We walk a few paces and then he stops me with a gentle hand on my arm. Flinching away from the contact, I look up at him.

"Do you fear the birth?"

Looking away, I swallow, too surprised he brought up this subject to wonder why. "I know it will be painful and that much can go wrong."

"I will let nothing happen to you," he says fiercely.

"That is for the Fates, not you, to decide. It is always a good possibility that the mother dies –"

"That is the very worst possibility," he snarls. "And I will not let it happen. Mrs. Timmon is the very best I could find and she and your midwives and I will protect you at all costs."

Rarely have I ever seen the warrior this worked up. Before I could say anything, he continued. "When I received your note, informing me that you were with child and then a sentence later telling me you made plans in case you did not survive, I..."

Waiting for him to go on, I watched in fascination as his jaw worked and he said no more.

"I meant only to reassure you that in the event of my death, the child would be cared for until you would arrive."

He looked down at me coldly, furiously. "You failed, Calissande. I was not reassured in the least."

"I wanted to explain that your heir or daughter would be protected."

"I want to know that you will be safe and protected. That is why I made inquiries all over the land and found Mrs. Timmon."

"I did not think my fate would matter to you once your heir arrived. Indeed, I would imagine your life much better with me gone."

The warrior stepped back with a hiss and I started to continue my walk to the village feeling very unsettled. If he had her and his heir, what more use was I?

"Why would you ever think such a thing?" he asked from behind me, his voice ragged.

I turned and looked at him, as if the answer should be obvious. "Because of her. You have shown me, by taking her, that I am less than nothing to you."

I continued walking and heard him gallop away moments later.

Not until I was in my chambers that night did I see my husband again. The door opened, and he stood there, barely visible in the dim light.

"I would have you join me in my chambers," he said quietly, somehow knowing I was awake.

Everything in me rebelled. I didn't want to have something I longed for, only to have it yanked away once he had her back.

"I do not wish to," I began, but he cut me off by striding across the room and lifting me from the bed.

"I was not asking, Calissande."

Afraid to struggle because of the babe, I held myself stiff in his arms while he walked me to his bedchamber.

He placed me on the bed gently, then pulled the covers down that were beneath me. "I would just hold you tonight, nothing else."

"I do not want you to."

"I have both given you what you want and not given you what you want for far too long. That ends tonight, my Calissande."

"I am not yours," I snarled at him even as his arms gathered me close. His lips found my ear. "Stop your struggles; I would not have you bring harm to yourself or the babe."

His words settled me, though inside I screamed to be away from those strong arms that could bring me such comfort...were it not for her.

"No thinking tonight," he murmured in my ear as his hand caressed my belly. "Tonight, it is just a man and his wife, just you and just me, and me feeling my child in you as I have not yet been able to since you left me and led me on a chase."

As I opened my mouth to protest, he hushed me. "Stop fighting for once, even just this once. I grow weary that we meet like we are on a battlefield. Let us have this peace tonight and we can take care of the rest at a later time, as it suits us." And the warrior added a word I had never, not ever, heard him utter to another: "Please, Calissande."

The babe must have sensed my shock because he delivered a hearty kick against his father's hand and the warrior laughed. "Our child agrees."

So it was that the warrior held me close, enjoying feeling his child's movements in me, whispering his pride in my ear intermixed with gentle kisses on my neck.

It is the sweetest, most difficult night of my life.

The torture continued the next day. I awoke to his lips on my neck, and when he sensed I was awake, he rolled me onto my back and moved over me.

"Good morning, Calissande."

"Good morning."

With a smile, he moved his hand over my belly and felt a series of hard kicks. "Our child says good morning much less politely."

Bending to me, he kissed me lightly on the lips. "I enjoyed feeling our babe moving in you. You are used to it by now, no doubt, but 'twas new to me. I look forward to doing this the rest of our nights until the babe decides to be born."

Since he was watching me so closely, he saw the shadow pass over my face.

"You do not want this, but I will not be denied this pleasure ever again."

"I do not want this because I will not like it when you take your presence away from me and give it to her." I pressed my hands against his solid chest, but he would not move.

"I have been learning your ways, my lady. I promise I will not take it away."

Infuriated, I pushed harder. "I will not share a bed with you and her."

At this, he frowned and his eyes flashed angrily. "I would not allow that, my lady." He looked in my eyes and brushed some hair back from my face, his face softening. "I am well aware that I have hurt you, Calissande. It was never my intention. I was not aware that my country's traditions were not followed everywhere. It has been the same for generations upon generations in my country and we know nothing different. If I had tried to sleep in the same bed with a lady wife from my country, she would have never forgiven me. In my country, it is a sign that your lady wife is set above all others, that you treat her as a genteel lady, as the treasure of your heart. To not have a camaspoza in my country is the worst insult to your wife and cause for the marriage to be dissolved, the lady returning to her home in shame at being treated like a camaspoza. It never occurred to me that what I was doing – as my father, as my grandfather, as his father and so on had done – would hurt you." He tipped his forehead to mine. "She is gone, Calissande. I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me and know I did nothing out of malice but merely custom. I will live according to your traditions in this respect and share my body only with you."