"It was you?" my voice sounds accusing even if that's not what I mean. This is the doctor Igor took me to.

"I'm sorry, queen. I—"

"You saved my life." I stand up.

She looks surprised by what I say.

"Look where that got you." She says guiltily.

"Hanser told me it was you who sold me and Igor out to Shepherd. Is that true?" I already know the answer, but I just need to be sure.

She looks like my question offends her. "Of course not. The king is not a good man and I do not wish death upon myself. It wasn't me, queen. I swear it."

"I know." I say in a lower voice before I exhale.

Her brows furrow. "You do?"

"It was Hanser. He betrayed me and Igor. He...he did all this." I walk to the window.

"What's going to happen now after he finds out you are expecting twins?" She asks.

I turn my head so fast I almost crack my neck. "Twins?"

"Yes, you are expecting twins. Didn't the other doctor tell you that?"

I shake my head as I walk to the sofa so I can sit-down. I am carrying twins. Its two babies. Two little orc babies. New tears spring from my eyes, but this time its tears of joy.

"My babies are twins." I sniffle as I look down at my bump. I rub them. No wonder they move so much. The little orcs are always fighting in there.

"I don't have much time, queen." The doctor reminds me I'm not alone.

"How far along am I exactly?" I ask her.

"Six months, maybe six and a half." She says.

I nod. That was the first time Igor made love to me.

Igor.

We should be celebrating this together, love. This should be our moment of joy in our home as we get ready for our children. But I am in prison, and you are somewhere, hopefully breathing.

Remember us, orc. Me and your children, we need you.

How cruel is life. I thought destiny brought me to Igor, but it turns out destiny is a cruel mistress. She will give you everything you could have wanted and even more and then she will rip it from you and leave you broken and shattered.

"What else can you tell me?" I look at the direction of the doctor who is looking at me with so much pity. I can't even find it in me to be angry at her empathy because now I do feel a little pitiful. I am the lowest I have ever been. A mother who cannot protect her children against impending doom. A failure.

I failed my children. The single thought takes over me and it grips me like a vice.

I failed as a parent.

I turn my eyes to look out of the window.

"Goddess, if you have ever cared for me, please save my children." I sniffle, not caring I look like misery personified or that the doctor can hear my prayer of desperation.

The door opens and Hannah walks in, Bethany in tow and impatient.

"We need to go now, Doctor." The woman says and I smile a little sad smile. She is impatient to get away from this, to report to the king so she can return to her life. Her life will move on but mine, it ends here.

"No, I need a moment." The doctor blinks a few times, and I only see it now, she was crying too.

"It's fine, Augustine. You can't postpone the inevitable." I say calmly.

"But queen, he will—"

"You, nor I, won't stop him. Now please, before he sends the guards here and you are punished. You can go to him and give him the report." I say. Then I rise to my full length. "Thank you for everything you did for my family, doctor." I approach her and I place my hands on her shoulder and a tear slides down her face.

"I'm sorry..." she says.

"Don't be. My gratitude is with you." I tap her one last time and I turn away from all of them and I go to the washroom. After a while I hear the door shut. I wash my face and I calm myself. I go back to my room, and I find Hannah standing next to the door.

"You are still here?" I wonder why.

"I won't leave you, queen." She says in her small voice.

"Maybe you should, Hannah. Mine is the losing side and you don't want to be in the cross hairs of what is coming." I say and I sit at the sofa. I pick up a book I have been writing on all week. I decided to write poems to Igor and to my child who I know is actually two children now. Maybe I should write one more before the inevitable happens.

"You have never harmed a soul, queen Aria. Its not right." I hear her shaky voice and I don't lift my eyes. I will cry too, and I don't want that evil man to find me breaking down when he comes.

"Do me a favor will you, Hannah?"

"Anything you need."

"This book, keep it for me. If I die, and by some miracle Igor is alive or my children survive, can you give it to one of them, please?" I take a pen and I dip it in ink, and I write a few lines to my unborn children if they will ever see it.

Hannah nears me. I blow on the ink to make it dry faster.

However, at that moment I hear the boots outside approaching, and I know its my time. I hand the book to Hannah who quickly throws it under the bed before she takes her post on the other corner of the room. And just in time as the door swings opens with force.

I sit up straighter when the royal guard come in.

"You are under arrest, queen Aria for treason and deceiving the kingdom." The head guard voice booms in the room and I stand.

"Okay." I say and I brush my babies. My heart rate gallops so much I can feel my skin get hot from the internal chaos. I try to soothe my children as they move.

Calm down, little orcs. Calm down. Everything will be just fine.

Two guards grab each side of me, and they drag me out like I am a spy or a king's murderer. Its no surprise that I find Shamus outside with his own guards and they watch me as I am dragged away.

They take me to the same wing of prisons they kept Igor. We descend many stairs and its like we are in the underbelly of the castle. They throw me in a cell with just a small bed, a filthy blanket and a small potty.

The iron crashes against iron as they close the door, and they lock me in. Two guards stand on the opposite of the cell against the wall. The cell is stained with blood in some spots and is full of rust and it is so dirty my skin feels itchy just looking at it. There is however a small window high up so I can see the day and I will be able to know if its night.

I sit, stand, walk up and down and around this small cell, then again.

About an hour later, I hear heavy, menacing boots coming down. I elect to sit down on the bed. I don't want to faint in case they tell me something I won't like.

Shepherd shows up first then Shamus behind him and a few soldiers. You'd swear they are here to subdue a bear. But I guess this is the moment they've been waiting for, and it would be an injustice to not go all out.

I remain neutral as I watch the sadism almost jump out of Shepherd's eyes. But this time I don't run from it. I know how this ends, and he has had enough of my tears. I will shed no more in front of him. They can take whatever they want.

"Queen Aria of the Gango kingdom, you are accused of breeding with an orc and then lying to the whole kingdom claiming the pregnancy belongs to King Shepherd. Your trial is tomorrow before noon where the high council will pass their judgment." Shamus's voice is loud like he is making the announcement to the entire kingdom. I remain unmoving.

"Is there anything you have to say for yourself, whore?" Shepherd asks.

"No." I say simply, and I see that angers him even more. He was here for my begging.

"Leave us." He says to the soldiers, and they move without question. I am left with two of the most horrible men the gods have ever created.

"You aren't going to beg?" Shepherd taunts.

"No." I say again calmly.

"Perhaps I may have mercy on you." He says pulling out a long knife that I know very well.

But I stuff down all my reactions. I won't give them what they want.

"You wouldn't have mercy on a weeping rock, Shepherd. If that is all, leave my presence." I don't look away from him.

His chest rises and falls quicker, and I see all his cruel intention.

"I am going to cut you open and I will kill those monsters right in front of your eyes before I waste you away too." I see the clear intention behind everything he says. "But..." he adds. "If you know where the orc is, you may just live."

"How would I know where he is?"

"Think. Think very carefully. I want your blood, but I want his more. Come on. You were always smart. Save yourself and those bastards you have in your belly."

"Shepherd, you would never let me go. Do you think I'm an imbecile?"

He tilts his head to the side.

"Besides, why do you care for the orc anyway. It is me you hate most." I say.

"That is where you are wrong, wife. I hate both of you equally. But as a male who defiled what belongs to me and killed many of my men, I have more of a bone to pick with him."

"I don't know where he is. You had me watched day and night, remember?"

I can tell he doesn't believe me, but I have nothing for him.

"Very well. I guess I will see you at your execution." He retreats. "I am looking forward to it."

He starts walking but Shamus doesn't move. He has remained quiet all along. Shepherd's footsteps clink until they almost disappear.

"That was not very smart, Aria. Poking an already angry bear." He has a small crooked smile on his face.

"You as well as I know there is nothing I can do or say to sway that devil." I say evenly.

To that he laughs, but it is filled with no joy. "You have really resigned yourself to your fate, haven't you?"

"Like you or him would ever give me another option." I say.

"I have before." He says.

"That was never your decision."

"That's where you are wrong, Aria." He steps closer. "I was sent to silence you but...I showed you mercy. In a way, you owe me great thanks for the extended life I gave you."

"You are lying."

"Why would I lie to you?"

"Because..." I drift off because it doesn't matter. Even if what he says is true, it bears no consequence to the now. His past false mercy doesn't mean anything when he has watched Shepherd beat and strangle me almost to death the past week since Igor escaped.

He wants me to believe he is the lesser of the evils, but he isn't. He is just as rotten as Shepherd. And he is where all my problems began anyway. His relationship with a married man and how he ensured Shepherd never looked at me twice.

I doubt Shepherd would have ever loved me, but he could have done something. I know I was never his problem, but he aided Shepherd in his abuse of me. He has always been right next to Shepherd.

I tear my gaze from his because I am tired of this conversation.

"You've never asked me. You've asked Shepherd but you've never asked me."

I look back to him. "Asked you what?"

"Why I hate you."

I quip one brow. "That's because it's a little obvious, Shamus."

He chuckles lightly. "Is it? Well pray tell, queen." He knits his fingers in front of him and he waits, amused.

"You hate me because you've always wanted to be me." I smile a small confident smile and his clenched jaw tells me everything. I'm correct.

But he quickly collects himself and he chuckles. "You?"

"Yes, you want to be everything I am."

"A woman?"

"No. Enough. Accepted. Respected. Chosen."

He bellows a laughter. "Did they hit your head on the way down here?"

"No matter how hard you try, you will always...lack. Even the man you think loves you, you know deep inside it isn't love. He doesn't because he doesn't love anything. You are who he can have. Who he can secretly use, who knows him, accepts him and validates him. But he will never marry you; he will never claim you; he will never show you off." I chuckle lightly. "I know you've seen how he looks at the young guards." I laugh fully now. And he looks at me like he wants to murder me that instant.

But he just stands there with his thunderous expression.

"Even if that's true. Even in all your beauty he still found you repulsive, he never loved you."

"And I accepted that. In fact, thank the goddess. But you...your days are numbered too, and you know it."

He turns and he storms away. I am left cold inside, knowing I have not helped my case and I may have sealed my fate quicker than I thought. But if I am dying anyway, then let them all never find peace.

_________________________________________

After chapter thoughts?

Also, I know it may not be clear the intention behind certain chapters or scenes or conversations and it may feel like maybe I'm dragging the story for whatever reason and many of you just wished it would get to the end but everything has a place and a reason and intention.