Chapter Nine #3
Lumi trailed off as Tivar’s face turned red. Fuck. Lumi tried to shrink down on the bed before he spoke again.
“We’ll have another, and she’s your child.
She has white hair just like you and little ears.
She might be a girl, but she’s like a perfect copy of you.
Nobody else was able to give me a child.
You were, and a King should have a Princess too.
When she has a little brother, he’ll already have a playmate, and they can look out for each other.
Shouldn’t our son have an older sibling to protect him like you protected me when we were children? ”
Tivar’s jaw tightened a bit as he looked at the baby.
Jacqueline was still asleep, and Lumi hoped he never questioned her eye color if he later noticed.
If he started thinking Jaki was the real Father, Lumi would lie his ass off and say the Prince hadn’t touched him in months before he left.
There was no way he’d ever admit the truth.
“She’s cute. The next child better be a boy.”
If there was another. Lumi wasn’t sure how he’d get around the problem later if he didn’t get pregnant. At the moment, he had to worry about his daughter.
Tivar got him food and things he needed like water and cloth to clean her bottom plus more nappies. Tivar didn’t seem in a hurry to move back in, and Lumi realized he’d have a bit of real peace for a change.
With fresh sheets and blankets, he settled down to feed his daughter when she awoke.
Somehow, things would be all right. He had time.
Besides, Tivar would surely grow attached to his daughter as she grew older.
Maybe he’d pass her off as an adopted child he’d saved from starvation or whatever.
It’d make him look good, and people would think he was ever so kind.
At the moment, there was nothing else he could do besides care for his baby.
Time passed in a cycle of naps, feeding, talking to her, changing her nappies, and admiring her.
Lumi was sure he’d never get tired of looking at her tiny ears with the tufts, her pink eyes, and the fine little nose she’d inherited from Jaki.
Her ears twitched at noises, and her slitted pupils reacted to light.
When he removed her swaddling to check her nappy, her tiny tail would flick, and she’d make fists as if demanding to be wrapped up at once and held. Lumi was careful with the stump of the cord which would take a bit to fall off.
Tivar made sure he had necessities and took away the dirty nappies. He always brought more in, so he must have been buying them and throwing away or burning the old ones. The few remaining servants would wonder where the nappies came from if they ended up downstairs for washing.
Lumi was happy to be mostly alone with his precious little girl. Even though he was still worn out from birth and waking up a lot in the night, he didn’t see how he’d ever get tired of holding and looking at her.
The fact that Jaki would never know hurt. Then again, it was better. The last thing he’d want was a child with his half-brother even if lust and maybe something else had been there. He wouldn’t feel like Lumi did for her. She was an accident.
But she was Lumi’s whole world.
He had gone to sleep late one afternoon with her, and he awoke to hear her crying. It wasn’t the sound she made when she was hungry or needed a nappy change.
She also wasn’t next to him.
He sat up to see Tivar carrying her across the room toward the door. “What are you doing? Bring her back.”
Tivar huffed and turned around. Still crying, Jacqueline waved one of her fists at the strange person carrying her. “You’ve had a few days to recover, and we need to start working on another. The last thing I want is a baby around when I’m fucking you.”
Lumi’s mouth fell open. “My ass isn’t even fully back to normal! I can’t have sex, and I need Jacqueline.”
“We’re not keeping her. The servant-”
“What do you mean we’re not keeping her!? She’s our daughter.”
“Shut up, Lumi,” snapped Tivar. “I don’t need a girl. I need a boy. I’m not dealing with a wailing daughter when I need to be making a son. The servant downstairs had a child recently, and she has enough milk for three babies. She’ll take Jacqueline.”
“She needs my milk! You’re not giving her to a servant.”
Lumi got off the bed, and the chain stopped him from going after Tivar who ignored him and left the room.
“Give her back!” Lumi screamed. Jacqueline wailed, and he yanked on the chain. “Tivar! You fucking bastard! Don’t you fucking dare! Give me back my daughter. SHE’S MINE!”
Panic clawed at his guts as he kept yanking on the chain. There was no way he was letting anyone else raise his daughter. He needed her and to make sure she was okay. What if something happened, and he wasn’t there? He scrambled up onto the bed, braced his feet as he grabbed the chain, and pulled.
He’d tried the same thing as a teenager in the early days a couple of times.
He’d also tried forcing the shackle over his wrist and only succeeded in hurting himself.
Tivar had seen the bloodied marks on his skin, whipped him, and locked him in the closet for a whole day and night.
After the second time, he hadn’t dared to try again, and the will to escape had quickly been sapped from him.
It wasn’t like his pitiful attempts had worked anyway.
The headboard was too strong to break, and the other shackle locked around the top piece didn’t loosen. Lumi tried to pull his hand from the shackle around his wrist and was sure he could feel Jacqueline getting farther and farther away.
He couldn’t lose her too. He just couldn’t do it. She was his , and he wasn’t letting anyone else have her. She was all he had left of Jaki or anybody else. He didn’t have anybody but Jacqueline. The metal wore at his skin as he struggled to pull his hand from the shackle.
Tivar returned to find Lumi half-mad on the bed as his wrist bled.
“Give her back!” he roared as his tail fluffed with fury. “You can’t take away my daughter!”
“Don’t you ever fucking talk to me like that.”
Lumi should have read the quiet tone, the pulled-back ears, the lashing tail, and the dangerous look in Tivar’s eyes, but panic and fury overrode all thought. As Tivar came to the side of the bed, Lumi lunged for him.
“You fucking bastard! Give Jacqueline back! She’s not yours! She’s mine!”
Tivar flinched back at the sudden violence, and surprise flickered in his face before he reacted. A swift punch knocked Lumi back on the bed and shut him up. Tivar grabbed his throat and held him down as his fist flew toward Lumi’s face again.
He’d pushed a whole fairy being out of his body all by himself. He couldn’t fight off his older brother. Tivar was still bigger and stronger, and Lumi’s attempts to fight him off grew weaker after the second punch to his face nearly knocked him out.
“I’ve taken care of you for years, saved you from East Forest soldiers, and fed you. Everything you have, including your life, is because of me. This is how you repay me? You’re nothing without me. Nothing. It took you years to give me one thing, and it’s not even right!”
Lumi tried to curl up as the blows rained down on the rest of his body. A punch to the gut knocked the wind from him, and he was sure he tasted blood.
Tivar said something, but Lumi didn’t hear him. The pain was so bad, he couldn’t move or hope to avoid the next few slugs. Tivar’s snarls were vague and meant nothing as the blurry room tilted. Lumi definitely tasted blood now, and the bed shifted as Tivar got off.
“Worthless. You can recover naturally, and if you ever speak to me like that again...”
The door slamming shut came through. Why was the skylight dimming when it wasn’t evening yet? It wasn’t supposed to go dark yet. The pattern had always been the same.
He couldn’t even rely on the light anymore.