-Conor-“She fainted. Just like the last time.” Conor murmured; concern lined his face for Karen. “I’ve never heard anyone scream like that before.” Not even during a torture session. That scene made my blood freeze in my veins. “Is she going to be okay?” Joanne asked as silent tears streamed down her face. She crawled across the bed and curled up to Karen holding her right hand. “She’s still really cold Conor… Should we get a couple more blankets?”“I hope so…” Conor murmured as Bart came back with pajamas. “Help me dress her, Jo. We can at least make her comfortable. Bart, can you grab a couple of the spare blankets?”They pulled off the wet dress and finished drying Karen off. Conor did the heavy lifting as Jo helped slip the warm clothes on. Conor pulled her to the middle of the bed and wrapped his arms around her. Bart came back with two blankets and they layered them over Karen.“Can we stay here tonight?” Joanne asked with a sad expression on her face. “If you don’t mind?”“Su
-Conor-“I love that. That burn never gets old!” Conor replied pouring another shot and slamming it back. I need this more often.“Don’t go too fast… That would be a waste of good whiskey.” Bart murmured pouring a shot of gin for Conor.Conor poured Bart a shot of whiskey and then they drank the shots quickly. Conor set his shot glass down. He looked at the bottle and then over to Karen and shrugged. Screw it. He tilted the bottle back and took long swig of the alcohol. “After today, I need this to hit me as hard as it possibly can.” Conor explained taking another swig.“You know, after thinking about it, I completely agree with you!” Bart agreed as he drank half of his bottle in one draw. They clanged the bottles together again and finished them at about the same time. “Okay... Tomorrow is going to totally suck but I feel great right now so, I’m completely okay with this decision.” He got up and stripped down to his boxers.“Agreed. Time for cuddles and sleep…” Conor murmured followi
-Karen-I woke up sometime in the night surrounded by Conor, Joanne and Bart all in the bed with me. I had no energy and I felt weak. I feel horrible… But I’m starving. I want to eat three goats. The whole thing. Hooves and fur. I carefully crawled out of the bed and walked to the door, slipping out into the hall. Clay nodded his head respectfully. “Would you mind to please have a bowl of strawberries and cheese cubes be brought up to me? I’m terribly hungry...” I asked politely. Oh… Strawberries… Those sound so good! I could just eat a bucket of them!“Yes Mistress.” He nodded his head and left for the kitchen quickly.I was starving and felt like I had run through the palace end to end twenty times non-stop. While I waited, I braided my hair over my shoulder trying not to shiver. I’m freezing… Just like with those awful cold spells I get from time to time. I waited patiently thinking about the strawberries and felt my mouth water. Mm… I can't wait to eat some juicy strawberries! I’m
-Conor-“Has anyone seen her eat since the demonstration?” Robert asked them. Bart, Conor and Joanne shook their heads in unison. “Hm. Well…” Robert paused “We are about to see if we can wake her up because I think I know what is going on.” “You do?!” Conor and Joanne asked at the same time. What could it be? Is she sick? Did that Aaron dude hurt her? I’ll stomp him through the ground if he did!Robert nodded and sat down next to Karen who was sleeping peacefully. He pulled the blankets away from her and she groaned in her sleep. Robert checked her pulse on her neck and then felt her forehead. “Her temperature and pulse are fine.” He checked her wrists and then listened to her chest. “No abnormalities that I can hear with her heart or lungs…” He rubbed her entire abdomen gently and then pressed on her lower belly. In an instant Karen had her left hand around his throat and she looked she was going to murder him. Whoa! That’s a scary look! I’ve only seen that once before… “Calm down,
-Karen-I stretched my tired muscles having no idea as to how long I was asleep for. That was the longest nap I have ever had in my life! I sat up and blinked tiredly. I still feel exhausted. How much magic did I actually use? I looked around the room and it was empty. “I was not wearing this nightgown when I was awake yesterday.” I stretched again and then crawled to the edge of the bed. I could hear a sweet magical sound from the armoire room, so I decided to investigate. Oh! That’s such a beautiful sound! What in the world is it?! I opened the door quietly and slipped into the room. Ugh… I feel cold still. I should have brought a blanket with me.Bart and Joanne were doing a fast-paced dance and they looked like they were having a wonderful time. What dance is that? I saw Conor using some kind of weird-shaped box with a stick and that was the sweet sound I had heard. Oh… It’s even more beautiful in this room! I have no idea how to describe that sound… Majestic? Ethereal? No! It’s e
-Karen-I took the pails and went back out to the table where Joanne and I continued feasting. “These are so good Karen! You have such great taste in snacks!” She exclaimed as we ate through more than half of the blackberries and only a quarter of the raspberries. Blackberries are way tastier than raspberries. I felt like I was going to pop I had eaten so much. I sat down just stared at the table feeling very depressed with myself. I ate like a pig again. But I was so hungry! I’m going to gain even more weight. What if Conor thinks I’m getting fat? What if he doesn’t want me anymore? What am I going to do?! I looked down at the ring on my right finger and felt a small bit of reassurance but not much. He did promise he wouldn’t leave me.A hand waiving in front of my face brought me back to reality. Conor was sitting next to me. He took my left hand and kissed it sweetly. “Am I fat?!” I asked him seriously. I just wanted to cry, and I couldn’t figure out why. What is wrong with me? Why
-Karen-I took the pails and went back out to the table where Joanne and I continued feasting. “These are so good Karen! You have such great taste in snacks!” She exclaimed as we ate through more than half of the blackberries and only a quarter of the raspberries. Blackberries are way tastier than raspberries. I felt like I was going to pop I had eaten so much. I sat down just stared at the table feeling very depressed with myself. I ate like a pig again. But I was so hungry! I’m going to gain even more weight. What if Conor thinks I’m getting fat? What if he doesn’t want me anymore? What am I going to do?! I looked down at the ring on my right finger and felt a small bit of reassurance but not much. He did promise he wouldn’t leave me.A hand waiving in front of my face brought me back to reality. Conor was sitting next to me. He took my left hand and kissed it sweetly. “Am I fat?!” I asked him seriously. I just wanted to cry, and I couldn’t figure out why. What is wrong with me? Why
-Karen-The next two days passed by uneventfully which I was happy about. Conor had drills with the soldiers each morning, so Joanne and Bart kept me company. Bart was educating both of us on what to expect with babies. This is going to be a ton of work! Who knew babies needed so much looking after? Well, I guess it makes sense since they can’t do anything ‘cept sleep and cry… And get diaper changes… Bart gave me a cube each day around lunch and it was not the best tasting thing I had eaten but I ate it without causing a scene. Every time I ate one Joanne would laugh at the look on my face. Conor and I spent each night talking about what we wanted to teach this child of ours. This baby was now the focus of most of our conversations. We knew that once our little pumpkin arrived we wouldn’t be sleeping much. Conor said if I wanted, he would hire a wet nurse to help me with the baby so that I could rest as much as possible. I told him I would have to think about it since I did want a fu