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*POV* Randall Franklin 2nd

I rubbed gently at the bandage wrapped around my upper arm, the old castle doctor had done a pretty good job at fixing it up. I swirled the pink liquid in a small glass bottle. "You say this will help me heal faster?" Pip nodded. "Yup, I would hurry and drink it."

Sighing I downed it quickly, it tasted of strawberries and something unknown. Pip sat on a small garden wall in the vast gardens behind the castle. I leaned on it.

"Will Coral be okay?" She sighed with a shrug. "Probably, a small cut on her hand won't hold her back." She looked at her boots. "I think it's more the memory of the experiment that those guys were talking about, that would have her down."

I shifted my gaze to look at her more in depth, was she referring to the interaction with those men?

"Magnur was convinced that if he brought all 4 elements together and did a forbidden spell he would have ultimate power in the form of a child." The corners of her mouth turned down, as she explained.

"But he decided that he wanted Coral to be the one to give birth to it. So he tried it, but it failed for the most part. But Coral did end up having the child." I was starting to see why everyone hated Magnur.

"It's disgusting… Coral didn't want to keep the child because it wasn't hers, so she sent him away…" she trailed off. "No one knows where he is now." Her lips curled into a frown. My heart hurt, as I started to understand Coral's hate for him more in-depth.

I cursed softly under my breath, but Pip heard me and laughed. "That's about right, everyone hates his guts. If I wasn't a lady I would be cursing him too!" She held her stomach as she rocked a little.

The atmosphere lightened, I fiddled with the bottle in my hand. "I would have never thought, no wonder she has such bad trust issues…" Pip smiled tiredly. "We just have to support her the best we can, and make her feel loved." I returned her smile.

"My shoulder is feeling a lot better, would you show me some of your tricks?" She slid off the wall and straightened. "They aren't quite tricks, but sure." As we made our way over to the training yard we were stopped by two guards dressed fully in metal armor.

"Lady Pip we were told to find you and tell you, you have someone here to meet you. We will show you the way." Pip sighed. "Thanks." She looked sadly at me. "I will catch up with you later." She strolled off.

I entered the training yard, and stood to the side to watch the men and women fighting. One pair up was fighting with water and wind. It was kinda a surprise to me that only elemental power was in this world.

But it was also kind of interesting, easier to keep track of that is for sure. "Came to see what you can do?" Sander asked me, coming to stand beside me. He was about my height with blonde hair. I nodded. "I was thinking about it."

"Come." He placed a hand on my shoulder, and we walked over to a clear area. "Let's work on your stance."

That night came and went and the next day we continued to work on my posture and the proper way to hold the sword. I knew a lot of what Sander and Pip were teaching, so it wasn't hard to relearn it.

The next day Coral asked if I would go get fitted for our ceremonial robes. I hadn't seen Jane for a couple days, but she was in the room when we entered. "Jane, how are you feeling?" Coral asked, giving her a hug.

Jane seemed her more normal self, except for the very light blue rune mark on her face. The robes were white with gold cords and trimming.

A new crown was also being fitted to Coral's head.

Once done, we went to dinner, I watched those around the table as they laughed and joked, all trying to please Coral. I started to get annoyed.

In the bedroom, I asked. "Do you like everyone bowing to you?" She stared at me for a second. "What do you mean? I am their queen, I am their ruler." I sighed, and she came over to hug me.

"Do you feel out of place? And it's not that I like it per say, it's just how it works." I gave her a kiss, before smiling. "I see, have you ever thought about disbanding the kingdom and letting the people make the rules?" She laughed, leaning back, she looked at me, like I had 3 eyes.

"You are joking right? If I did that there would be chaos then, other kingdoms would pop up and they would war for top spot." I could see her point.

"Now that we are talking about serious topics, Jane's rune marking, is she going to be okay? Is that how it starts?" I shrugged. "I don't know, she seems alright." She sighed, pulling away to finish brushing her hair.

Lula tugged on my pant leg, babbling. I picked her up. She was getting quite big. She babbled for a while, I set her on the bed, and laid down beside her.

My mind wandered to what Pip had been saying the other day about Magnur's experiment. "Coral, do you regret giving away that child?" I heard the bush fall to the ground, the stings to my heart tugged. I didn't look at her.

A moment passed before she said. "I little… but he. I couldn't." A sob followed and then I heard the door to the bathroom click stuff. "Shit!" I whispered, setting Lula on the floor, I went over to the door.

"Coral? I didn't mean to hurt you." I sucked in a breath, my chest growing tighter. I sighed, about to turn away when the door opened. Her face streaked with tears and her eye's watery. She looked up at me.

"I-." Her lip quivered as she tried to speak. Then she sprung forward into my arms sobbing, wrapped her arms around my neck and barring her face in my chest. "It was horrible." I rubbed her back, unsure of what else to do but comfort her, because I had brought it up.

If Magnur was still alive I wouldn't hesitate to beat him up, heck if he wasn't dust I would go find him and kick him just for good measure!