Role

Chapter 4

The knight came by regularly after that, with each appearance beginning with me
being shepherded into the cupboard to hide. A year or two of this went by, at
one point occurring at each and every night my father was gone.

And then came the trifle, as my mother called it. The slightest of bumps, but
noticeable on her small frame quicker than she might have wanted. Words between
my parents made it clear, she was proud to have a sibling for me, perhaps a boy
for her father to follow in his footsteps.

As my mother's pregnancy went on, I heard the secrets from the cupboard that
she promised the child to both her lover and my father. It is yours, she said,
with an ease to either that left me unsure what the truth was. I was alone with
her and a midwife when the child was born, too pale to be my father's and I was
unsure what would come next when he returned to us.