was an odd calmness to her that she didn't understand. She should be terrified of him, and yet all she felt was pity. Sadness. Anger.
But through those emotions, she also had an epiphany.
There was no way either he or Morgen would kill her now. Not so long as she carried this child.
But unlike them, she refused to use an innocent life for her own gain. Blaise was wrong. The baby knew nothing of evil, and she was going to make sure that it never learned of it.
"I am truly sorry for whatever miserly mother spawned you, Kerrigan. No child should be born to a mother who doesn't love it." She narrowed her eyes on him to let him know exactly how much she meant her next words. "But I am not she, and this child is mine, and feebleminded or not, I will fight to my death for it. Do you understand that?"
He looked less than convinced. "Fight with what? I could break you in twain."
Seren moved to stand by his side. She lifted herself up on her toes to lessen the difference in their height. And she met that cold, eerie gaze without flinching. "Prepare for battle."
Kerrigan would have laughed had she not said those words with such growling sincerity that he actually believed her. "Why would you fight for a child you don't even want?"
"As you told Morgen, you gave it to me, and I protect what is mine. You should have chosen a more pliant vessel to carry your seed, my lord. This one will never stand to see her child harmed in any manner, and I will do whatever I must to see him or her safe. I assure you, you have battled much, but you have never faced a mother bent on protection of her babe. There is no power on this earth or beyond it more powerful, I assure you."
He was completely baffled by her conviction. "I will kill you, Seren."
"You will have to." She stepped away from him and turned to Blaise. "I would ask one favor of you, please."
The mandrake exchanged a puzzled look with him. "And that is?"
"That if I do indeed die before my child is grown that you make sure my baby knows that I gave my life for him. That I would have spared him all pain had God willed it, and that I regretted the fact that I wasn't a warrior to fight, but that I did fight with all I was worth??or him."
Blaise gave a solemn nod. "I will tell him."
"Promise?"
"Aye."
And with those words spoken, she left them alone.
Kerrigan didn't move for several heartbeats as his anger mounted. "That stupid little fool."
Blaise still stared after her even though she was no longer in sight. "She's not so stupid, I think."
"And what do you know of it?"
Blaise's violet eyes showed some inner pain. "Truly nothing. My mother was like yours. Selfish and cold. She cared nothing for me. But what I wouldn't have given to have had a mother like Seren."
A wave of disgust curled Kerrigan's lip. "Bah! You'd be a weak-kneed sop. Our mothers gave us an even greater gift. They made us strong."
Blaise met his gaze with an unexpected fire shining brightly in them. "Cruelty isn't strength, my king."
"Then what is?"
"A woman who is willing to fight to the death two people she knows she can't defeat to protect a child that is defenseless."
"That's not strength. That's stupidity."
One corner of Blaise's mouth quirked up as if something amused him. "And so is holding a castle against your enemies when you know you can't hold it for long. Tell me why you haven't handed Seren over to Morgen?"
Rage shot through him as he fought the urge to reach out and strike Blaise. "You overstep your bounds, servant."
Blaise lowered his head with a subjugation Kerrigan knew he didn't feel. "I do indeed. But I notice you haven't answered my question."
What was there to answer to such a ridiculous inference? "What do you think? I love her? I don't. I have nothing but disdain for one such as she."
And still Blaise's expression mocked him. "Funny. I have nothing but respect for her. I think she's a remarkable creature and I think, deep down, so do you."
Growling, Kerrigan took a step toward the mandrake, who quickly and wisely vanished.
His temper was snapping all around to the point that even the air around him was charged with it. It crackled with power and rage. But the truth was, he didn't