"More lies," Owain said, though there was a catch in his voice that hadn’t been there before. "Who’s to say the child is even mine? Congratulations, Samira, on finding a kitchen boy to keep you company and warm your bed while you lived a life you didn’t deserve in the Villa," Owain sneered.

Inwardly, however, his heart quaked, and he struggled to pull his eyes away from her belly. Was she really carrying his child? His son? He’d never once left a bastard behind; he’d been certain of it. But now, staring at the woman in the center of the aisle, he couldn’t be entirely certain that he hadn’t.

"No one touched me but you, Lord Owain," Samira said, speaking directly to him at last. "No one would dare to have a dalliance with your ’Lady Ashlynn’, especially in your house. Every kitchen boy and stablehand has seen how you treat your soldiers when you train with them, my Lord," she added. "No one would dare to risk the beating for touching me while I pretended to be her."

"And you were careless, Lord Owain," she added, taking a step forward as she confronted the father of her child at last. "You gave me plenty of pennyroyal for tea, but did you ever see me drink it? Did you ever make me brew it before your eyes to be certain?"

On the dais, Owian’s face momentarily drained of color as he realized what he was saying. Owain was no stranger to brothels, but there, he rarely worried about a woman succumbing to complications. The mistress of the house would see that all her girls were properly dosed if she wanted any man of status spending silver and gold under her roof.

Kaefin thought he understood what Owain intended when he obtained the herbs for him. As a newlywed, Owain could hardly be seen ducking out to the houses of ill-repute they’d frequented together as younger men. But with a wife who was with child, Kaefin suspected that his lord would need to ’relieve his tensions’ with a mistress in the manor, and he’d made certain that Owain had a way to do so safely.

It had never once occurred to Owain that Samira, stupid, naive, gullible Samira, would dare to defy his orders to brew and drink a cup of pennyroyal tea if she ever missed her monthly. He’d been very clear that if she wanted to continue in his household, she was absolutely forbidden from bearing his child.

"I was foolish to think I could change your mind by bearing your child," Samira continued when Owain proved too stunned to speak. Or perhaps he was too consumed by anger. It didn’t matter either way. "You told me, when Lady Jocelynn came to visit, that I needed to become her friend so that I could become her lady-in-waiting once the time for the charade was over."

"You needed your alliance with the Blackwells for your war," Samira said, speaking loudly enough that the entire hall could hear her words. "But you didn’t want to give up on your bit of fun, whom you called ’Ashlynn’ whenever she was on her back. You wanted me close at hand even once your new lady arrived."

"But that all changed once Lady Jocelynn finally came to the Villa," Samira said, turning to face Jocelynn and giving her an apologetic look. "Once you started courting Lady Jocelynn, you never called me to your bed again. If you had, you would have known long ago that I bore your child." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Samira, I..." Jocelynn started to say, only to stop when Samira shook her head.

"It’s all right, my Lady," Samira said with a soft smile. "I know it must have been hard on you, knowing what he’d done and having to cozy up to him," she said, inadvertently twisting the knife her words had slid into Jocelynn’s heart. How could she know, after all, that Jocelynn had once been just like her, dreaming of what it would be like to win the affection of the handsome Lothian Lord, even when it should have been an impossible dream to realize.

"But you saved my life by taking his attention away from me, and you saved my child, too," Samira said, gently stroking her belly and feeling the faint movements within.

"Because of you, I lived long enough for a rescue to reach me," Samira said, turning back to address the court. "It was Sir Ollie who came for me when Lady Ashlynn’s soldiers attacked the Villa. She sent him to find me and keep me safe, along with all the rest of the servants of the Villa, while the battle was being fought."

"I’m living a good life now, because of Lady Ashlynn and Sir Ollie," Samira said, smiling warmly for the first time since she’d started telling her tale. "I thought I’d have to escape the Villa in the middle of winter to save my child, but not only did they rescue me, but Sir Ollie opened up his manor to me to give me a place to stay until the spring."

"I’ll have my own house in his village by summer," Samira said as she turned back to Owain. "I have friends there who care for me, ones who can help me raise my child far away from here."

"I don’t know whether I’ll have a boy or a girl," Samira added. "But there’s one thing I do know. Now that I know what kind of man you really are, I’ll make certain my child never knows who their father was. They’ll never carry the Lothian name, and they’ll never, ever, be a part of your legacy."

"I’m free, my Lord," Samira said definitely. "I needed help, and like a miracle, help came for me. And Lady Ashlynn... The woman you tried to kill, the one who should hate me more than anyone for carrying her husband’s child... She’s the one keeping me safe, and her knight has protected me more than you ever would have."

"So, when I name my child, they’ll be named for the people who saved them, and not a trace of you!"