Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 425: The Mines II

Chapter 425: The Mines II

"You didn’t tell her?" Jonah exclaimed, a look of abject disappointment on his face.

"I forgot okay! It just slipped my mind," Atticus said defensively. "I’ve been very busy recently, you know it!"

"Atticus, Sirona said Daphne shouldn’t suffer any stress. Finding out you’re gone without prior warning in the middle of the night definitely constitutes causing her stress," Jonah lectured, tutting loudly. "Do you want to jeopardize the pregnancy?"

"It’s fine, I’m sure Queen Lavinia would let her know," Atticus argued. "Daphne isn’t an idiot, she can discover things on her own without needing me to spoon-feed it to her."

"Isn’t that the problem now?" Jonah sighed, dropping his pickaxe to the floor. "She’s already suspicious of you, and then you go off and vanish without warning? You’d be lucky if she thinks you’re merely having an affair!"

"Daphne has also been acting irrationally, her emotions are all over the place!" Atticus complained, throwing his own pickaxe down on the floor as he plopped down on the soft sand irritably. He wanted to scream at the sky.

If the heavens were good, an iron meteorite would strike him down at that very moment. Jonah could harvest it and bring back his injured body for Daphne to see, so she would feel less mad at him. But of course, nothing hit Atticus but the cold desert air ruffling through his hair, depositing sand in their wake.

"She’s pregnant with your child," Jonah said dryly. His best friend was wholly unsympathetic to his woes. "That’ll make anyone cranky. You were already so annoying as a kid, I’m sure you were worse as a fetus. I predict tough months in her future. Bet your baby will kick her constantly the same way you kicked me as a kid."

"Oh fuck off, you bastard," Atticus said, with no heat in it, kicking Jonah’s ankles with his feet.

Truthfully, part of him was terrified that Daphne might decide to secretly terminate the pregnancy in the upcoming days and months if he was not there to look after her.

Daphne was still excited enough when Sirona announced her possible pregnancy, but then when Queen Lavinia confirmed it, suddenly it was all doom and gloom for his wife, who didn’t even want to attend the celebratory dinner held in her own honor.

She should have gotten food now. Daphne wasn’t a foolish woman who would starve to death without his plate of food― if Daphne wanted to eat, she would have summoned food by herself. But it still made Atticus feel like he failed as a husband. Jonah’s earlier words had caused a niggling feeling of guilt and shame to grow in his gut. He was supposed to get a plate of food for her hours ago.

He should have remembered his promise to Daphne, to begin with, got her her meal, and kissed her goodbye before leaving, the same way King Calarian did for his wife.

"Well, it’s too late to think about it now," Atticus said decidedly, getting up again. "Come on, start digging so that we can make it back to the palace by sunrise."

Jonah groaned but picked up his fallen tool. Together, they made their way back into the tunnels, working in silence. Unfortunately, mere hours passed without success. Atticus had gotten his hands on a few possible ores, but when he and Jonah extracted them carefully, they found fragments so small they were almost useless.

"Gentlemen, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we must make our way back now," King Calarian said, interrupting them. "If we don’t, we’ll have to make our way back in the hot morning sun, and I would not recommend such a harrowing experience for the both of you."

Atticus got up, understanding the reason behind King Calarian’s tightly packed schedule, but not wanting to leave until he got something substantial. He came all this way and risked everything for this damned ore. He couldn’t just go back now!

"But I haven’t found anything I could use yet," he said with a frown. "This is not enough to save Prince Silas."

"We can return tomorrow when the sun is about to set," King Calarian said. "Either way, the men are famished and I am sure you are too, considering how we only hastily ate some dinner before making our way here. You barely even finished your food just now."

"I’m not hungry―"

Yet, Atticus’s stomach thought the exact opposite. It growled, the sound rippling through the night sky as the nearby people turned to stare.

King Calarian laughed. "Young man, it’s not good to be too hasty. Good things come to those who wait."

"Patience was never really a strong trait of mine," Atticus grumbled under his plan but made no move to otherwise argue with King Calarian.

He turned to his camel, mounts which King Calarian had prepared for them. Due to safety reasons, even the journey there was entirely without magic; King Calarian had gotten him and Jonah camels to ride and waterskins to drink from.

"You should probably go look for Daphne once we return," Jonah said as he neared his mount. "She’s probably looking for y― Ew!"

Without warning, Jonah’s camel spat in his face. The glob of spit trickled down his face and into the collar of his shirt, causing his lips to curdle in disgust. Laughter bubbled in Atticus’s throat and spilled out as he clutched his stomach, doubling down as Jonah squealed and cussed.

However, Atticus had laughed a little too hard at that, only to regret it when his own mount did the same. He had a feeling King Calarian picked the most disagreeable mounts on purpose in retaliation.

"That’s what you get for laughing," Jonah grumbled, using the leftover water they had left on their journey here to rinse the spit off his face.

It wasn’t a long journey and they could use magic once they exited the boundaries of the mine. He wouldn’t die of thirst if he used the water to clean himself, but would definitely die from the ick if he didn’t. Blood staining his clothes was one thing― as a soldier, he was more than used to a little bit of red. However, animal excretion was a whole other situation.

"Let’s head back before more camels start to― Look out!"

The warning had barely even left Jonah’s lips before a blast of fire shot through the sands, sending everyone within the area flying as an explosion ripped through the night.