Chapter 13.

Peyton Dunne.

One day, King Cyprian V was passing through the slavers' area and met a pretty white woman with two little girls, who dedicated herself to the gallant life in order to survive. That woman was called Peyton Dunne, who managed to attract the king's attention with her good sexual skills, so when the king returned to the palace he let it be known that both the woman and her daughters would now live within the palace.

The elders of the ruling court were glad that the king not only had a queen, but also a concubine that he could have fun with, and this made everyone notice that the king looked radiant and powerful, full of vigor as he had a 22-year-old queen and a 28-year-old concubine with a 7-year-old heir and two stepdaughters of eight and nine years old, life had blessed the king in some way, or so everyone in the kingdom and outside of it indicated that it was evident that other kings also had concubines, but they were not so shameless to make it so public, they liked to be a little more discreet in that matter, but for Cyprian the Fifth, that was not a concept that he knew nor did he want to know.

The coexistence between the queen and the concubine was quite hostile, in some way the concubine always tried to get closer to the queen to try to be a supposed friend, but she only found the indifference of Eva, who at no time spoke to her or looked at her, in fact, she acted as if Peyton did not exist and this infuriated Peyton even more who always tried to please everyone to know where to grab onto in an awkward situation. 

The girls, both Bianca and Lina Dunne, were fascinated by the beauty of Cyprian, who was superior to any boy of his age, but he had a small problem and it was that no matter how much they tried to make him see adults, boys and girls alike, he always said that he was far above them all, which on more than one occasion resulted in his father the king sanctioning him by taking away the sweets, he liked or prohibiting certain activities he practiced and also blackmailing him to try to put himself at the same level as the others, if he wanted to see his mother again, which to a certain extent worked; if it weren't for the midwife Maggie, who was always aware of what was happening with both Cyprian and Queen Eva, and no matter how many restrictions there were for the boy, Maggie always tried to find an open door for Cyprian to see the way out of an uncomfortable situation for him.

 And then came the coldest night of winter, it was hailing and snowing at the same time, the economy was stable as was everything in the palace, but a formal request from Peyton to Cyprian ended in a deadly tragedy for Eva, as Peyton persuaded the king to let the three of them be together that night and enjoy carnal pleasures in common. The king did not object, but Eva was not aware of the situation, and when Peyton entered her bedroom in the middle of the night Eva tried to get her out, but then her executioner Cyprian arrived closed the door and asked both women to take off their clothes…Eva's tragic face upon hearing this made it clear that she was not willing to give in to such a request, for Peyton it was easy to obey the order, but upon realizing that Eva was paralyzed and terrified, she gently approached and looking the queen in the eyes began to remove the clothes from her body, when Eva came to she pushed the woman away with a slap knocking her to the ground, and Cyprian seeing this could not bear the situation any longer, grabbed Eva by the hair and left the room dragging her through the halls while she contained the screams in her throat, and then entered one of the coldest and emptiest rooms in the palace and mistreated her until she lost consciousness, but this did not stop him from being able to do so. It was not enough for him, and he beat her until she woke up from the pain and looked him in the eyes begging for mercy but even so, the energetic charge of fury that he sent to the king did not allow him to hear her words... and strangling her until her eyes lost their shine, he took her life, however, the king did not know that in that same room hidden inside a wooden piece of furniture his son Ciprianito was watching everything, who playing and wandering through the halls of the palace had hidden there so that his mother would look for him to make him laugh and pamper him sweetly as she did every night since he could remember... the child only kept silent to avoid one more problem for his mother, but the tears secretly overflowed down his cheeks as he hugged her knees, and then, when his father finally left that room, his mother's head turned in the direction of the piece of furniture and both eyes met staring at each other: one feeling pain and the other not having life.

The child was coming to life; it was not until nothing was really heard outside the room that the crying child came out of the furniture with the blanket that covered him, which had been knitted by his mother, he lay down on the floor next to Eva's lifeless body; and covering her, he hugged her until dawn.

And the midwife Maggie found that heartbreaking scene, the child did not want to separate from the lifeless body of his mother and he held back the tears in his throat, but his eyes were full of pain, a pain that could be felt in the air and that cut off the breathing and anguish of anyone who was nearby. When the people were informed that the queen had died, a great funeral was held and the child who saw his mother sink into the water off the coast was left completely alone, not physically, but emotionally he felt that he had lost a part of him, perhaps the most valuable one, so many good times, laughs and games came to his mind, when the sun set, his mother had to leave him alone in the care of a father with aggression problems and a promiscuous stepmother, ¿what else would he have to endure? He was just a child who would only have to focus on his rights and duties from this moment on.

Days and months passed, but the attitude was always the same. It seemed that there was no emotion on the boy's face. He remained distant from his father and stepmother and completely ignored his stepsisters, since, for him, they had no value at all. However, Peyton, realizing this, told the king that the most sensible thing would be to send the boy to study in the duchy so that he could feel more focused and motivated. In a certain way, the king found the request interesting and accepted... he informed Duke Blake to take care of his son Cyprian VI's studies and activities for a year. And so, one fine morning the boy left with the midwife Maggie, who took care of him and was the closest person to the infant, in the direction of the duchy where they would be received with great affection and much appreciation, since they already knew both of them within the city and even the women in the mansion, upon learning that Nari would return, prepared a banquet to celebrate his return.

As soon as they arrived, the guard in charge of letting people in had already been informed that they were coming and let them through without any problem; Duke Blake placed them in a small residence attached to the palace so that they could have their privacy, Maggie hugged the child and he collapsed in tears.

 In his arms, she remained silent because she knew that he needed to get out those emotions that he had repressed in his heart and then she said to him: Nari, your mother was not to blame for anything, the world is to blame for allowing him to be born at the wrong time, the child blew his nose and said to her: it is neither the time nor the one who was born that is to blame, it is that woman who poisoned my father's mind that was already unstable, the midwife did not say anything and remained silent, but just at that moment a commotion was heard at the entrance, the music intensified and then Maggie opened the door and Miss Delfina along with Brett entered the house with flowers: Nari's smile and eyes shone with joy, it seemed like it had been a long time since she had seen them and in fact it had been five years since the last time she saw them, along with them entered the women of the big house: Jimena, Petra, Daniela, Lola, Sol, Luz, Ana and Lucero with musicians and delicious food, the child really felt like he was in a nice place; The women danced and sang while the musicians ate and laughed, but Nari and Brett laughed heartily as they enjoyed a cake sitting on the edge of a fountain.