"We're nearly there, Your Majesty," the driver called from outside, his voice too loud in the otherwise silent night.

The Queen nodded, though he couldn't see her. Her fingers tightened around the silk blanket wrapping her youngest son. Second-born, second-loved – but no less precious for it. If only there had been another way.

The carriage slowed to a halt. Here, the trees grew so close together that their trunks seemed to merge. The air felt different – heavier, charged with something that made her skin prickle.

"Wait here," she commanded the driver as she stepped down, clutching her baby to her chest. Her silk shoes sank slightly into the damp earth, mud climbing up the hems of her dress. 

Walking through the uneven terrain after giving birth only a few hours ago wasn't good for her. Her legs ached, and her back felt as if someone had taken a hammer to it. Sweat made her clothes stiff and the fabric clung uncomfortably to her skin around her arms and legs.

She wiped her brow and kept walking, ignoring the way her body protested. This was too important. This was necessary. 

The Queen lost track of time as she picked her way carefully through the dense forest. She remembered the way but still silently begged whatever gods were watching to please help her. Her family was devoted to the new gods and there were no heretics in her bloodline who pledged their lives and lineages to old gods who more resembled monsters and abominations than divine beings. 

Still, she'd gone to that place. Still, she'd prayed before that altar. Still, she silently begged for aid as she stumbled over roots and dodged gnarled branches to whomever would listen.

The tight circle of ancient trees finally gave way, and she almost stumbled into an uneven patch of forest where nothing grew, clutching her baby tightly to her chest. Moonlight spilled over her, revealing small white blossoms lining the otherwise barren space - moonshade lillies. Nothing grew past their circle because the spores from the flowers killed all other plant life. 

"Your Majesty."

A figure emerged from between the trees, tall and lean, wearing robes that seemed to shift between deep purple and absolute darkness. His long beard moved as he picked his way toward her, careful to step over the ring of flowers. The Clan Leader's face was partially obscured by a hood, but she could see the gleam in his eyes.

His voice was smooth as honey with an underlying current that reminded her of a snake slithering over her bare feet. "I must admit, I didn't expect you to come," he mused.

"You know why I'm here." The Queen lifted her chin, summoning every ounce of royal dignity she possessed, ignoring the bead of sweat that rolled down the side of her face and the ache that shot up her spine. "You're the only one who can help."

He circled her slowly, and she forced herself to remain still. "The great and honorable clans shun us. They call our magic corrupt, unnatural. Yet here you are, seeking that very magic." A smile played at the corners of his mouth as he shifted his head, and the moonlight revealed more of his features. "How desperate you must be."

The baby stirred, and the Queen adjusted her hold. Her arms shook. She was quickly running out of time. Her maid could only stall for so long, and she would soon be missed. "Speak plainly and name your price. I do not have time to banter with you."

"Straight to business, then? I imagine our esteemed King must be anxious for news of his son and heir." He stopped in front of her, his eyes running the length of her before settling on her face once more. "Very well. I want legitimacy. Recognition. A seat at court and the Queen's public support for my clan's... unique abilities."

She had expected as much, but her heart still clenched. To endorse their magic would scandalize the court, alienate her allies. Create friction between her and her King. The other clans would be outraged. The Western Capital would gain even more power. Supporting him could destroy everything. Yet, when she looked down at her son's innocent face, her answer settled like a lead weight in her stomach.

"You'll have it," she said firmly. "But only after you keep your end of the bargain."

He raised an eyebrow. "You don't trust me, Your Majesty?"

"Would you, in my position?"

He laughed, the sound echoing strangely around the dead space. "No, I suppose not. Tell me of the bargain you made with… it."

The Queen swallowed hard. She thought, for a moment, she could feel the cool stone under her and the sound of her own tears hitting the ground as she knelt and begged, expecting to be ignored just as she had been in all the other temples she'd visited. "It promised to preserve my husband's bloodline, to ensure his dynasty would continue. But the price..." She squeezed her eyes closed. "The price was too high. I cannot pay it."

She remembered the precise words. Remembered thinking the terms were simple. But then the unexpected had happened, and she found herself desperate for a way out of the bargain she'd struck.

"And now you seek to cheat fate itself by sending him to a place devoid of magic, where it cannot reach him." He almost sounded as if he admired her.

"Can you do it?" She failed to contain the desperation in her voice. 

"Oh yes." He reached out and traced a symbol in the air with long and practiced fingers. It hung there, glowing faintly purple. "There are other worlds, other dimensions. I can send him somewhere safe, somewhere he can grow up free from the claim you subjected him to. But..." His eyes glittered, reflecting the symbol that still hung in the air. "Are you certain? Once done, it cannot be undone. I cannot reach him in that place. You will never see him again."

The Queen's eyes prickled with tears, but she forced them back. "Better never to see him again than to lose him to my hubris. Better to know he lives somewhere, even if I cannot hold him, than to watch him..." She couldn't finish the sentence. It was unthinkable what that thing wanted to do with her precious son. 

The Clan Leader nodded slowly. "Very well. Give him to me."

This was the moment she had dreaded. Her arms seemed to lock up, refusing to release their precious burden. The baby opened his eyes – so like his father's – and looked up at her with the trust of an innocent. 

"I love you," she whispered, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "I will always love you. Remember that, please. Please, remember that." Then, before she could change her mind, she handed her precious bundle to him.

The Clan Leader cradled the child with surprising gentleness. He began to move his free hand in intricate patterns, leaving trails of purple light in the air. The symbols he drew were like nothing the Queen had ever seen, twisting in ways that hurt her eyes and made her want to recoil. The air grew thick, heavy with power, and a high-pitched whine filled her ears.

This was dangerous and forbidden magic. No human eyes should be allowed to witness such a thing, let alone wield it. This was something left for old gods and abominations. 

When he stopped moving his fingers, the forest around them had fallen completely silent. There was no sound of birds or insects, and the very air around them seemed to have retreated. It was as if they hung suspended in a bubble devoid of all else save for the three of them. 

"Remember our bargain," the Clan Leader said, his voice distorted as if coming from very far away. "Your backing, Your Majesty. Your complete support."

The Queen swallowed, trying to find her voice in all that unsettling stillness. 

"You have my word," she managed to say, her own voice echoing hollowly.

The symbols around them flared almost blindingly bright. With one final flourishing gesture of his hand, the baby was gone. No sudden flash of light, no sound. Simply there one moment and gone the next, as if he had never existed at all.

The Queen stood frozen, staring at the Clan Leader's now-empty arms. The air gradually returned to normal, the strange symbols fading away to nothing.

Sounds slowly trickled back to where they stood, the forest timidly reaching out to see if the threat had passed. 

"It is done," the Clan Leader said quietly. "He lives, Your Majesty, but in an entirely different world."

She nodded stiffly. "I thank you, Clan Leader. And I trust the bargain struck here will be discreetly remembered."

He smiled in what she thought was a reassuring way. It was a poor attempt. "Of course, Your Majesty." He bowed in deference. "I am, after all, your loyal and devoted subject."

His words made her skin crawl, made her want to run away. She did neither of those things. 

With whatever dignity she could muster, the Queen turned and walked back to her carriage. Her dress got caught on a fallen branch, and when she pressed one hand against the trunk of a nearby tree for support, something sharp sliced across her palm. She righted herself, ignoring the tearing sound and the blood trickling down her fingers as she pulled herself free. 

When she finally reached the carriage, the driver helped her in without a word and handed her a clean handkerchief. The Queen numbly pressed it against her palm and barely registered as the carriage began to move again, leaving that place and its unsettling magic behind. 

Only then, hidden behind the silk curtains, did the Queen finally break. Silent sobs wracked her body as she clutched her chest, her arms, looking for the warmth of the baby that had been there. 

She had saved him, but at what cost to her heart? She alone would bear this horrible secret and the bargains she'd made in the dark. 

The carriage rattled on through the night, carrying her back to a palace where she would have to lie to her husband, her King, and pretend her second son had never existed at all.