Colin stood in the training room, stripped to the waist with sweat streaming down his body. He struck the training dummy a few more times with his swords though his arms already felt like lead. Panting for breath, he finally dropped them to his sides and slunk over to one of the benches along the wall. He sat down wearily, his muscles burning from working himself almost to exhaustion. He found that hard exercise always helped clear his mind when he was troubled but it had been a long time since he was troubled quite like this.
Maybe this was what he got for thinking things couldn't get any worse. It wasn't enough that Sanria was married to Gilean, was the best parent little Matinus had ever known, and was carrying Gilean's child. No, Kaliadra had taken it upon herself to seduce him to bed and ensured she became pregnant. Colin knew he should have fought harder, resisted her stronger, but her touch was so welcoming and had a strange sense of Sanria about it. Perhaps she had learned something through the connection the two shared, perhaps it was just Colin willing it into existence. Kaliadra had forced Colin to look her in the eyes and acknowledge she wasn't Sanria but in that particular moment, Colin would have said practically anything not to lose the feeling of Sanria coming to him willingly, even if it weren't truly her.
He didn't know how Kaliadra had managed to ensure the pregnancy, even Sanria didn't know, but the fact was it happened. Colin had always loved new life, babies, children of all kinds; but for the first time in his life he found himself hating the little one in Kaliadra. He felt terrible for even thinking that, however, he couldn't lie to himself. He felt his chest tighten as he thought about just how wrong everything had turned out. Sanria carrying Gilean's child, Kaliadra carrying his... the one thing he wanted in his life seemed further away than ever.
Colin fought against his rising emotions and simply stood, almost mechanically approaching the training dummy once more. He swung and hacked, even though his muscles screamed in protest. Eventually he would reach exhaustion, then, maybe, he could sleep without seeing only the sad face of Sanria before him.
