SOLVED. Fantasy, main character dies before end, "Hawk" may be in title [s]

[caracal-eyes]

Basically the entire description here is going to be a spoiler, since it talks about the death of the main character.

Okay, mostly I remember this one because it pissed me off. I'd say I read it nearly 10 years ago (but really I don't know, my time-sense is pretty bad). The main character is king by the end of the book, and I'm pretty sure he gets stabbed in the back during a battle (though I won't discount treachery, since I remember so little). Then he spends a couple days dying.

Okay, okay, so he dies. That happens in some books.
But he died a good two chapters (and not terribly short ones) before the end. But it was okay because his wife/queen/whatever was pregnant with his kid? No, not okay with me, because as I remember it was all terribly anticlimactic and left me/the reader with just a handful of secondary characters I didn't really care about. Sorry, sorry, I'm ranting. But this is why I need to figure out what book this way, because the annoyance has stuck with me so long and it's even more annoying when I don't have a specific target for it.

If it helps, the story was told in 3rd person and had just the one really main character. I think it followed him from childhood until his death as a fairly young man. He had a best friend who may have had a hand in his death (I don't think so) or else was there to watch over the wife and child after the main character died.

Title almost certainly had the work "hawk" in it. Though some other bird of prey--falcon, eagle--is also possible. Talon of the Silver Hawk was the first title that came to mind for that, but I know it hasn't been that long, and it's definitely not the one I'm looking for.

[caracal-eyes]

Finally remembered I could go look through the library's online catalog. Pretty sure I found it (I didn't know it was third of a series!).The Wings of a Falcon

[Lee Anne]

Sounds like Beyond the Summerland. It is Christian fiction, so I don't know if that was something you would have come across or not, but this matches the ending pretty well.
(view spoiler)[ At the end of the book, Joriaem meets with his best friend-turned enemy, who hates Joriaem because they are both in love with the same girl and Joriaem just married her. I don't remember if Joriaem is a king, prince, or just promised hero, but he definitely has a leadership role. He dies on the beach and his bride is left pregnant with their child (who now is the king/prince/promised hero). (hide spoiler)]