Cant stop imagining how hot it would be to fuck raw thinking you cant get pregnant because you dont get your period anymore, letting them cum inside you as much and as many times as they want.
Weeks go by and you get nauseous randomly but think you ate something weird, not even considering pregnancy a possibility. Two months have passed and you still get filled with cum regularly, but feel the slightest bit tighter around your stomach.
Three months go by and your pants dont fit the same, so you buy different ones thinking you put on some weight but are fine with it. Your belly feels firmer than you would’ve thought, and more rounded but everyone’s body is different you guess. When you get fucked they can easily grab your stomach for leverage to thrust into you as deep as possible, and you feel so incredibly full.
By month four you’re confused bc you look… kind of pregnant? But that’s not possible because you would have known by now… right? Youve gotten comfortable with the fullness you carry, and start to think maybe it wouldnt be so bad to see just how big you get.
there’s something so sexy to me about not knowing you’re in labor and giving those first, naive, confused pushes. wondering why you’re feeling this urge. the brief moment of bewildered horror as you feel a huge weight shift down inside of you. there being no physical evidence that you’re giving birth yet, but just knowing deep inside your body that a baby is moving downwards, ready to make its inevitable entrance into the world.
Hmm… Magic soulmates universe where you conceive the moment you meet your soulmate, and give birth when you get together.
Pairs that hit it off and instantly know the other is “the one” will go through rapid pregnancies. They might sit down at the beginning of a date feeling normal, then suddenly get a little nauseous from the smell of the restaurant and begin to feel tenderness in the chest. A game of chicken starts, each realizing what’s happening to themselves but waiting to see the other’s silhouette begin to round before they say anything. Electric energy builds as they linger over the half-eaten entrees that wouldn’t fit in their suddenly very full bellies anyway, knowing that if they act on their desire to fall into bed together, they might not have time to finish before they have to push.
Maybe there’s a “straight” guy who has a years-long pregnancy, mistaking it for average gradual weight gain until he starts to feel small kicks within. He tries to think of anyone new he’s met recently, but can’t come up with anything. Then the next time he hangs out with his best bro, he notices bro’s shirt is clinging to his belly, and he’s so puffy in the chest that his areola show through his shirt, to say nothing of his thickened nipples. But his soulmate can’t be his bro… that’s gay! He continues to deny it, even as his body grows weary and slow from years of carrying. It’s only the weeks of active labor that finally bring them together, clutching each others’ hands tightly and sharing shaky first kisses between pushes.
There are people who reject the idea of soul mates, and choose to be with someone else. The decision doesn’t seem so drastic at first, even when they start to show. These pregnancies progress so slowly and the symptoms are so mild that it might seem like there are no consequences for their departure from the customs… until they’re well into middle-age and realizing that they’re going to spend the rest of their life in the third trimester of pregnancy. Elderly people with a backs bent by past-due bellies might be seen as admirably principled, or too stubborn, or even as romantic, if they‘ve spent their years with someone who isn’t their soul mate.
A woman might worry that the person she’s attracted to is meant for someone else since they have a big pregnant belly and she’s flat as a board. She decides to be there for them even if it hurts, and attributes her own cramping stomach to the emotional turmoil of her unrequited love. She doesn’t understand why the pain is getting so bad until her body starts sending her strange signals, and she finds herself squatting down and pushing alongside her love.
Of course, soul mates aren’t as simple as one for each person, either. Most people have more than one soul mate!
For a polyamorous person, the births become more complicated. One pregnancy might start or end on top of another, such as a person carrying multiple steadily growing babies in their belly while they foster slower-burning connections, then meeting someone who moves faster and suddenly ballooning up with an additional baby. It’s exhausting to give birth to a 10lb singleton while second-trimester triplets remain unmoved in their womb, but luckily, they have many hands to help.
In monogamous relationships, multiple soulmates aren’t so easy to digest. A happy marriage can be ruined by one person’s belly slowly beginning to round out. This can be especially complicated in cases of infidelity. Many a cheating partner has struggled to conceal their pregnancy or pass it off as weight gain, only to be shamefully discovered with their new lover’s child halfway out of them.
A fraught will-they-won’t-they relationship might be the most unpleasant of all, the troubled couples’ bellies swelling to full term within days or weeks, only for birth to elude them. They might go into labor more than once, or endure prolonged, useless labors, groaning with contractions even as they play emotional games. An unsure lover can inhibit delivery even up to the final moments, with denied feelings or cold feet leaving someone’s poor hole stuck at a quivering crown.
Hey, it's the graduation anon who wrote that ask about two months ago about potentially being pregnant during my graduation next year. Idk if you got my last ask, just wanted to give you a small update.
I actually managed to hook up with someone shortly after my first ask. I haven't taken a test or any appointments yet, because I was so busy with university that I had no time to think about it. I also haven't noticed any big changes yet, but I've had some suspicious moments of nausea and cravings during the last weeks. But that might also be due to the stress. I have a bit of a heavier body build, so my physique hasn't changed much. I've been feeling some kind of knot in my guts when I press my hand onto my abdomen, that might also be from stress. Who knows what I might look like in a few months? I'm not sure yet if I even want to find out what's going on yet. Maybe I'll just wait a bit more. You know, to make sure I'm not wrong. I mean how embarrassing would that be... I need to focus on my studies again, anyways.
~ Grad Anon
briefly back to give you an update on grad anon.
anon, I'm sure it's nothing. stress can do crazy things to your body. if you still get periods, don't worry if you miss one or two...that's a stress symptom too. do try to take it easy, I worry about your stress levels. it sounds like they're growing. ;)
on a real note I wish you the best with whatever this is...and good luck in your classes. something tells me you might need the GPA boost for whatever happens next semester.
i think i might be coming down with something. lately ive just been nauseous and exhausted all the time. i can barely get out of bed in time for class or work and im normally a morning person?? doesn't help i can only stomach bland foods. the smell of anything stronger than buttered bread or noodles has me wanting to upchuck everything. i don't have time to go to the doctor so i guess i'll just wait it out
Fandom: Remarried Empress (WEBTOON)
Summary: Navier doesn't feel well when the day of Rashta's honorary banquet rolls around. Alas, she is the Empress and Sovieshu is already under the impression that she's trying to ruin the runaway slave's life and reputation, so she has to make an appearance despite this.
Warnings: Pregnancy, birth, graphic birth, unplanned pregnancy
Word Count: 12,150
Ship(s): Navier/Sovieshu, Rashta/Sovieshu
Archive link!
“Your Majesty, forgive me for saying this but you do not look well,” one of her ladies-in-waiting tutted as she combed through the Empress’s golden locks.
Navier sighed, bringing her thumb and forefinger up to the bridge of her nose. The mention of her health brought all of her attention back to the symptoms that she had been experiencing since she woke up. She had had a rush of energy just as daylight began to creep into her room, which had resulted in her getting a lot of the work that needed to be done and had been waiting for some time now. She had slowly slipped back into feeling ill, when she was only about halfway through her work for that morning. She had pushed through it despite the exhaustion that attempted to take hold of her and the cramps that were beginning to plague her.
She could once again feel the grating pain against the inside of her lower stomach. “Truth be told, I do not feel well,” she replied. She felt uncomfortable, like she had reached her moon cycle once more.
“Would you like for me to call for the physician?” Countess Eliza asked as she paused her work.
“I do not think that it calls for that just yet,” she waved her hand to the side to try and dispel the other woman’s worries. “I believe that I am just having my moon cycle, that’s nothing that the physician needs to worry himself with.”
Laura clicked her tongue as she walked to her Empress’ side and began to help the other noble woman get her hair into the right style. “That’s really too bad, Your Majesty. Can you imagine how wonderful it would have been to reveal that you were pregnant right after everyone went to all this fuss for that woman? They’d all be so embarrassed that they paid her any mind when you were really the one that deserved it.”
“Laura,” Eliza chastised again, though Navier couldn’t help but chuckle at the young woman’s unwavering support for her. The elderly noble then turned to her Empress as well, “Your Majesty, please do not encourage this behavior, she’s going to get herself in trouble one of these days!”
Laura made a huffing noise, “Any trouble that I got in for defending Her Majesty would be worth it.”
Navier smiled softly at her two friends. “Please, there is no need to get in any trouble defending me. I’m perfectly capable of doing that myself. I know that at the moment the palace is all abuzz with news about Rashta and her pregnancy. She will be remembered for a while as the one who gave His Majesty his firstborn, but I will still be remembered as the empress that took care of the entire nation and helped us become the Empire that we are today. I will also be known as the one to give him his true heir, once he finally comes around to his senses and realizes that he has been neglecting his husbandly duties,” Navier said as she sat up a bit straighter when she felt the finger pointing into her back. She had a bad habit of slouching when her stomach cramped like this, but it was the only way to try and negate the pain echoing through her abdomen. It was bad enough at this point that her entire hips ached, all the way down into her legs.
The brush in Laura's hands began to pull a bit harder as the redheaded woman got worked up again. “I can’t believe that people are spreading such horrible rumors about you being infertile when he isn’t even doing what he’s supposed to be doing! How are you even supposed to conceive a child when he won’t-”
Eliza gasped, “Laura! Do not say such crass things. You are a lady of high regard, not a peasant working in a brothel. You are in front of Her Majesty as well, and you are very lucky that Empress Navier is not at all strict with us and has enough kindness in her heart to allow such vulgar language and behavior in her presence!”
“Countess Eliza, I promise that it is alright. Laura just gets worked up. I find it quite endearing. And no one can hear us here, it’s alright if she has the occasional slip of the tongue,” Navier replied.
The three women went quiet as Eliza and Laura continued their work. They braided long, beautiful strands of golden locks into intricate plates and then wove them together so that they formed a bun at the back of her head. The Empress was left alone for a moment as they left to go and fetch the crown and veil combo that she had chosen to match her outfit for that day. She wanted to remind everyone that she was indeed the Empress of the Eastern Empire, even if she had not been able to conceive a child before a lowly runaway slave turned mistress. Navier had an appearance to keep up, after all.
The golden-haired woman bit her lip as the pain came to a peak again and then faded back to the annoying level that it seemed to be constantly hovering at. “I am beginning to question whether or not I am well enough to attend the banquet.”
“Maybe this has come at the perfect time then, Your Majesty!” Laura cried, a fiery spark shining in her eyes as she kneeled down beside her empress. “You could use this as a valid excuse for not having to attend that woman’s banquet! No one can fault you for not attending if you don’t feel well, and if she throws a fit about you not going or some of the attention being taken off of her then she looks even worse than she does right now!”
“Laura, if someone were to hear you talking like this then the Emperor would throw you back up into the tower,” Eliza tutted, like a worried mother hen. “And you know that the Empress would never do something that petty. She is above that.”
“I do think that I should at least make an appearance,” Navier said. “If not for her then to save my own face.”
Eliza walked to the other side, kneeling down by her other side to mimic the way that Laura was sitting. The redhead folded her hands in her lap and stared down at them, ashamed that she had implied something that she hadn’t meant to. The elderly noble woman examined her Empress with the careful eye of a woman who had done this to her own children. “I do think that you should visit the physician before the day is over, Your Majesty. I have been your Lady in Waiting for long enough to know that this is not a normal moon cycle for you.”
“Send one of the maids to tell the physician to meet me here in about an hour. I will make an appearance at the banquet, give Rashta my gift, and spend some time there. Enough time to make it look like I was actually in attendance before I come back here. I am not feeling well,” she reiterated with a small shake of her head.
“I do think that is a good plan, Your Majesty. I would hate for something to be terribly wrong and to be responsible for any further pain that is bestowed upon you because of this ailment,” Eliza said. She rose from the ground and quickly walked to the halls to send one of the maids to the physician.
Navier stood and allowed Laura to continue to finish dressing her. The Empress set off when both of her ladies-in-waiting were also finished getting ready. However, the discussion about her illness meant that it had been an hour since the banquet itself had actually started. They had done a bit of this on purpose, because if Navier had been there the entire time then she would look like a fool as it would appear that she didn’t understand how much of an insult this pregnancy was to her as the wife of the Emperor. However, they hadn’t meant to attend this late.
When Navier got to the edge of the doors leading into the hall where the banquet was being held, she paused. A sickness whirled in her stomach and seeped into her veins. She couldn’t help herself. Rashta by all means should have been someone that she pitied and felt sorry for. The woman had made a fool of herself in front of countless nobles, and she had been thrust into a world that she didn’t understand because of the fleeting fascination of a man that had it all. Navier of all people understood what it was like to be under the hateful, watchful eye of the public.
Despite all of this, despite how sorry she knew that she should feel for Rashta, all she ever felt when she saw that wretched woman was contempt. Rashta had intruded on an already fragile relationship, even if it had only been a marriage of convenience, Sovieshu was still her childhood friend, and then proceeded to bully and manipulate the society around her and several of Navier’s closest friends.
The Empress looked over all of the nobles, dressed in some of their best clothing, mingling around with each other. She could already see a mountain of gifts in the corner that were meant to go to the unborn member of the Imperial family. No doubt Rashta thought that they were for her, after all, the way that she had treated this pregnancy seemed to be to get all of the attention that she possibly could.
Sovieshu told me that Rashta’s baby might become mine, the Empress thought. Did everyone come here thinking the same thing? Do they think that because I might never be able to give birth to a child that they have to suck up to Rashta’s baby? Even if they did not think that way, the firstborn always makes a big impact.
She sighed, stealing her nerves again. She would have to deal with the way not being pregnant before the Emperor’s mistress looked on her reputation another day. For now, she needed to seem like a benevolent and kind Empress, while still being sure that she didn’t seem too kind, and like she could be taken advantage of.
Navier stood as tall and regal as she could without turning her nose up at the other nobles that were waiting in the hall. She walked with careful, measured steps as the doors to the banquet hall were opened for her. She approached through the crowds of guests that parted for her like blades of grass when you walk through them. Most of the conversations paused as they all focused on the regal, steely, beautiful Empress of the Eastern Empire.
“Your Majesty!” Rashta shrieked as she lurched herself off of the seat of honor at the front of the room. She was wearing another gaudy, childish dress. She had her silvery curls pulled back so that they fell over her shoulders but didn’t fall in front of her face. There was an ostentatious piece of jewelry keeping them back, jewels set into a hairpiece so that it appeared like there were flowers there. Her dress was purple, multiple different kinds. The bust had a large bow sitting over her breasts and the sleeves were puffy but ended high up on her arms to allow room for matching gloves.
“Rashta,” Navier replied curtly as she stopped the appropriate distance away from the mistress.
“I’m so happy that you came, I thought you weren’t coming as it’s already been an hour since the banquet started,” she bubbled. Navier glanced past her at her husband, who looked rather unhappy and uncomfortable. For a moment, she wondered if she really looked that ill. She shook the thought away after a moment. Sovieshu hadn’t cared for her until now, there was no reason that he would start now.
She waved her hand behind her, signaling Countess Eliza to come forward. The noble woman did as she was told, handing over the gift that Navier had spent hours and hours agonizing over. Getting something that would look good to the public but wouldn’t look as though she were trying too hard was a difficult balance to achieve. “This gift is from Her Majesty to the baby,” Eliza made sure to punctuate the last two words. This gift was not to Rashta, and the Lady in Waiting wasn’t about to allow the silver-haired woman to tarnish her Empress’ reputation with that lie ever again.
Rashta took the gift, looking to Sovieshu with an overly excited expression on her face. It was as if she hadn’t been receiving presents and gifts for the baby all day. The Emperor nodded, and she began to tear at the packaging. “Wow!” she beamed as she saw the ornate, decorative sword underneath. “Oh my! I’ve never seen such a beautiful sword before…”
She held the sword up in front of her eyes before she cradled it in her arms and continued in that childish pitch that was beginning to grate on Navier’s nerves. “Thank you, Your Majesty! It’s truly a thing of beauty.”
“I’m glad that you like it,” she replied in a level tone. She wanted to get this done and over with as quickly as possible. The cramps were slowly becoming harder and harder to deal with, especially since she couldn’t show any pain while around so many other nobles and Rashta.
“Thank you so much for coming to my party, I’m really touched. I really want to get along with Your Majesty, you know,” she continued. She acted like she was shy, as if the first thing that she had done upon meeting Navier hadn’t been a breach of court etiquette so great that if she had been a man she would have been sentenced to a great deal of prison.
Navier raised a brow, unimpressed. The facade that the other woman put on when she was around the other nobles wasn’t enough to fool her. The Empress had been training to be a diplomat, a ruler, and a companion to the most important man in the Eastern Empire her entire life. Someone plastering on a smile and pretending to be shy and innocent wasn’t enough to convince her that was their true demeanor. She turned, prepared to leave and find somewhere to sit down.
Before she got the chance, however, Rashta spoke again, “Your Majesty, may I… make a request?”
“What is it?” she asked, the pain making her more snappish than she should have been for trying to save face.
“I would love it if you could give my child your blessing,” Rashta was nearly sparkling with faked innocence as she said her request.
I see that she dropped the insistence that it’s Sovieshu’s child above her own. I suppose she wants this for personal reasons and not for the way that it looks to others, then, Navier thought to herself. I’m used to these kinds of requests, but…
“I’ll have to refuse that request. Do you think the child will be happy with an empty blessing?” she asked. She made sure to say ‘the child’ instead of Rashta. The foolish woman was trying to make this about herself, as if any of the nobles in attendance cared anything for her. The rumors around the palace may have stopped, but everyone still thought of her as the runaway slave that was slowly beginning to make the happier vanier of the marriage between the Empress and Emperor fade. “But if that’s what you want, I’ll accept your request.”
Rashta’s face became a dark red and her large, dark eyes began to water with the tears that she forced every time that someone said something she didn’t like. Navier resisted the urge to turn and continue walking away. She was in pain and her patience was already wearing thin, especially with the childish manipulations that the mistress was attempting to pull on her.
Navier stayed for a moment longer, only to give her time to let that sink in. When the other woman didn’t try to say anything to her she turned and began to walk back towards the seating. She may have to leave sooner than she thought, if this pain continued.
“Empress!” Sovieshu called, the first words that he had spoken to her in days. He rushed to her, grasping at her arm. If it hadn’t been her husband, that move would have been considered to be highly inappropriate and even reputation-ruining. He dropped his voice down to a whisper, the noise joining in with all of the other murmurings from the nobles gathered in the room. “Must you embarrass her like that in front of everyone?”
“I didn’t want to embarrass myself either.” She spoke at her normal, distinguished tone. If he was going to act just as childish as his mistress, then she was going to have to be adult enough for the three of them combined.
“Giving your blessing to expectant mothers is something you’re used to doing as an empress. Is it really that difficult for you to do the same for Rashta?”
Anger boiled in her gut. How dare he ask me that. Was he really so blind to my emotions after a few years of marriage, something that allegedly brought people closer, that he would be this callous to my own feelings? What had happened to the boy that used to spend hours waiting for me to get done with my rigorous tutoring sessions so the two of us could practice dancing together? What had happened to the boy that I would eat sweets with while I read to him underneath the tree that we had planted together? Where had he gone?
She didn’t let her anger show. “A fitting expression to use here would be ‘Silence is golden’.”
“I don’t believe that applies here.”
“I’m sure you don’t think it does, because it’s not something you want to hear,” she shot back. They had arguments like this back when they were teenagers and she was getting more and more pressure from her tutors to focus on her studies instead of bonding with her betrothed. Sovieshu didn’t like hearing things that meant he wouldn’t get what he wanted.
Navier tilted her head slightly away from him, listening to the whispers that had taken over the crowds around them. She then turned back to him, glancing at him out of one captivating green eye, “I suggest you let me go unless you want to have an argument in front of everyone here.”
Sovieshu clicked his tongue, releasing her arm. The look of disdain and disappointment in his eyes made her stomach roll, though that might have been from the pain. She watched as the man that she had loved so dearly as a child walked quickly back up the steps to hold the woman that he had barely known for a year. She then turned, her regal composure unchanged throughout the entire exchange. “If you really want me to give my blessing to your baby that much, then I’ll do it,” she said, her voice ringing out over the gossip still flitting over the hall.
“Thank you!” Rashta beamed, the warning that the Empress apparently gone from her vapid mind in a second.
“Child,” she said. Normally her blessings went to both the mother and the child, wishing the child a happy life and the mother a safe pregnancy and birth. This time she had no blessing, no matter how hollow, for the mother. “May your life be like the sword I have given you. Extravagant and beautiful.”
Sovieshu looked at her, his eyes wide as he understood the double meaning behind the blessing she had just given. They had known each other since they were children, and he had come to know her inside and out just as she had thought she knew him. Rashta, however, was oblivious as ever to the intricacies of life. “Her Majesty blessed our baby!”
Another manipulation tactic, I suppose, Navier thought to herself as she noticed the change in pronouns. Whenever she wanted something from the vast majority of people that wanted closer to the Emperor she would remind them that she was his current favorite mistress, as well as carrying his firstborn child. Whenever she wanted something from Navier, who was closest to the emperor and had nothing to gain from that kind of language, she tried to make it sound like it was a personal favor that she would be indebted to the Empress for.
The regal woman crossed over the floor, her ladies-in-waiting following closely behind her. She sat on some of the seats that were littered around a few of the tea tables for those that didn’t want to or couldn’t stand through the entire banquet. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could last while in this much pain.
---
She stayed for as long as she could, though she saw the worried looks that Eliza and Laura gave her every time they noticed a slight change in her behavior. The Empress spoke to a few of the nobles that approached her to give her polite conversation, though this party was for Rashta and most of the nobles were too scared to approach her after the show that had occurred a few minutes prior.
“I am going to go back to my room, please send someone to get the physician earlier than expected,” Navier instructed Eliza. The older noble woman nodded and quickly rushed off, so worried for her lady that she bumped into a few of the other nobles in the process of doing so. “Laura, please escort me back to my rooms,” she then said as she turned to her other companion.
The Empress stood from the table that she had been sitting at, using it to help her get to the standing position in the first place. She glanced back to the top of the steps where Rashta was sitting mostly by herself. Sovieshu caught her eyes for just a moment before he turned his attention back to what must have been the thousandth piece of clothing that Rashta had received for her unborn child.
She couldn’t help the bit of aching longing that she felt bloom in her heart. She wanted nothing more than to be able to be up there with her husband, the man that she still couldn’t help but love, celebrating her own pregnancy. She could care less about gifts and attention from the other nobles, but she desperately wanted her best friend back. That, and she had always wanted to be a mother. It may have been expected of her to have at least one healthy child to be the heir to the empire, but the idea of being a calming and motherly force in the life of a child that she had helped create. She already enjoyed being a maternal figure in the life of her sponsored mage, Evalie.
She turned away from them with a sharp turn of her head. She removed her hand from the table that she had been supporting herself on. Navier carefully folded her hands in front of her so that her fingers were pressed together on each hand, though her thumbs overlapped to hold the other hand. She placed them over her wait, subtly pressing into her stomach to alleviate some of the pain.
A bit of pressure and pain was beginning to build up in her back as she began to step forward in preparation to leave the banquet hall. It then quickly wrapped around her stomach and she could feel all over her muscles tightening up. Navier let out a cry of pain, stumbling and falling as the intensity of whatever was happening fully took over her.
Several of the noblemen around the room rushed to her, and the remaining guests looked to see the Empress. Several of them were moving over each other, though they kept a respectful distance away from her. Something like this, especially after the argument that she had gotten in with the expecting parents and guests of honor for this banquet, was going to be all over the palace for weeks.
The noblemen helped her into a more standing position, both of them clearly worried. “Are you alright, Your Majesty?”
“I am fine,” she tried, attempting to once again stand on her own.
Laura was by her side in an instant, moving the noble from that side of her body. Navier grasped her friend’s hand tightly in her own as the pain slowly began to fade into the background. Eliza had arrived back by then and was able to take the other side. The two women then promptly escorted her from the halls, ignoring the murmurs that followed.
---
The Emperor bid the noble that he had been making pleasant conversation with for some time a pleasant goodbye as he walked back up the stairs to where his mistress was currently seated. He had seen her talking with one of her friends again, the foreigner friend of Prince Heinry. He couldn’t help the bit of bitter jealousy that bloomed in his gut as he realized that the Duke had become closer and closer to his mistress while he was also losing his wife to the very prince who had sent him. When the king got to the top of the stairs, the Duke gave Rashta a small pat on the shoulder and then descended back down into the party.
Sovieshu quickly moved beside her, and then he noticed the tears that were trickling down her cheeks. “Rashta? What’s wrong?” he bent down so that he could get a little bit of a better look at her face.
She stayed quiet for a moment before the servant that had been managing her leaned over and said, “Duke Ergi.”
The Emperor tutted, “Duke Ergi should choose his words with more care.”
She shook her head, causing silver curls to bounce around her head. “The Duke simply wanted to help me not to look like a fool, Your Majesty.”
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Rashta knew nothing of court etiquette, and she had hurt people deeply with her disgraceful behavior. He knew that she was a bit of a blemish on his image with the kinds of things that she had said to people in high places, like his wife and the Duchess Tuania. She knew nothing of court life, and yet she insisted on thrusting herself into it only to be surprised when she was burned and people lashed back out at her the way she did at them. He knew that this was partially his fault, however, and conceded a bit. She was the mother of his first born child, after all. “Do stop crying. The guest of honor shouldn’t be weeping.”
She turned to look at him, her cheeks rosy from the crying fit moments before. “Why didn’t Your Majesty tell me? You knew what the Empress meant by that, didn’t you?”
He didn’t say anything, just straightening back up and looking at the crowd once more. He had known what Navier meant when she gave her hollow blessing. She had warned Rashta that the blessing would be just that, and yet he and his mistress had pushed her into giving it. He knew that he gave Navier a hard time for the way that she treated his new love, but at the end of the day Navier was only trying to save her own reputation, so it would be unblemished like his own. “You really are too soft-hearted, Rashta,” he sighed. Maybe holding his banquet hadn’t been a good idea after all, she was beginning to wear on her nerves.
“I’m afraid,” Rashta whispered as she held up one clenched, gloved hand over her face.
“What do you mean?”
“The Empress insulted me and my child in front of everyone,” she said. “You saw how bold she was, so I’m afraid she might be cruel to the prince or princess later on.”
He turned to her sharply. Anger boiled inside of his gut. She had been warned time and time again to be more careful with what she said, and she had just gone and run her mouth, saying something disgraceful and vain. He and Navier may have been growing further and further apart the longer that they were under the watchful eye of the entire kingdom, and he may have feelings of affection for the woman next to him, but he was not going to tolerate something so disrespectful being said about his wife even if she didn’t mean it.
Luckily, those who had heard what she had said had their attention brought away from the guests of honor and back to the Empress. Navier was standing to get ready to leave, but she released a cry of pain and nearly collapsed. Several of the nobles closer to her rushed to her side, as well as the remaining Lady in Waiting, as it seemed that Countess Eliza had left before them.
As soon as he saw his wife fall he knew that something was wrong. Navier had never been a sickly child, and she had gotten sick less and less the older that they were. That was part of the problem when it came to her lack of conception. She was perfectly healthy in all other areas, so there was no reason that she shouldn’t have borne them an heir at this point. He took a step forward, wanting to go to her side and escort her back to her chambers. There may have been a resentment towards her brewing inside of him due to the relationship that he had with another woman and her tarnishing his reputation by the way that she acted around other men, exacerbated by their childless marriage, but she was still his best friend and his wife.
“Wait,” Rashta called, grabbing the back of his shirt as he attempted to go down the stairs and help the woman that he still loved, even if he had love in his heart for another. “You can’t leave me, this party is for me,” she whined.
“Her Majesty needs me, Rashta,” Sovieshu said, keeping his voice tender and compassionate towards his mistress. He knew that she didn’t respond well when someone spoke sternly to her, always tearing up and sobbing at him whenever he pointed out that she had done something wrong or something that angered him.
“But she has everyone else,” the silver-haired woman whined. “Shouldn’t we at least get to have you?” she asked, placing her hand over her stomach.
“Navier is my wife,” he glanced back to where the blond was, but she had already been escorted out of the banquet hall by her ladies-in-waiting. His shoulders fell a little in disappointment. He’d have to go and check on her as soon as he was done dealing with the other situation. “Let’s go, Rashta.”
“It’s alright, Your Majesty. I don’t want to run away. I can overcome this,” she said, as if the Empress’ ailment was something that she, a mistress, had to overcome.
He set his jaw, his eyes narrowing. He turned and quickly began to leave. Rashta let out a pathetic little noise and quickly followed after him, just as he knew that she would. He continued through the private halls of the palace until they got back to his chambers. He opened the door and let her enter before him, which she did. She was worrying her lip between her teeth and clenching the sides of her dress in her hands as she flounced past him and into the sitting room. She sat down on one of the couches, looking up at him with dark, watery eyes.
“Please bring us tea,” he instructed one of the maids that was waiting just outside the room. She did as she was told, returning a quick five minutes later. The woman sat the tea down on the table before them, pouring them both a cup before she bowed and made her swift exit.
“Rashta, your child cannot be a prince or princess,” he said immediately after the door had been securely shut.
“But it’s Your Majesty’s child. Doesn’t that mean the child becomes a prince or princess by default?” she asked, tilting her head to the side cutely.
Her ignorance was cute to a fault, where it was beginning to become annoying. She was just so different from everyone else that he had ever met or dealt with. Being with Rashta was like jumping into the lake that he and Navier used to go and play in. He enjoyed the change of pace, the coolness of the water on his skin and the pressure of the lake surrounding him, but he didn’t want to be in it forever. He enjoyed being able to retreat back to the pleasant smelling trees and flowers of the palace gardens and the warmth of the hearth in the living room where he could listen to Navier read from their study books.
“That applies only to the children of the Empress. Children of mistresses do not get the title of prince or princess,” he explained. He took her hand in his own, to try and soften the blow.
“Then what about my child?” she asked, as if the rule did not apply to her.
“Your child will be a high-ranking noble and be treated as a member of the imperial family,” he answered, reiterating the information that he had just explained.
“I think it’s odd, Your Majesty. The children born to me and the children born to the Empress are equally of your bloodline. The Empress is an empress consort and not an empress in her own right. So then, why is it that only her children get to be royalty?” she whined, getting more and more distressed the longer that they spoke.
Sovieshu didn’t understand how she had been several months in the palace and yet still didn’t understand that she and the Empress were not one in the same. They did not share the same power, and they never would. “Because that’s the law,” he replied instead.
“The law is clearly not fit for purpose. Your Majesty can change it,” she urged. “I don’t understand why our child has to have its royal title taken away by some child that may or may not come along one day.”
He bit back the urge to say something abrasive. That was another difference between his relationship with her and the relationship with his wife. When he was with Rashta there was very little that he could do other than be gentle and patient, like an ocean working slowly away at a stone. With Navier he could let his true emotions out. Navier was skilled enough to be able to handle his harsher emotions and dole out her own. They could have actual discussions and arguments. He could spend the rest of the day explaining to her that there was no title being taken away from the child as the child wouldn’t have been given a child in the first place, but he knew that would just result in another tantrum.
Again she insinuates that the Empress is infertile, he thought to himself. “You may not understand it, but this has been stipulated by the Great Temple, so not even I can change it on my own,” he explained. He had known why this was a valid law for a very long time. If the Emperor was allowed to appoint any child from any of his mistresses then a problem of true succession would begin, as well as an outrage from the Empress’ family and lead to a possible civil war between the upper polite society. He then continued, choosing his words carefully. He couldn't just flat out tell her why what she had said was wrong, so he had to settle for the next best thing. “So do not talk about your child being a prince or princess in front of other people.”
“Your Majesty…” she whined, more tears collecting in her eyes. “But it’s Your Majesty’s child…”
He placed his hand on her lower back, “I will love and cherish the child and even bestow immense riches and power upon him or her. And everyone will know it is my child even if he or she can’t be called a prince or princess,” he promised her. He would love any child that he was given from any woman that he was currently involved with or might be involved with in the future. “The only thing that child won’t be able to have is a legal title and succession rights. So there is no need for you to be disappointed or feel it will miss out on anything. Do you understand?”
She just turned her head away from him, refusing to speak to him. For a moment, Sovieshu wondered if she was trying to make a grab for the throne. When mistresses were from the noble class, as they typically were, there was sometimes a plea from them to have their children be made official members of the succession to the throne so that their mothers could control them behind the scenes and get power that way.
He shook his head. Rashta knew so little about the throne and royalty and politics that she couldn’t possibly be trying something like that. He hadn’t wanted to have this discussion for a long time, but he supposed that he should try and calm her down since she was having such a fragile pregnancy. Perhaps, it would also be nice to get this bit of information off of his chest. Their barren marriage had been bothering him for years, after all. “If the Empress is infertile and can’t have a baby, then that’s a different story.”
“What do you mean?” The tears were gone and her interest peaked, sowing more seeds of doubt and suspicion inside of the Emperor.
“Then the Empress will adopt your baby and that child will become a prince or princess,” he answered.
Before either of them had the chance to say anything else, a servant barged into the room. “Apologies for the intrusion, Your Majesty, but there is something of great importance that you need to hear.”
Sovieshu would have normally gotten very upset that there hadn’t even been a knock before she had entered, but he knew that this had to have something to do with Navier. “Speak it then.”
“Her Majesty is in labor!”
Sovieshu was up in an instant and rushing out the door. Thoughts flew through his mind, he was so anxious to find out what was really going on with his Empress and why his childhood friend was ill that he didn’t even listen to the cries coming from the woman that he had been speaking with moments before. He strided through the halls with purpose and no one stopped him, though the servants and guards were all whispering to each other in small clumps as they went about their work.
When he got to the other palace, where his wife resided, he stopped just short of her chambers. He could see the tall, blond figure of her brother pacing back and forth outside of the grand doors that led into her chambers. There was a guard on either side of the grand doors, and no one other than the maids and ladies-in-waiting were walking through them. The only people that seemed to be allowed inside were women, even the physician had been relegated to sitting outside.
The Emperor continued his course down the hallway until he was in front of the two men waiting outside of his wife’s room. “What is going on here?” he looked between the two of them before he finally cast his gaze over to the doctor, “Why are you not in there with Her Majesty? She looked unwell during the banquet and I doubt that she would have had a miraculous recovery.”
“She is suffering from something that is better treated by the court midwife, Your Majesty,” he replied nervously, wringing his hands together. “I can diagnose a pregnancy and treat some of the symptoms, but a midwife is much better suited to handle the birth unless surgical intervention needs to take place,” he explained.
“Pregnancy? Birth? I think you’ve mistaken the Empress for Rashta,” Sovieshu said as he took a menacing step towards the doctor.
“No, Your Majesty,” he shook his head. “I was just as surprised as you are. The Empress is somehow in labor with a child. This isn’t a miscarriage, she’s giving birth to your firstborn child.”
“How is this possible?” he asked, the anger draining out of him and being replaced only by fear. When he was losing Navier through their arguments and his own stupid actions it was easier, but the idea of watching his wife possibly die due to complications in childbirth was terrifying.
“I’ve only ever seen something like this once before. I was visiting a noble couple before you hired me here, the woman was suffering from pain in her stomach. It turned out that she had been cursed, though the curse was to hide all pregnancy symptoms, inward and outward, until the baby was ready to be born. Normally this curse is used when a family wants to hide a pregnancy, whether that be to parentage or wedlock status,” he explained hurriedly.
The three men outside all fell silent again as a cry of pain echoed from deep inside of the bedchamber. Sovieshu was frozen in place as he took in the information that the physician had just explained to him. His wife was pregnant with his child, and she had been cursed. A spell had been placed on her by someone, maliciously and secretively. Either that or she had been hiding the pregnancy from him because the child was not his.
He stalked down the hallway, away from where he could hear the cries of his wife apparently laboring behind closed doors. He caught the first servant that he found and ordered him to go and call for the Grand Priest to come to perform a paternity test. If the child was really his then they would need him anyway to bless the first born child and heir of the Eastern Empire.
He then turned on his heel and walked back towards the Empress’ chambers. Even if the child wasn’t his, he would act like it was until they both got confirmation just to save face. While he trusted all of the servants around the palace, he knew that they wouldn’t be able to resist gossiping about the possible bastard child of the Empress.
He swallowed the bundle of nerves that had risen in his throat on the way back. If this really is my child, then I’m going to be watching the birth of my first child before I ever thought I would be a father, he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. What if I lose Navier? If the baby doesn’t survive then I can’t imagine that she would be the same woman afterwards, and I’m not sure if I would be able to look at her the same way either. Sovieshu had just gotten to the doors, his hand grasping the handle and prepared to go to his wife’s side, when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder.
“You listen to me and you listen well,” Kosair snarled. He had his head tilted down so that the blond bangs not contained in the ponytail fell over his eyes. He tilted his head up a bit so that their eyes were locked together. “I don’t give a shit if you’re the emperor right now. If I come in there and she tells me ANYTHING about you disrespecting her or hurting her in some way I will not hesitate to rip you limb from limb.”
---
She could only focus on two things, one during the contractions and one during the rest periods between them. During the contractions all she could focus on was the pain and pressure building inside of her abdomen. It felt like she was being torn apart and compressed together at the same time. During the rest periods between, she was only able to focus on her panic and shock. She was going to become a mother. She had been agonizing about her lack of children for about two months now, ever since Rashta’s pregnancy had been revealed. Before then, she would get momentary, fleeting bouts of sadness that her womb had not yet carried a child for herself and an heir for her husband. Now, she was hours away from meeting a child that she had apparently been harboring inside of her.
“Navier?” Sovieshu said as he pushed the door open and then walked quickly into the room. The door swung shut loudly behind him, hiding the face of her brother glowering after her husband.
Luckily, she had just emerged from a contraction so she had a few minutes to speak with him before the pain and pressure began again. “Sovieshu?” she whispered. She had been calling him Your Majesty since he had been crowned the Emperor, except for in choice moments and times of intimacy. She couldn’t bring herself to keep up the act of being the cold and distant empress right now, not when she was in so much pain and so scared.
“Your Majesty!” a chorus of voices from her ladies-in-waiting and the midwife and her assistants called at him. They hadn’t been expecting him to want to be a part of this. A lot of midwives forbade any men, other than doctors and physicians, from entering the room during a birth, it was generally accepted that husbands didn’t want anything to do with the actual birthing process, even if they expected to be kept in the loop about when the baby would actually arrive.
The blond furrowed her eyes, shifting from where she was sitting on the edge of the bed. She wanted to walk around, but she was weak enough that she couldn’t without assistance, and apparently she was a good deal into her labor so there was a lot that the women around her had to prepare for and they couldn’t help her walk due to having their own missions to complete. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard that you were in labor,” he replied, immediately moving so that he was by her side.
She shot him a sharp look as she watched him move around the side of the bed. “If you’re here to accuse me of hiding a pregnancy from you then you may leave,” she pointed one elegant finger towards the door. “I’m just as shocked about this as you are.”
“I won’t deny that I am a bit suspicious, but I understand that now is not the time to have that discussion,” he said, glancing back to the midwife, who had paused in her preparations to watch the expectant mother. Both husband and wife were very aware that if Navier showed any kind of uncomfortableness about him being there then he would be removed entirely from the room. “And even if you did hide this pregnancy from me for any reason, I still want to be here to witness the birth of my first child.”
“Are you sure that you want to do that? You know that birth is not generally witnessed by many noblemen,” Navier said as she slowly got to her feet. She let out a groan, pressing a hand to her flat stomach as another one of the building pains echoed through her.
He reached for her, holding her hand in one of his and her elbow in the other to be able to support her. Navier reached up and grasped at the coat that he was wearing to have an extra bit of support. “I am perfectly aware that birth is not a pretty process, but I want to be here to support you, and the child,” he explained.
She was unable to answer him until the pain had passed. “If you’re sure, but once you’re in here and things are started you may think differently,” she warned. “And you are not going to be allowed to get angry or upset with anyone if they are curt or even rude to you. What matters most right now is the health of our child.”
“Agreed. I understand that here I am just the father, not the Emperor,” he pressed a kiss to the top of his wife’s head. “Now, what can I do to help you?”
“Help me walk around,” she answered immediately after the words had left his mouth.
He blinked a few times before he looked to the midwife. Sovieshu was out of his element here. He knew nothing about birth or childbearing, but he did genuinely want to help his wife through this process. Since he had been a very young child he knew that he had wanted to at least be permitted to be present for the first few moments of his first born’s life. When the elderly woman gave him a nod, telling him that he could help his wife fulfill her request, he did so.
He moved so that he was supporting her by allowing her to hold onto the wall while he stood behind her. He held onto her hips, and every time that she got a contraction she fell back into him. She would hold both of his hands in her own and squeeze them so hard that they felt like they were going to break. He hadn’t seen her in this much pain since they were thirteen and she had twisted her ankle.
It took another ten or so minutes before the midwife and her assistants had gotten everything prepared for the birth, and Navier had to be moved back to the edge of her bed. She was dressed in one of her silky sleeping gowns, but it was large enough that the midwife was able to move between her legs and check her dilation. The blond clung to her husband like he was a lifeline, even when she had to return back to her bed between her bouts of pacing the edge of her bedchamber. The walking seemed to be helping her labor progress further and further on.
---
It had been almost an hour since Sovieshu had rushed away from his mistress and instead joined his wife to witness the birth of what was very likely his first child. He had removed his jacket, lying it over the only chair that wasn’t filled with preparations for the impending new arrival. He had also rolled up the sleeves of his white button-down shirt so that they were up around his elbows. He was by Navier’s side whenever she called for him with a small wave of her hand. He stayed behind her as she walked, allowing her to use him as a crutch and a prop. When she was near the bed, he would hang back until she motioned for him to join her. He would then get behind her on the bed, allowing her to lean back against him whenever she needed to.
The labor had been going on all day, and her water had broken when the midwife arrived. This meant that the baby was ready to come after a mere couple hours after Sovieshu’s arrival. Navier was moved back to her bed for the long haul when the midwife had determined that she was ready to push. She was moved onto the bed with her husband behind her. Sovieshu was sitting back on the bed in such a way that he was on his knees and his thighs and calves were pressed together. Navier was lying back on him with her legs hanging off of the bed. One assistant was at each leg, holding them so that they were bent at the knee and pressed back against her body. Navier had Sovieshu’s hands in hers once more, squeezing them as she got painful contractions almost on top of each other.
With each great push that she did, instructed when to by the practiced midwife, she would lean forward so that she was curled at the spine and her chin would meet her chest. When the contraction passed, she had a bit of a break and would collapse back against her husband’s chest. She would hold her breath with each push, and then gasp for air as if she had been drowning between them.
Sovieshu was at a loss for words at the beginning, overwhelmed that the women in the room all seemed to know what they were doing but he was so completely out of his element that he felt like an idiot. Eventually he was able to get his bearings about him and began to encourage his wife through her labor and pushes like her ladies-in-waiting were, though he wasn’t quite sure how she felt about them.
This part of the labor seemed to go the slowest out of all of them. At least when they were walking around while waiting for this point there was movement and talking, but this was beginning to stretch on longer than Sovieshu thought anything could. He was so worried for the health of his empress as he began to see her grow more and more tired that he could feel the sickness beginning to grow in his stomach.
Though, it seemed like she was full of ways to prove him wrong today, because as soon as he began to think of asking what was happening, the midwife caught a blood and fluid covered baby from between the Empress’ legs.
Things began to happen rather quickly after that, the baby was separated from their mother after the cord was cut. The infant was squalling loudly, making the entire room ring with the sharp cries. One of the midwife’s assistants had left her position holding the empress’ leg and had instead taken the baby from the midwife and gone to bathe them in the warm water they had gathered at the beginning of this whole ordeal.
Navier was leaning back heavily against her husband, using him to support all of her weight. She opened her tired eyes enough to follow the location of her baby around the room. “Are they alright?” she asked weakly.
“He is, Your Majesty,” the midwife replied as she helped clean the empress up, and disposed of a rather disgusting mass that neither of the two royals really wanted to think about for much longer. “Congratulations to you both, you have a healthy baby boy.”
“A son,” Sovieshu whispered, his eyes going wide. He couldn’t feel his fingers or toes, but he didn’t really care anymore. His heart swelled with pride and adoration for the small child that was wailing his head off while receiving his first out of many baths in his life. Slowly, he was removed from the bed and Navier was washed as well. Some of the other women in the room stripped down the bed and replaced it with bedding that hadn’t been soiled during the birth.
He was moving around in a state of shock, getting in the way of several of the women trying to complete the birthing process. Eventually he was able to snap out of it enough that he moved over to one of the walls and just watched everything that was happening. He had his own servants to help him around his room and get him ready for the day, but the speed and skill that Navier’s ladies-in-waiting worked with would always astound him.
The Empress was quickly washed, had her hair braided back so that it would not be in the way but was also not in one of her normal fancy hair-dos, and then dressed in her most comfortable nightgown before being placed back into her large bed. Navier was laying a little closer to the edge than she normally would, so that it would be easier for her to get up when the need arose.
Their son was then moved over to her arms, placed down with the tender, reverent care of someone that knew they were holding the Crown Prince of the Eastern Empire. Navier took him into her arms with a different kind of respect and reverence. She was holding him as his mother, not as one of his future subjects.
Sovieshu quickly walked the distance between them until he was kneeling at her bedside, peeking over her arms to the screaming face of the baby. Navier was being spoken to by one of the assistants, who helped her remove part of her nightgown so that her breast was exposed. It was something that he had seen time and time again, but until he noticed that their child was latching on, it seemed like something that he shouldn’t have been privy to. Even after that, it still seemed like something that he shouldn’t be seeing. He stayed by her side despite his awkwardness. “You’re amazing,” he whispered.
“Are you talking to me or our son?” She had started the sentence off with a bit of a sharp, teasing tone, but by the time their child was mentioned her voice had dimmed to the softness that only a mother could hold.
“Both of you. You are amazing for creating a life and blessing me with a healthy newborn boy, and he is amazing simply for existing,” he whispered.
Navier hummed in agreement, running her thumb over the back of the baby’s head. When he had finished suckling from her, the assistant that was closest to her showed her how to burp the baby. Eventually the child would be mostly taken care of by a wetnurse and a nanny, but Navier wasn’t going to let a stranger completely raise her child. He would stay with her at least for the first six months of his life, and then she would slowly begin to have to let him go. She was going to be his primary caretaker until she could not, and no one was going to stop her.
“How are you feeling, my dear?” Sovieshu asked, brushing a loose strand of long blond hair away from her face. She was leaning back against the bed with their baby held protectively in her arms. Her nightgown had been placed back where it properly went, though he could see the fist from their child clenching the fabric over her breast. She was more beautiful than he had realized in a very long time.
The other nobles were often astounded by her beauty when she dressed up with lace, gems, and other ornate parts of her outfit, but he thought she was the most beautiful creature when she was acting human as she was now. She was authentic and real when she had all of the gowns and jewelry removed. He had never looked upon anything more graceful and elegant than the small smile that rested upon her lips as she looked down at their child.
“I am tired,” she replied. “But I do not want to sleep yet.”
“Then don’t,” he replied softly.
She glanced up at him with a sly smile. “It has been a long time since you have called my ‘my dear’, what brought that on?”
“I think I should be permitted a few pet names to dote you with after you just gave me the greatest gift in the world,” he laughed a bit, though he made sure to keep his voice quiet enough that the woman still milling around the room and cleaning up after the birth couldn’t hear them. All thoughts of the baby not being his had gone out of his mind the moment that Navier allowed him to stay in the room and began to rely on him for comfort throughout her labor.
“I suppose you are,” she teased back. “Thank you for staying with me through all of that, Sovieshu. I was more terrified than on our wedding day when I was told that I was going to be a mother without even being pregnant.”
Her face fell a bit. As soon as it did, he wanted nothing more than to see the warm, happy smile return to it. “I thought for a while that I was barren. I know that we did not visit each other’s rooms often, but I expected to be able to conceive sooner than I did. I was worried when that woma- Rashta became pregnant before I did that I would never be able to be a mother in my own right, and I would only ever be a mother under the law. I wouldn’t be able to do this,” she whispered, looking back down to their son.
“But you did,” he whispered. He placed a comforting hand on her leg. “You are the most talented woman I have ever met. I don’t think there’s a single thing in this world that you cannot do.”
He sat up a bit straighter and looked down at his lap. “I would also like to apologize for the way that I was treating you. I know that our marriage has been struggling, but that was no excuse to be so cruel to you. I’ve known you for longer than I’ve known almost everyone else in my life, and I’m not sure that either I or the Empire would be able to cope if we lost you.”
“I do not wish to speak about this right now,” she shook her head. It wasn’t often that she was able to dismiss a line of conversation, but she had the most power out of anyone else in the room at the moment.
They didn’t have to come up with something else to talk about as the Grand Priest walked in with an affectionate smile on his face. “Sorry for my abrupt entrance, but I wanted to be able to get the cursory test done since this pregnancy was not the normal sort,” he chuckled. “Normally I would have been able to judge around the time that the child would have arrived, so I would have been able to keep my schedule light so I could be called here at any time.”
“Well I appreciate your willingness to come even though this is a bit unorthodox,” Navier said. She was trying her best to maintain her normal regalness, but it was clear that she was exhausted.
The Grand Priest moved over the baby, performing the ceremony to confirm the baby’s parentage. This would happen once more in front of a crowd of nobles when they held the Grand Court to introduce him to the public in a couple of months once both the mother and child were prepared for it. “Congratulations to both of you,” he chuckled. “This is indeed your child, Your Majesty. Not that I would expect anything less from Her Majesty.”
“Of course, this is all for the sake of tradition,” Sovieshu nodded, burying his worries about the child not being his as far down as he could. They bade the Grand Priest goodbye as the elderly man left as quickly as he could.
Navier chuckled a little as well. She understood that he was a busy man, and if she had the choice she wouldn’t want to be in the room either. She turned towards her husband. “What should we name him?”
“I think that Ivean fits him rather well,” Sovieshu had volunteered.
“The name of our favorite childhood hero?” she laughed. It was a book that they must have read a thousand times over, before they had gotten such a heavy workload that they no longer had time for pleasure reading.
“Yes,” he admitted sheepishly with a nod.
She laughed again. “I think that it suits him as well. Ivean Vict.”
Things behind them were beginning to get wrapped up just as the doors swung open. Navier glanced up, assuming that either her brother had gotten sick of waiting and wanted to check on her or her mother had come to visit her.
“Lady Rashta, please, I must insist that you leave!” the youngest out of all the assistants cried as she tried to grasp hold of the woman and remove her from the room. “Her Majesty’s family hasn’t even been permitted to visit her yet!”
“Let go of me!” she whined, slapping her hands away. “You can’t treat me like that, I’m pregnant with the Emperor’s child!”
“It doesn’t matter if you were His Majesty, if we ask you to leave this recently after a mother has given birth then you would have to leave regardless. The only person that would be allowed in Her Majesty’s chambers normally is His Majesty, and you are not him,” Countess Eliza said as she marched over and stood in front of Rashta.
The silver-haired woman let out an upset noise, stamping her foot in anger. “You have to let me pass!”
“Absolutely not,” Laura objected as well. “Her Majesty is not taking visitors.”
Navier turned her head so that she could see the ordeal that was happening on that side of the room. “Laura, Eliza, allow her in,” she called. She didn’t want to have to watch Sovieshu get upset and angry at her ladies-in-waiting for ‘mistreating’ or making his mistress cry. “If she begins to cause a disturbance then the guards can escort her back to her room.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Eliza said, grasping Laura’s hands so that they could help the midwife and her assistants move the rest of the birthing equipment from the room. It was a matter of seconds before everything was cleared out and the three members of the Imperial family were left alone.
“Rashta, what is this about?” Sovieshu asked as he stood up from where he had been sitting on the edge of the bed and looked at her.
“This wasn’t how this was all supposed to turn out! It’s not fair! I was the one that was supposed to give His Majesty his firstborn child. You came into my banquet and took all the attention away from me by giving me that hollow blessing and then made everyone pay attention to you by pretending to be in pain before you left! That banquet was supposed to be so that everyone would pay attention to me, but you always have to take everything away from me. I was the one that was supposed to give His Majesty his first born child, I’m the one that’s pregnant not you! Why do you hate me so much? Why are you trying to take everything away from me?”
“Excuse me?” Navier asked, raising a graceful brow as she shifted her son away from the livid woman.
“You heard me! Ever since I came to this palace all of you haughty nobles have been looking down at me like I’m the scum on your shoes just because I was born as a slave. I’ve been trying my whole life to be something better than everyone else wanted me to be and now that I’m finally His Majesty’s favorite you’ve- you’ve been trying to take that away from me,” she stamped her foot. “You already have everything else, you have to let me have the first born child to His Majesty! I’m the one that was supposed to give him a child. Everyone knows that you’re actually infertile, and you were supposed to have to adopt my child, His Majesty said so!”
“RASHTA!”
Sovieshu had had enough upon hearing that. It was one thing for her to be throwing a fit, it was another for her to slander his and his wife’s name in the same breath. He took a step towards her, his expression dark and dangerous. “How dare you barge in here and then insult the empress in this way?”
“What?” she whispered, covering the bottom of her face with one hand as she took a careful step back.
“You heard me,” he snarled. “You forced your way in here and the empress was gracious enough to allow you to speak with her after giving birth to the Crown Prince of the Eastern Empire, before she even allowed her own family to see him, and yet you speak such slander about her.”
“It-it’s not slander,” she shook her head, causing a couple long silver locks to fall in front of her face. “I was the one that got pregnant before she did, I was the one that was supposed to get credit for being the real mother of your first born child at least… everyone knows that Her Majesty is barren…”
Sovieshu glanced back at Navier, who was slowly rocking their son in her arms as he had woken up at the sound of angry voices. “Does that child look like he came from a barren mother?”
“She must have stolen him away or something,” Rashta tried. “She did this on purpose to hurt me. She insulted me when I was at the banquet to celebrate my pregnancy and then tried to make me look like a fool by claiming to have a child before me.”
“How could she have stolen the child away from someone else when I watched the child be born from her womb?” Sovieshu asked. He calmed his nerves, thinking, If I allow her to keep going then she should reveal her true intentions. If she stops now then maybe her feelings were just hurt by this and she’s scared that she’ll be made fun of by the other nobles. If she keeps going then she may be a threat to my wife and child. As well as the child she harbors.
“But-but, well then it must not be Your Majesty’s!” she objected. She balled her hands in fists down at her sides and stamped her foot in anger.
“The Grand Priest has already been in here, and he confirmed that the baby belongs to both Sovieshu and I. So unless you would like to imply that he somehow lied to us or that she found a way to fake a paternity test, I would stop while you’re ahead,” he said, frowning even deeper.
“It’s not fair,” she whined again, beginning to sniffle as tears collected in her eyes and began to streak down her cheeks.
Sovieshu placed a hand on her shoulder and then one of her waist. He turned her around and began to escort her from the room. When they got to the outside, he turned to the guards, “Please bring Lady Rashta back to her room. Do not allow anyone to leave or enter other than yourselves.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the one of the right nodded. Rashta tried to make another fuss, but a menacing growl from Kosair who was leaning against the wall and looking at the doors that led to his sister’s chambers silenced her.
The Emperor carefully closed the doors to his wife’s bedroom behind him and looked to his brother-in-law. “Navier is doing well, you’re an uncle to a boy named Ivean.”
“Navier is doing well?” Kosair asked after a moment of taking in the information that he was really an uncle.
“Yes. She is tired but the midwife said that everything went well, and she’s expected to make a full recovery within a couple of days,” he nodded. “I don’t think you’ll need to hold yourself to the promise that you made either. I’ve realized my mistake, and I will no longer be treating Navier in the way that I was in the past. I plan on treating her as my wife and empress.”
“Well then you should go be a supportive husband and father. I want to know as soon as I can when she’s allowed to have visitors. I have a nephew to meet and a sister to check on,” the blond said with a shadow of a smile before he left to go to his own rooms.
Sovieshu did as he was told, returning back to the two people he currently wanted to be with more than anything. He never wanted his son out of his sight, even if he knew that wasn’t an attainable aspiration. He would have to deal with his feelings for Rashta and the whole situation with her accusations at a later time. For now, he was going to watch over his wife and son as they got some much needed sleep.
Fuck, what if one day I say fuck it and let someone cum inside me just to see what would happen. I schedule a time to get thoroughly filled and then go back to my life like nothing happened. I think it didn’t take and ignore the signs that show up later than expected. My body feels sore now, i get nauseous from certain smells, im more horny than usual, and ive been gaining weight yet im still oblivious.
Im bouncing on the cock that impregnated me (still unknowing to myself), and he grips my belly and moans, saying he loves seeing my belly starting to show, growing with our child. It clicks into place and i dont know how i was so stupid to not realize i was pregnant sooner. I look down at my stomach; it has gotten more rounded in the lower front, and is more firm than just padding.
Im actually pregnant and am over two months along. I let him shoot his seed deep into my womb thinking I probably wouldnt get knocked up the first time it happened, and now Im here, holding my belly and experiencing the best orgasm ive ever had because I realized I have a baby growing inside of me.
I tell myself ill get an abortion, but the days turn into weeks and the weeks become me rubbing my belly I cannot hide anymore, feeling strangely excited to see it continue to grow. Im terrified that i havent done anything about it, and have let my body do what its been begging me to do; work to grow a child ive made with another man. To procreate and have a baby i never thought id want. Im almost overtaken with something thats keeping me from getting rid of it, forcing me to wait just long enough before its too late to change my mind, and accept ill have to give birth to his baby whether ill want to or not.
i’m a big fan of rapid pregnancy that isn’t too rapid, yknow? it happens over the course of a week, maybe. you think you’re just bloated at first. then, damn, i really need to cut back on the carbs. then it gets worrying. then you’re so big, and you keep feeling something massive shift around inside you, and it becomes unmistakable. but before that doctor’s appointment can come, your water is breaking and you’re pushing something out a week after you first had symptoms.
