Everyone Else’s Night

You unlock the door to Dorothye's chamber. There you find Camilla and Dorothye, talking and giggling on the floor. That is a luxury they don't get to do much in recently. The sound of the door creaking open brings their attention to you. You shut the door and walk closer to them. Camilla gets up first and helps Dorothye up.

You smile seeing the curve of Dorothye's belly. "My love," Camilla kisses you. When you break the kiss, Dorothye tries to curtsy. "My King," she smiles.

"Dorothye, how are you?"

"I am fine, my King." She rubs her belly, "We are fine. Your child has been active lately."

"The child stirred wildly for some time earlier. But it has calm down."

"The child now rests in my womb. It is a boy, Sire." Squealed Dorothye. "It is so restless at times I am sure it is a boy. You shall have your heir, Sire."

Camilla speaks up, "Now, now, Dorothye. There's no way to be sure until the child is born."

"Dorothye, what will do you if you give birth to a girl?" You ask.

"If I do give birth to a girl, I will simply have to get pregnant by you again and then give birth to a boy."

"Thank you, Dorothye. For your loyal service, I will see to it your family is taken care of." That was not to say you are going to pamper them. You take in Dorothye's form and she is no less attractive than she was before despite her belly growing heavy with child. The way she is dressed combined with how more beautiful she seems while pregnant with your child arouses you.

"My love," Camilla draws your notice, "I and Dorothye would like to be alone tonight. Time between us sisters. If it is allright with you, please spend the night elsewhere." Camilla requests.

You sigh and smile, "Very well."

"Go spend time with Sophie, my love." Camilla suggests. "She too will soon give birth to your child."

You pull Camilla for a kiss. "Thank you, my love."

"Sire," Dorothye lands her hand on your forearm and you kiss her too. "I know you are to leave soon." You nod. "Will you be back for the birth?" She takes your hand and places it on her round stomach.

"I promise to be back before the birth."

You decide to spend that night with Sophie. That girl has been lacking your love for months now. With 62 children from the village, one from Angelika, one from Eliza and soon from Sophie, you’ll have a rising count of 65.

You and Sophie make love and you make her feel all the appreciation and love you have for her. She is after all a mother of your child. You lay on your sides face-to-face and her distended belly creating the distance between you two. You have one hand tenderly caressing her cheek and another rubbing her belly. You are excited for the birth of this one as well.

“Boy or girl, my love?” You’re not sure if she’s asked you this question before but you answer, “Doesn’t matter as long as its healthy.”

Eliza had just finished singing a lullaby to her baby. The same song her mother used to sing for her. Eliza couldn't describe the joyful feeling she is experiencing at being a new mother. She loves her baby son very much. Eliza wonders if this is the same feeling her mother had when she had her, if this is the same feeling her father used to have for her.

Eliza gazes adoringly at her baby son's cute and puffy sleeping face. "Hard to believe nine months ago, you didn't exist. Just seed in your father's manhood waiting to be planted in my womb. Mother loves you so much, my little Simone." No cribs necessary at the present moment. Eliza was happy to have her son sleep with her. It strengthened the bond between them.

"Maybe I should tell your father just what I had done that King Franz Karl has used to **** my hand. But you get to be a Prince which is more than what your predecessors and ancestors had been."

Helga rubs her still flat belly. Children had always been the farthest in her mind. She's never considered having any and had often thought herself to be inadequate to be a mother. Yet after learning she had conceived and was carrying a child, her thoughts had shifted. Now she is eager to hold her baby in her arms. The idea of birth terrified her but Eliza had done just fine and was a happy mother.

Helga wonders just what lies in her baby's future. Will it be a boy or a girl? Will her child be a good ruler? Will her child get along with their half-siblings better than she did with her half-siblings?

Adelheid dislodged from Beatrice’s nipple and slowly drifted to sleep. Beatrice placed the infant back in her crib.

“You’re such a good mother,” Jacques says in a whispers behind her. He rubs her round belly. Beatrice will give birth soon enough as well. “Our child will be glad to have a mother like you.”

“You think to highly of me, my love.” She turns around and places her arms over his shoulders and clasps her hands together. “Had I been a better mother, that son of mine wouldn’t have bastards.”

Jacques did not want to bring up the fact that Beatrice stopped raising you after you turned seven. “May I remind you, my love, that you had a hand in the creation of one of those bastards.” He is refering to Sophie and her child. He clasps his hands behind her back.

“Sophie is a good girl. In a way, she is like a daughter to me. I love having her around and she is of great help to me. Now that she has grown in love with my son and will soon have a bastard child with him, she has no reason to ever leave.”

“So her getting pregnant was more than just getting a wet nurse?”

“Like I said, I want to keep her around. Eventually she would have been recalled by her family so she could marry. Now that her purity is gone and my bastard grandchild growing within her womb, they can’t marry her off anymore.”

“You are a cruel and selfish woman.” Jacques comments.

“Did I ever say I was a saint?”

“So you would allow your son to have children with his mistresses but not your first husband?”

“My husband was my husband and my son, my son. Different men. If anyone should object to his mistresses and bastard, it should be that wife of his. But we know how that turned out. While we’re on the subject, I won’t allow you to have any mistresses and bastard children either.”

“I didn’t even think of it. You are the only woman I want. How your late husband couldn’t learn to love a woman like you is beyond comprehension.”

Beatrice sighs, “He wasn’t all bad. Sometimes he could be quite nice and cordial. I did bear him four children.”

“Do you regret... you know... what we did to him?”

“What we did was a sin. But it wouldn’t be the first we’ve done. We will let the Almight judge us when the times comes.” She says somberly. “There is no point in entertaining that now. What’s done is done. This is our life now. We will have a child soon. All of my children should have been yours.”

“And Jacqueline should have been your daughter. But there is no point in entertaining that too. The past is past. Soon we will have our shared child. The fruit of our love. And our child will need full-blooded siblings.” He smiles.

“You want more children?”

“Of course I do. Your late husband was gifted with four children by you. I,” he smirks, “won’t lose to him.”

“You want me to bear you four children?”

“I want five children born from your womb. I want your belly big and round with my child until you have born me five. Only then can your womb rest.”

“Demanding, aren’t you?” Grins Beatrice. She laughs, “Allright. For you, I will bear you five. But no more than that.”

Alana is reading several letters by the light and warmth of her hearth and with a little help from a candle. Most of these letters were carefully and secretly delivered to Alana by her spies. All mostly good news of progress. Thanks to her efforts, only the best and most elusive of foreign spies remained in Frankia. But Iberia and Italia were full of her own spies. The Confederation was somewhere in between with the exception of Sudreich and Ostgrenze whose anti-spy networks had eliminated a lot of her agents.

A few were more personal. One was written by her sister informing her of her newest child. Alana throws the letter into the fire of the hearth. Useless piece of information was all that was. One was from her stepson Louis wishing her well. Alana smiles at the letter before throwing it into the fire too. Another was from her husband, reminding her to be sure to come home together with the King of Ostgrenze and his travelling party. Alana rolls her eyes and throws the letter into the fire.

In the end, Alana throws all the letters into the fire. Having carefully read and remembered them all. With her duties done, Alana strips her clothes off her beautiful, voluptious body. She had no company but she did love sleeping in the nude. She looked at a mirror and despite being 42, she had aged so well. Appearing quite youthful still with time having very little affect on her outward appearance.

But internally was different. With a hand on her flat and tone belly, she knew she wanted a child of her own and be a mother too. She had time though. But she resolved one thing. If her husband wouldn’t give her a baby, then she’ll find someone who will.

No, she smirks. She already found someone. It is just a matter of getting him into her bed and between her thighs.

Miriam sat up naked with Karl resting his head on her lap. She brushes his hair with her fingers. It soothes him, makes him relax. Miriam was the only person who sees Karl in his most ****. Here in private, the man on her lap is not a King. He is her childhood friend. Her friend whom she grew up with as a child in their little village just outside the capital of Sudreich. It was Miriam who shared her first with Karl’s. It was Miriam who bore him his first child, a daughter much to the relief of his first wife who bore him his first son and heir. It was Miriam whom Karl confided in and shared all his innermost thoughts. There were no secrets between them.

Miriam also proved herself useful to her friend and love. Both of Karl’s late first wife and his current second wife were nice and pretty women and Miriam had encouraged Karl in the past to love the women who in the sight of God became his wives. They made him happy and bore him children whom he loves dearly. But Miriam? She self-studied thanks to the books Karl had made available to her. It is she who helps him run his Kingdom. It is she, not his wives, who he asks for advice. It is she who holds his heart and complete trust. She helped him in anyway she could to the best of her abilities.

Miriam was not some simpleminded maid or a mistress who took care of the emotional or sexual needs of her King. No, she sat on the council table and gave her opinion on matters of the state. Miriam was a hardened woman. She had to be when she had involved herself in the politics of her beloved. She had to be if her words were to be taken seriously by her beloved's nobles and vassals. She was the true Queen of Sudreich. Out of respect and love for her, Karl had legitimized all the children born from her. They were pushed far back in the line of succession.

Karl would not disrespect the families of his late first wife and his current second wife by disregarding their children's place in the succession. Karl, though to a lesser extent compared to Miriam, loved his first wife but she had no stomach for politics and power plays. She was a humble woman and had born him four children, his three eldest sons and his third daughter. His second wife Tanya, 20 years his junior, was even less interested in politics than his first. Franz Karl was not interested in someone so young and has not touched her since after knowing she was carrying his child.

But none of this is to say Franz Karl couldn’t not rule without Miriam. No, she simply made ruling a little easier. Karl has on several occasions rejected her counsel and sometimes outright refuse to hear what she had to say about it.

When one looks at Franz Karl, one can only think of the ambitious, power-hungry King who cruelly flayed his captured enemies. One can only see the King who was nearly excommunicated if not for the Cardinals calling for his excommunication suddenly vanishing. One can see the influential diplomat who has done well to avoid enemies at least until the time was right. None of them would be wrong in thinking so because that is exactly what Karl is.

But Miriam saw a side of Karl that few people knew. The small, dirty boy whom the villagers would make their errand boy. The frightened little child who was chased by a stray dog. The weak, scrawny boy who was bullied by the other village children for not having a father. The sorrowful little boy who wouldn’t eat after his mother had died and who cried into her chest for comfort. The unassuming little boy who was taken away by his father’s men and had his name changed when his father made him a royal Prince. A name that only she knew.

When Karl had returned to their village nearly a man grown, it was only Miriam and her parents who recognized him. He soon brought her and them back to his family’s castle. Before long they had made love for the first time. Miriam fell pregnant soon after. She would later give birth to their first child one month after Karl got married to the daughter of some Duke.

Karl and Miriam were husband and wife in spirit only and that was good enough for them.