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Three weeks after the wedding…
Jill stared at the physician’s scroll in her hands, her heart racing faster than a galloping horse.
Pregnant.
The word looped in her mind like a spell. She pressed a hand to her still-flat stomach, a giddy laugh bubbling out of her.
Their first heir.
The first of ten—a promise she’d made as a bold, starry-eyed child and now, against all odds, was beginning to fulfill.
She practically floated through the palace corridors, her mind spinning with how to tell Hadis. She imagined his stunned smile, his arms sweeping her into a hug, his whispered joy against her lips. But fate, it seemed, had other plans.
Interruption #1: The Council Meeting
Jill burst into the council chamber, scroll clutched triumphantly in hand.
“Your Majesty! I need to—”
“Empress!” The Minister of Trade stood abruptly, bowing. “We were just discussing the grain tariffs in the southern provinces. Your insight would be invaluable!”
Hadis glanced up from the table, his bright amber eyes warm but distracted. “Join us, Jill. This won’t take long.”
Two hours later…
Jill slumped in her chair, doodling angry dragons on parchment while the council debated turnip taxes.
Interruption #2: The Ambassadorial “Emergency”
She cornered Hadis in the hallway after the meeting.
“Hadis, listen—”
“Your Majesty!” An ambassador from the neighboring kingdom materialized, clutching a scroll sealed with urgent wax. “A matter of grave diplomatic importance!”
Hadis sighed, shooting Jill an apologetic look. “One moment, love.”
One moment turned into a debate about borderland sheep disputes. Jill glared at the ambassador’s pompous hat, fantasizing about kicking it into the moat.
Interruption #3: The Overzealous Maid
By dusk, Jill was a woman on a mission. She stalked toward Hadis’s study, determination in every step. She flung the door open—
“Empress!” A maid squeaked, nearly dropping a tower of linens. “I—I was just refreshing the emperor’s pillows!”
Hadis, bent over his desk with a quill in hand, chuckled.
“Is there a siege underway, Jill? You look ready to declare war.”
Jill’s eye twitched.
“Out,” she ordered the maid, her voice eerily calm.
The girl fled. Hadis raised an eyebrow.
“Should I be concerned?”
“You,” Jill growled, slamming the door shut, “are about to be very concerned.”
Hadis barely had time to set down his quill before Jill seized his wrist, dragged him down the hall to their chambers, and shoved him backward onto the bed. He landed with a muffled oof, his dark hair fanning across the pillows as he stared up at her, equal parts startled and amused.
“Jill, wha—”
“No,” she snapped, pacing like a caged tiger. “You don’t get to talk. You get to listen. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve tried to tell you something today? Any idea?”
Hadis propped himself up on his elbows, lips quirking.
“Let me guess. Three?”
“Five!” She flung up a hand, counting off her fingers. “The council, the ambassador, the maid, the stablemaster asking about your horse’s hoof fungus, and the gardener who wanted my opinion on rose pruning! Roses, Hadis! Do I look like I care about roses?!”
He bit back a laugh.
“You do have a certain… thorny demeanor tonight.”
Jill whirled on him, eyes blazing.
“This isn’t funny! I’ve been bursting to tell you all day, and now—now I’m so irritated I could fight an army!”
Hadis’s smirk faded. He sat up fully, his gaze softening.
“Tell me what, Jill?”
She froze, her anger dissolving into sudden nerves. The scroll crinkled in her clenched fist.
“I… I went to the physician today. Because I’ve been feeling… odd.”
His brow furrowed.
“Are you ill?”
“No.” She stepped closer, her voice trembling.
“I’m… pregnant, Your Majesty.”
The room went silent.
Hadis stared at her, unblinking.
“You’re… what?”
“Pregnant,” she repeated, her bravado crumbling into a shy smile. “We’re going to have a baby. The first of… well, ten, if I have my way.”
For a heartbeat, he didn’t move. Then he surged off the bed, closing the distance between them in two strides. His hands cradled her face, his magical yellow eyes wide and shimmering. “Jill… Are you certain?”
She nodded, tears pricking her eyes.
“The physician confirmed it. We’re going to be parents.”
A laugh burst out of him—raw, disbelieving, euphoric. He kissed her fiercely, his lips claiming hers in a blaze of heat and wonder. Jill melted into him, her frustration forgotten as his arms locked around her waist, lifting her off her feet. They stumbled back onto the bed, a tangle of laughter and desperate kisses.
“A child,” he murmured against her neck, his palm pressing to her flat stomach to make sure it wasn't a dream. “Our heir. Our family.”
Jill tugged at the laces of his tunic, her fingers impatient.
“And don’t think this gets you out of helping with the other nine.”
Hadis laughed, a deep, rich sound that vibrated against her skin.
“Ten heirs, a kingdom to rule, and a wife who shoves emperors into beds? I’ll need to live forever to keep up with you.”
“You’d better,” she whispered, her lips brushing his.
What followed was a blur of feverish touches and whispered promises—clothes strewn across the floor, hands mapping familiar skin with newfound reverence, kisses that burned with joy and barely restrained hunger. Hadis’s usual control unraveled, his devotion pouring into every caress, every murmured praise against her throat.
“You’re perfect,” he breathed, his lips trailing down her collarbone. “My brilliant, impossible, miraculous Amethyst…”
She arched into him, her fingers tangling in his hair. “Hadis—please—”
He obliged, his touch turning urgent yet achingly tender, as if she were the most fragile and formidable thing he’d ever held. When they finally came together, it was slow and deep, a fusion of love and exhilaration that left them both breathless. Jill clung to him, her breath mingling with his as their foreheads pressed together.
“I love you,” he choked out, his voice breaking. “Jill—I love you so much.”
She kissed him again, sweet and lingering. “I love you too. Even when you’re infuriating.”
He huffed a laugh, rolling to cradle her against his chest. His hand drifted to her stomach, resting there with awe. “Ten heirs, hm? Starting with this one.”
Jill grinned, exhaustion and happiness weighing her limbs.
“Better start practicing your patience, Your Majesty. This is just the beginning.”
Hadis kissed her temple, his arms tightening around her.
“With you? I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
His laughter rumbled through her, warm and bright, as he pulled the blankets over them. For now, there was only this: the quiet certainty of his arms, the flutter of possibility beneath her skin, and the endless sky outside—dusted with the same stars that would one day watch their children dream.