Work Text:
The Empress was picking her way through yet another ceremonial tea when she noticed Lady Alys eyeing her shrewdly. Alys’s eyes had drifted from Laisa’s plate, up to her face, and she seemed to be gazing at Laisa’s mouth. Laisa touched her cheek self-consciously—had she managed to smear herself with cake?—and raised her eyebrows. Alys had shaken her head, almost imperceptibly, and turned her attention back to the Minister of Education. After the tea, however, Alys immediately began steering Laisa into a private study.
“Milady, may I ask you a somewhat personal question?” Alys began delicately.
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“You. Cannot. Be serious.” Gregor’s eyes were unreadable as he stared Laisa down from the floor of their bedroom. He’d been fishing a shoe from underneath the bedpost when Laisa announced her news. She’d given Gregor his first clue when she returned to bed after washing up that morning, pulling a pillow over to ease the now-familiar heaviness in her limbs. The speech had been on her mind all week: she was unexpectedly pregnant, and they would be adding one more child to their brood. She’d thought that making the announcement in privacy, in their safest space, might mitigate Gregor’s shock at the news. She was wrong.
But he’d taught her well, after several years of marriage. She schooled her face into its most unconcerned state and waited patiently.
Nothing happened.
Laisa took a deep breath and tried again: “It seems that I’m pregnant, and we’re going to have another baby.”
It was a measure of his trust in her that Gregor let himself scowl in exasperation. “I just thought there was no way you could get pregnant. You had your implant calibrated… just two years ago? Right after Sophia’s birth.”
Laisa gave him a tiny shrug. “We went with a mechanical implant, this time, instead of that dreadful hormonal regulator. They do have a failure rate.” She’d mentioned it to him at the time, in the haze after Sophie’s arrival. She was certain, even at the time, that he hadn’t registered it. Lady Alys always told them that they both took on more of the child care than was strictly proper, but Gregor said that sleepless nights with tiny infants were better than sleepless nights with panicked ministers anyway. He had loved each of the babies, Laisa reminded herself sternly; he would love this child too. She laid her hands deliberately at her sides, trying to calm herself.
“I don’t know how this could happen.” For a moment, Gregor looked genuinely confused.
Laisa just looked at him and arched one eyebrow. “Do I need to bring Cordelia back to talk to you?”
He cracked a grin at that, finally, and rubbed both hands over his eyes. Laisa breathed a tiny sigh and let her expression melt into something more normal. It was going to be all right.
Gregor clambered up rather inelegantly and sat down on the bed beside Laisa. “It’ll be fine,” he said soothingly. “I’m sorry you have to deal with this.” He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders as if he were facing a challenge. Then he pulled Laisa closer until she was resting on his shoulder, and curled one arm protectively around her waist. “Have you contacted the medical staff yet? I’m sure they’ll want to do the transfer as soon as possible.”
Laisa closed her eyes and forced herself to keep her tone light. Get it over with. “I thought perhaps I’d make it a body birth this time.”
Gregor’s breath stilled and his arm tightened around her. When Laisa lifted her chin to look him in the eyes, his expression was shuttered again. Yes, she sighed to herself, that’s what I thought you would say.