You're late...
"You're late," Conrad noted sourly as he held the horse for his brother.
"You're awfully cheerful," the Prince Consort replied, dismounting. He knew he was late as he was supposed to be back the night before after his two weeks worth of border patrol and he wondered what punishment Queen Yuri had planned for him.
"How would like to wake up three days in a row finding your wife having..." Conrad hesitated for a moment, finding the right word, "intimate needs?" Wolfram winced understandingly. Two women, a Queen and a Healer.
In one castle.
Both of them pregnant.
With twins!
Both of them equally frightening their husbands daily.
Conrad took the last few months of Gisela's pregnancy off to be there every step of the way for her, spending most of his free time helping soldiers to better their sword skills in Wolfram's place, where Wolfram took his job as Commander of the Shin Makoku armies. Wolfram would have liked to take the few months off but Yuri was not the one with a difficult pregnancy. Gisela's pregnancy got so bad two months before, Conrad had to hand over his occupation as Commander to Wolfram so he could attend to his wife 24/7. For some reason though, the Healer was hungrier than the Queen.
Wolfram shook his head sympathetically for Conrad. Because of his new vocation as Commander, people had given him names – other than wagamamapuu, that is. They had called him the Golden Fire, or, once, the Fearless Fiancé. Of course the latter changed into the 'Fearless Consort' upon his marriage to Yuri. Of all the names he could list off, there was one he found that he honestly did not mind sharing with Conrad. In fact, it was a joy that they had finally found something in common: fatherhood.
"You might as well go back to her side," the blond told his brother as he and Conrad walked to the castle together. Conrad laughed, "Gisela would kill me if I let you in with a pin prick. Remember what happened last time?" Wolfram winced. Though it was only a small sword wound that was easily bandaged, Yuri nearly had a heart attack and added stress to herself which was not at all good for the growing children inside her. Poor Conrad was brutally reprimanded by an equally stressed Gisela for letting Yuri see the bloody bandage.
"I'm fine, koonichan," he protested, "really. I'm not a little baby any more." Green eyes widened as the older man wrapped his arms around him. Conrad held him for a long moment, then he murmured, "I know, but I can't help thinking of you as my baby brother." Smiling nostalgically, Wolfram hugged back. They indulged the sacred moment of embrace they knew that they could only share at most once a year from now. Because a month after that, they would both have their hands full with babies.
Wolfram sighed tiredly as he proceeded to the Royal Wing. He checked on twelve-year-old Greta first. She slept in her own room now. Wolfram missed the days when she was young enough to come into bed with him and Yuri. But because of him and Yuri, the future Queen of Zuratia was growing beautifully.
The Prince Consort in all honesty was only half looking forward to the years ahead.
Now he understood why Dan Hiri had left Lady Celi, though he could have given her the love of a husband. Conrad's father could not burden her with his Humanly early old age. Wolfram could only hope it would not be the same with Greta.
The blond shook his head away from those thoughts. She was there now! And he would spend every minute he was spared to watch her and love her. His Greta. His daughter.
"You're late, Daddy," came a murmur. Wolfram looked and was surprised to find his daughter asleep. Am I late that often?
Wolfram brushed a long brown lock away, tucked her in and gave her a kiss. Indulging the many precious moments there, forward, and back again with his child.
His wife was not in bed when he entered the royal chamber. That could only mean one thing. He changed directions, went to the royal bathroom and quietly allowed himself in. He did this only once before they were married; and it had ended with her shoe print on his face.
The sweet smell of lilies wafted in the air, pure as the mother of his children. Outside a large window, Wolfram could see that the moon was out, and the stars twinkled at him. It was a night like this, only months ago that a deed was done. A deed that would make him a father in a few weeks.
His eyes drifted over to the most beautiful woman of Shin Makoku: Maoh Heika Queen Yuri Shibuya Von Bielefeld.
His Liege...
His Queen...
His wife...
Her black waist length hair submerged in the bath water. Bubbles hid her form that belonged to his eyes only. Though he could plainly see her bulging stomach amongst the bubbles, where inside his two children fed upon the life their mother gave them. Every bite of food, every emotion she felt. Most of all, every love she gave and accept.
Wolfram went down to his knees, bent over and kissed her brow. She moaned and stepped out of her daydream to rejoin her husband whom she has yet to punish for being late. "Forgive me?" he murmured lustily, kissing her again, "Hennachoko?"
"Ero baa-chan," she slurred, "You're late..." She scrunched her nose then, "And you stink."
Wolfram refrained himself from chuckling as he slid from his sitting position to lie on his stomach so their eternally sealed lips would be more at level with each other. Yuri brought out a soapy hand out of the water, opening her pure black eyes to her husband for the first time in two weeks and toyed with a lock of his beautiful golden hair.
"Why don't I punish you by inviting you in here and let me wipe some of that grime off you?" she murmured, "It's only another hour before the twins are asleep."
"They're like their mother," Wolfram joked, putting a clothed hand in the water and reaching for the stomach. He kissed her again, "And I thought I would be in deeper hot water." His hand felt the kicks, they became a hint more rigorous.
"The twins have stirred I'm a afraid," he murmured, as Yuri sighed deeply. Now, he really was in trouble.
"That's 'cause they know Daddy's home," the Queen replied. Within minutes, the moonlight was the only thing that shone within the room. It's light dancing against the wet gold hair of Prince Consort Wolfram Von Bielefeld as he solemnly accepted the punishment for his tardiness within the next hour.
THE END