Chapter 48. Maternity
The lords of Vegetasei gradually started turning up in the capital over the days following the Marauder's arrival on the planet. The nobility was appointed lodgings on the guest floor of the palace by Tragus who had made keeping them out of the King's hair the sole purpose of his existence. He had a talent for this. Akane was baffled by what kack the scarred man handed out to fob off any requests for an audience with the new King.
If Tragus was to be believed Vegeta had not only been away from the palace several times on matters of utmost importance, he had left the planet altogether for a visit to his son on the foreign world known as Earth. It was good sense to make up these excuses. Nobility tended to see a slight in anything that didn't go according to their wishes and all that the lords truly wished for now was the opportunity to establish a firm alliance with their new ruler.
Forthright as Vegeta was, he disagreed with telling lies for the purpose of catering to the ridiculous sensitivity of lords. For all he cared they knew exactly how disinclined he was to engage in the senseless conducts of court. Either given out of free will or not, he would have their alliance. He wasn't going to waste his time wooing them into compliance. The Great Vegeta and Tragus both had pressed the importance of keeping the lords happy. They assured Vegeta that his reign would be a very unpleasant one without fealty of Vegetasei's nobility. The lords would take it on them to work against any decision Vegeta might make in his rule and passing plans or laws through the council would become matters of endless discussion. Vegeta wasn't very impressed by their threats, but he left Tragus to it nevertheless.
His mind was bent on more important matters. The first was finding out if the WTO was still operating and the second whether Vegetasei had enough men left in the forces to go to war should it be needed. This was what the new King busied himself with in truth while Tragus told the lords that he had left the palace. The Young Vegeta and The Great Vegeta spent their days stowed away in the council chamber where they discussed the matters of possible war with the remaining high ranked officers of the forces. Scouts had already been sent to the nearest planets allied to the WTO and while the war council waited for them to return with proof of either the organisation's continuance or end, they plotted their strategies in advance just in case.
Ruirdo took part in these councils. She had been promoted to the rank of Air Marshal in the old cock's stead as he was granted his long overdue retirement. Field Marshal Cordack had been discharged by the new King and his successor, a man Akane did not know, took up his old seat at the war council. Her own successor joined them as well, along with several more officers she had no idea of. Akane herself had no seat on the council. Well she possessed one, Vegeta had granted her the most prominent one next to his own in fact, giving her the command over the Royal Fleet like she wanted, but she hadn't physically taken her place yet. Her mate was her spokesman and transferred any ideas or objections she might have to the course of their plans.
Akane only saw glimpses of Vegeta these days. They had little time on their own now that his kingship had claimed him and his war councils forced him from her side during the day. The nights could have been theirs if it wasn't for their latest trouble. Aina had started teething and it was hell. That was why Akane's seat at the war council was empty. She had longed for her kitten to get on solids, yet now she regretted ever having uttered the wish. Her nights were spent sitting up with a squalling and weeping Aina in her arms, all her effort going into attempts to comfort the inconsolable kitten and coming up with ways to soothe her wicked pain.
At first Akane hadn't been worried. When a whelp started teething, you gave it something to chew on. With Aina however, there was nothing solid enough for her to chew on. Every bite ring Akane had turned up in the nursery of the concubine's wing, Aina had turned to shreds in her mouth when she applied pressure with her little jaws. Akane tried having the kitten munch on a variety of objects in stead to no avail. Even the reinforced fabric of spandex did not last long in the powerful kitten's mouth. The main reason for this was that Aina was too young to control her power. It was reigned by her emotions and when the kitten was in agony from her teeth coming through, she was simply consumed by wroth. It thus wasn't strange that Aina took on her super form and raised hell while she was being tormented by her fangs.
In her agony the kitten had resorted to munching on her own fists until they were raw and bloody. Out of desperation Akane had put her own hand in Aina's mouth because she simply couldn't bear her daughter hurting herself like that. It turned out that this was the only thing that could withstand Aina's chewing, her mother's flesh and that only under the condition that Akane enforced her hand with a mad amount of energy. If she didn't, the kitten would soon chew her fingers to bloody bits.
So while Vegeta tried to sleep and rid himself of the headache that hadn't parted with him since it started the night of their arrival, Akane sat up in bed cradling the suffering Aina. She had declined her mate's many offers to relief her for a while because she could catch up on sleep during the days as where he was swamped by his kingship.
Now that he was King, her mate had become common property and he was hounded by more than the councils and the Lords of Vegetasei alone. The staff too longed very much to come in good favour with him and their curiosity for the new King brought them on the double doors to his solar under the most bizarre pretences and at the most impossible times. The cook had dropped by on numerous occasions to ask what the King might have for breakfast, lunch or supper while the head of cleaning wanted the King's opinion on replacing the tapestries on every level of the palace, which the old woman came to inquire about one level at a time. And the capital palace had no less than six levels. Vegeta had put a quick end to that by appointing the head of staff to handle everything in his stead.
The most regular visits were those from the maidservants working on the King's private floor. The maids – including those who had not been appointed to tend to the King's solar – came to see whether there was anything the ruler of Vegetasei might need or want. Or, for lack of other excuses when Vegeta declined every offer, whether their future Queen had any wishes in his stead. Though Vegeta's bleeding head had grown bigger in time with the ongoing furtive invites from some of these maids to be dragged to his bed, it soon became such an annoying and persistent stream of solicitations that even Vegeta lost his appreciation for it.
Akane from her end couldn't find it in her to be jealous. After all, her mate was disgustingly handsome and favourable even despite his title. Besides that she could feel through their bond that he had no intentions of reacting to the invites. All his lust was still reserved for her. As it bleeding well should be. It was sad that they found no time to put it to work.
Vegeta did like having his ego stroked by all the dallying looks though. He liked that a lot. At least he had when it first started. One young and very pretty girl made more visits than all of her rival maids tallied up and this certainly wasn't only because she was a chambermaid truly appointed to tend to the King's solar. This girl was so smitten with her King that she was already breathless before she had set foot inside the solar and she relapsed to mindless stammers when confronted with Vegeta. This did not make her any less determined and indeed one particular day she had turned up for some invented chore to do in the solar so often that Vegeta had threatened to throw her out of the bleeding window if he saw her face again that day or the day after that. It wasn't very kingly of him, but it did have the intended effect. The girl had not dared to show up since and the incident occurred four days past.
In truth Akane didn't get much sleep during the days either. When she was alone in the solar while Vegeta was at his war councils and the palace staff left her alone to hound the King's heels there, she found it impossible to shut down. This wasn't because of Aina. Her Royal Highness slept like a rock during the days, except naturally on the scant moments when Akane found herself alone with her mate and they hurried to have it away quickly before another interruption forced them apart. Somehow the kitten always had to wake up and spoil that for them. Then again, what else was there to be expected from the little monster?
No, what really kept her from surrendering to sleep were the thoughts about her brother. Biran had failed to show up with the other lords that were steadily arriving at the capital. She was very worried about him. He was taking too long and he hadn't sent a word in return. Bethar might have been in disarray like the capital when the planet was restored, he still should have had that taken care of by now. It had been nigh on a week since Tragus sent out the messengers.
So it was this day as well. Akane lay whacked on the majestic bed atop the many layers of furs, splayed and in full crimson attire as she hadn't the energy to spare for kicking off her boots. Her eyes were closed, yet sleep never came. All that occupied her were the unknown whereabouts of her brother. Bethar wasn't that far from the capital and she couldn't come up with anything that might keep him this long. Not anything trivial that was. She could very easily imagine a vast array of ill fates that might have befallen her brother and that was exactly what images her mind presented her with at the moment.
She was alone in the bed chamber with nothing to divert her attention. Aina was recently nursed and sleeping in her cot inside the nursery ajoined to the front room of the solar and her mate was, as always these days, in the council chamber with The Great Vegeta and the officers to plot their war. Turles had left her to her overdue sleep a while earlier and returned to standing guard outside the double doors of the solar. Akane had begged him to stay and keep her company, but he wouldn't hear any of it. All she needed according to him was sleep and loads of it too. The big bleeder.
Where Ringo was spending his day off from guard duty wasn't hard to guess as the tall Saiyajin with the insane mohawk still nourished a liking for the Ensign he had encountered on the Marauder. Akane had the idea that the young soldier might soon find herself the mate of the Royal Guardsman. Ringo's drive was not shared by his comrade. Turles had shown that he wasn't quite ready to tie himself down. He spent his free time availing himself of the vast amount of eager women on the royal floors and he was banging chambermaids like his life depended on it.
Everybody was having fun but her. She and her sad mate that was. It began to look like her threat of Vegeta getting sweet fuck all for a week was becoming reality. Not on her accord though, she would have jumped him long since if she had been given the chance. Neither to his, he would have been happy to jump her in return.
Akane rolled onto her stomach and buried her face in the silky furs to muffle the frustrated scream she had to let out. She wished she could go to the war council and be at her mate's side where was her place. It was impossible. Maternity kept her bound to the solar. She only ever left for short periods to train on the ground level of the palace where was the armoury, leaving Aina to the care of her dry nurse. Akane had no wet nurse. Her kitten was like to truly suck the nipples off of another woman. The blinding power that made her parents so very proud was turning out to be a real nuisance.
Even if Akane left the solar she was bound to it. She always had to wear a scouter so that the dry nurse could have the Royal Guard contact her if, Mother Victory forbid, Aina happened to wake up. The dry nurse nor Turles or Ringo had ways of dealing with the Princess when she threw a wobbler and lately Aina had a lot of those due to the pain in her gums. The solar had become a prison and Akane was quickly beginning to hate her new life in the palace. Her mate's kingship forcing them apart during the days and Aina's cursed teeth keeping them from reuniting at night, the uncertain fate of her brother, her empty seat at the war council, the thraldom of maternity. She was starting to think this was all some big conspiracy of the Sweet Mother who was set on making her miserable.
Be that as it may, she could not come to blame Aina for the troubles she caused. All Akane felt for the suffering kitten was pity and the fierce resolve to see her through her agony, even if she was quickly going completely mental. A mother's love was a savage thing indeed.
Akane shot up when the heavy wooden door to the bed chamber was flung open. Turles whirled into the room, looking smart in the black and red uniform of the Royal Guard. It was little wonder that he had so many female admirers.
"Your brother has arrived!" he exclaimed.
And with those four simple words all the worries that had been haunting Akane for almost a week were taken away.