The door opened quietly. A quiet squeak was followed by a gentle 'clunk'. Tiny feet 'pitter' 'pattered' over the fire warmed rugs and towards an impressive gold crib. The small body stopped next to the ornate cradle, little hands and fingers wrapping themselves around the thin, substantial golden embellishments. Hanging over it, held up by strong twisted gold, a long ivory bed curtain made of the finest ivory lace, tiny embellishments fine and having Gaelic origin.
The large room was well lit, a roaring fire held back by a blackened iron guard, the windows clamped shut, torches alight, giving the room a comforting golden glow. Long curtains fell languidly along the floor on different parts of the room. A chandelier hung in the middle of the ceiling, long and shimmering. In a corner, a toy box full of little trinkets, near it, a rocking horse. Close to the crib, a large, overstuffed rocking chair was reclined backwards, a small towel embellished in gold thread folded over the back.
At the other end of the room, a lowered down tea party set. The table was dark oak, the chairs matching, the little blanket red and gold. Tiny tea plates and teacups were made of fine china. Toys and teddies and trinkets and ribbons fell childishly around the room. Standing proud against a wall, a large bookshelf complete with books for children. Little dollies were strewn upon the shelves and in a toy box of their own.
On the other side of the room, a trifecta of bassinets standing side by side. Cotton and oak, pillows and a single toy in each one. Upon bookshelves and cases, little mechanical toys and small wooden skittles set up in a neat pile. A little dolly with dark hair and eyes, covered in purple satin and black lace was stood proudly in the middle. It looked familiar to James, but that was because he instantly knew that this doll was the only gift his grandmother Marie sent to his mother when she was little older than he himself, for her sixth birthday in France. It looked exactly like her, or what she would have looked like when she was little.
He looked back from the dolly and over to his little brother. Laying upon an overstuffed mattress covered by a fine and soft white material, his little head was propped up by a few little pillows, embellished with gold satin at the corners. He was wrapped tightly in a thick blanket. James heard little 'hwoos' coming from his little brothers' nose as he took breaths calmly.
It was late, far too late for he to be awake still. But he couldn't sleep, it still wasn't right. The little crown Prince could only sneak in to see his new brother now. Of course, his mother and father had introduced the two that morning after the Crown Prince had awoken, but it hadn't been the same. So, sneaking in during the guard exchange -and the nanny and servants exchange- young Prince James mischievously snuck in to see little Lucien again at this time.
Leaning up on his tip toes, James' eyes barely passed over the top of Lucien's cradle. He smiled as he caught sight of the sleeping baby. With a little tuft of golden hair coming over his little hat and the blanket, James stared at his little brother with rapt attention.
He looked like his father, James noticed. The same nose and the same hair. Nothing really seemed defining yet -his little brother was only a day old, James reminded himself-, but he could recognise his mothers' pouted lips on his little brother and his fathers hair.
"Hello, Lucien." James whispered. "I'm your big brother, James." he smiled. reaching up a little hand to brush it against the baby's cheek. The baby stirred at the contact. The elder smiled again.
"You've been in mama's stomach all this time, haven't you?" he whispered, his words a little mispronounced. "So you haven't seen her much, but she's really pretty. I promise. She's ever so pretty, you'll know it too. The next time you open your eyes, you'll see." he said quietly.
The baby slept on.
"I know mama worries that I'll feel pushed out, because you're here. But I don't. Because I love you already, just like she does. I hope you do. She's ever so kind and nice, she only gets angry at the boring men at court, or papa when he deserves it." he half smiled. "But mama only thinks I'll feel pushed out because our cousin George said that he was jealous that our other cousin, little Rose, took Tante Greer's and Lord Castleroy's time away when she was a baby. But I don't feel that way. Because you made mama happy when our papa could not." The crown Prince nodded to himself. He spoke again.
"But it's been happening a lot, you know. Papa making mama sad. I try to make her happy, so I hope you make her happier. When you've been sleeping inside her stomach, Papa has been making very silly decisions, like being with a mean boy and his own mama. Our mama cries, because that lady makes her sad. I'm not sure about the mean boy just yet, but she tells me that you and me make her happy. So I want you to promise that you'll be a good boy for her, like I do, because when she's happy, lots and lots of people get happy, too. She smiles a lot more, and it's a very pretty smile. Have you seen it? I think so, but you probably don't remember it, but you'll see it when you get hungry and she holds you like she holds me. And it's nice when she's happy. I am happy when she is." James babbled.
"Our papa promised me when I was little that he'd make mama happy. Not make her sad. I don't think he's been keeping that promise. Because just before you decided to come out of mama's stomach, she was really sad and cried a lot. And she was really angry at Papa. I'm not sure what he did, but it's about that mean boys' mama, and when mama talks about her, it's never good. She told papa to go back to France. You don't know what that is just yet, because we're in England right now. But it's papa's country. He says one day it will be mine, just like mama's countries will be. She told him to take that mean little boy and his mama and go away to France." he said, his voice little more than a childish whisper. "I hope he does. Because whenever that mean boy is not here, and that lady, everything is happy. Tante Greer and Kenna are happier, and so is mama and so am I. When they're here, everything is sad." he said.
Tiring of stepping on his tip toes, James sat with his back to the cradle, but he talked to his brother still. "I remember when Papa came to Scotland. Although he and mama were a little sad around each other, they were so very happy for a while. But then mama got sick, and that lady came back. So then they were sad. But for a little while, that lady and the boy were gone, and we were all so happy. So very happy. You were in mama's stomach, papa was being nice to her, he was being kind to me, and we found out Tante Kenna was going to have another baby." he said.
"But everything got sad again. If papa does go to France, I will be sad because he's gone, but it's probably better for everybody if he does. He can be happy with that boy and that lady, and me, you and mama will be happy together." he said, pausing for a moment. "I didn't know him for a long time. I didn't mind not having a papa, because I had mama. I saw Tante Greer with her husband, George and Rose's and the baby's papa. I saw Tante Kenna with Meri and Oncle Bash as her papa. It made me happy for them, but I didn't need a papa. Because mama was enough, even though she was working a lot. Because mama is really important, you know? She rules over lots and lots of people who need her just as much as we do. That's why she wears pretty dresses and crowns and we live in pretty palaces and castles." James rubbed a sleepy eye. "But then our papa came back for us. He was so kind to me and I loved him. I still do love him, but I don't want to if he makes everybody sad. But he does something I don't like, apart from making mama sad and cry. He always leaves us for another boy and that woman with curly hair. When mama was sick, before we knew you were in her stomach, he was with her. He is always with her, not with mama and I, like he should be. I'm happy that he was with her when you came out. I hope he will stay with us, but be with us. If he's going to be with that mean boy and keep putting them over us, then I want him to go." James rambled on again. Lucien slept on.
"You know there was one day where he promised to take me riding, but didn't? He was with that boy that day. Oncle Bash took me. I like Oncle Bash. He hasn't left us, ever. When I was in mama's belly, he didn't leave. When I was little like you, he didn't leave. And he won't leave you, either. He's better than papa. He doesn't make as many bad decisions as papa does. Even when he was in France and mama, our Tante's and Uncail James, he always made trips to see us. I wish papa did that. Or at least saw us more, rather than be with that mean boy all the time." James sighed.
"I don't want him to leave you like he left me, Lucien. Promise. But if he does, then mama and I will make you happy. We will love you and protect you and never leave you. Me especially. I will teach you the things our Oncles and Uncails teach me as mama helps us grow into good boys. You won't be missing anything if he leaves, promise. I won't let you see the sadness he brings to people. I won't let him hurt you." he looked up at the cradle, but he was too small to see anything. "I won't let anybody hurt you, Lucian. I promise."
"And if he goes to France, when we get big and strong, I don't care if he gives France to that boy he obviously loves more than us. Because mama can love us a thousand times more than he does, and one day, I'll be an emperor and you'll be by my side. We'll take France back, our rightful country. And then we'll make that boy pay for taking him away and making our mama sad for so long. You just wait, my little brother."
He got up and leaned up on his tip toes again, stepping on the bottom of the cradle to kiss his little brother on his little head how he saw Mary do that morning.
"I love you, my little brother."
The little boy got down and turned around, intending on walking out of the room before the guards or the nannies came back, but his big golden eyes widened at the sight before him.
"Papa?"