Gilgamesh realized what this situation probably looked like from her point of view. Her husband on the floor with the princess of Aea on top of him. Both of their clothes disheveled and Aea's dress was hitched upwards so her legs were exposed and out. And there was the growing bruises on his chest…

Aea looked back in surprise. "Queen Hakuno."

Hakuno smiled. To anyone else it would have been a pleasant smile, but he knew her. He could see the clenching jaw muscles, the slight coldness in her eyes.

"Hakuno, is everything alright?" Enkidu peered their head around the corner. They looked down at Gilgamesh in confusion and curiosity.

Oh Gods, could this get any worse?

"Princess Aea. You must be very late to your music lesson right now."

"Ah yes, I…" she stammered.

"You should get going. I know some teachers can get quite cross even if you are a princess."

Gilgamesh did not fear much in his life but Hakuno looking down at him with that barely-acceptable smile and the cold eyes wanted to send him running for the hills.

"Ah yes. That is true." Aea looked back at Gilgamesh. She fluttered her lashes as she slowly crawled off him and stood. "I uh…"

Hakuno moved to the side. "You better get going Princess Aea."

The princess ducked her head before hurrying out of the room. Hakuno watched the princess's every move.

Enkidu approached Gilgamesh and kneeled next to him. "Are you alright?" they asked innocently. "Why are you just lying here?" They gave the king a once over. "She did not cast a spell on you did she?" Their eyes widen as they noticed the scratches and bruises on Gilgamesh's chest.

Gilgamesh slowly shook his head. He remembered while hunting, some deer would stand still when they heard the noise of a predator. He had always found those deer to be stupid animals. Why stand still when you had a chance to run and get away? In this moment though, he felt like it was for the best for him to sit still and not make any sudden moments.

Hakuno let out a long sigh and turned back to Gilgamesh. "Come on, let us return to our rooms."

Gods, her voice was so cold.

"I am fine Enkidu," he murmured before getting to his feet. "Let us not talk about this now in this library with possible ears," he said quickly as he could see the questions building in the ur-sal's eyes.

Hakuno collapsed on the bed. What a day it had been. Queen Ninki seemed to have a never-ending amount of complaints about her husband. Thankfully a slave had stopped by to tell Queen Ninki that her husband needed her so Hakuno used that moment to excuse herself and get out of there. After returning to the rooms, she found out from Shub that Gilgamesh had went to the library of all places. She was curious about the library here and she knew she had to have a talk with Gilgamesh after what had happened last night. If it was anything she learned from Queen Ninki was that it was best to address these sort of disputes and work on getting it fixed so a King and Queen would not end up resenting each other. Of course, once she got to the library, she had stumbled upon another messy situation.

"Gil? Why are you just standing there?" Enkidu sat cross-legged on the bed.

Hakuno sat up in surprise to see her husband hovering in the doorway. "Gil…what are you doing?"

"Am I allowed in?" he asked slowly.

Hakuno frowned. "Why wouldn't you be?"

"It…I…" Gilgamesh took a few steps into the room, but they were cautious steps.

What in the world was he doing? "Gil, come here. Let me heal those bruises on your chest."

"You do not seem as mad as you were earlier." He slowly approached the bed and stopped when he was an arm's length from her.

"What do you mean?" Hakuno put her hand on his chest and let her magic flow through her to heal it. "Her headpiece really hit you hard. I can understand now why some women wear it. A good weapon to protect oneself. Gil, what is it?" He was staring at her like she had grown another head.

"You are not screaming and yelling at me." He stared at her dumbly.

"Huh? Why would I be doing that?"

"Why would she be doing that?" asked Enkidu.

Gilgamesh opened and then closed his mouth. "But…I have heard Queens have gotten mad about that! Many Kings told me about it and I have heard it happen to a few guards as well!"

"What has happened?" Hakuno asked slowly.

"I was on the floor with Princess Aea on top of me!" Gilgamesh made some wild hand gestured as if to demonstrate. "You are not worried? You are not going to scream or yell? You are not going to slap me?"

"Do you want me to slap you?" Hakuno asked slowly.

"No but is that not what you are supposed to do in a situation like this?"

"I am very confused…" said Enkidu.

"I am as well." Hakuno massaged the bridge of her nose as she processed everything her husband said. "So you are saying I should slap you because I saw you on the floor with Princess Aea?"

"YES! I mean, no, I mean…" He growled and sat on the edge of the bed.

"But there is no reason for it. It is obvious she fell on you in a desperate attempt to cause discourse between us and perhaps start something more with you. I assume the uh, reputation you had for a few months is something they heard of here. Unless something actually happened." She eyed Gilgamesh.

"Of course nothing happened," he retorted. "That princess is nothing compared to the beauty and the brains of my Queen." He stared at her and seemed to be searching for something. "You truly believe me." The surprise was evident.

She nodded. Of course, she did. Despite the way her King acted, he had always been loyal to her. Well, except that brief time when he thought she was dead. Maybe it was conceited of her to think it, but she knew he would never do that to her.

"But why would Princess Aea do something like that?" Enkidu tilted their head to the side.

"Like I said, most likely to cause strife or…well, I assume it would not happen but…" Hakuno's face flushed. "Well, mate with Gil in the hopes of getting with child."

"Like I would do something like that," scoffed Gilgamesh. He crossed his arms and looked away in disgust. "She is ugly."

"That is besides the point Gil. The truth of the matter is, she is a princess of Suse. She has real claim to her name. If she did end up pregnant with your child, that is a scandal waiting to happen. I have no power." She held up a hand before Gilgamesh could protest her point. "I have no claim to any kingdom. No kingdom would come to my aid besides Uruk. Gil, if she is pregnant you would have to divorce me and marry her. They would gain power over Uruk."

She had to admit it was an ingenious plan. A way to seize power forcefully, especially since they seemed to have gotten wind of her not being of royal origins. Perhaps Aea had been put up to this by her parents in order to secure the Uruk throne. However, despite that, she still had a burning hatred of the princess and this country. How dare they think they could seduce Gilgamesh?

"Hakuno…you have a scary expression there…" Enkidu shifted back on the bed.

Hakuno snapped back to the present and shook her head. "Do not worry Enkidu, I am not mad at you, I was just thinking of how crafty they are here. We cannot prove that Princess Aea was attempting to do what I think she was without making us look bad."

"Tsk, what troublemakers," growled Gilgamesh. "I should just get my army here and raze them to the ground."

"Do you think we will know what is going on then?" Hakuno shot back. "All we have to go on so far is Shulpae and even then I do not know where this child is most of the time."

"Shub and Urash are trying to find that out though by prodding at the slave network here," said Enkidu.

"They are but we need to give them time and we should investigate as well. I know you do not want to, but you need to go to the meeting tomorrow and start drafting the trade agreements Gil. We need to make it seem like everything is fine."

Gilgamesh growled and ran his fingers through his hair. "Fine, because you said so."

Hakuno smiled. "Good."

The room fell silent.

Hakuno bit her lip and her shoulders slumped. She pushed a few strands of hair behind an ear. "I…I am sorry for yesterday. For getting angry like that. It was unlike me and I understand why you would be curious."

"Was it a difficult time there?" Enkidu shifted closer to her. "You were so mad and crying last night."

"No it was not difficult…" She could see Gilgamesh was uncomfortable with the conversation as he was fidgeting. "It was just something I did not want to remember. They had left without me and I did not know if I would see them again. Gil, once this is through and we are safely back in Uruk, we can have a long discussion about it."

"I would enjoy that. I have to know everything about you as my Queen."

"I want to know too!" Enkidu hugged her from behind.

Hakuno laughed and patted Enkidu's arm. "I promise you will get the story when we return home."

Hakuno awoke the next morning to an empty bed. She had a vague memory of Gilgamesh and Enkidu getting up earlier to go to the meeting with King Ditanu. She had been about to wake herself when Gilgamesh told her to continue sleeping and that the guards would be in the other room.

It was nice having some time to sleep in a bed by herself. With both Gilgamesh and Enkidu, the bed was usually crowded.

She crawled out of bed and grabbed a dress to change into. She pulled her sleeping clothes off and paused as she took in her reflection in the copper mirror. Something was…off.

She approached the mirror and looked at herself in profile. She pressed her fingertips to her stomach. It was hard and it looked a little bigger than usual. Had she gained weight from eating so much? No, she ate the same amount like she always did. Her heart pounded in her chest as she thought back to when her last bleeding was. It was late. Very, very late.

"Oh Ishtar," she whispered. She quickly shoved on her dress and poked her head into the other room. The guards were playing a game of cards and Shub was watching them with rapt attention. Urash was nowhere to be found so Hakuno assumed Gilgamesh ended up taking the boy with him.

Shub noticed Hakuno and was about to say something but Hakuno put a finger to her lips and gestured for Shub to come over.

"What is wrong Hakuno?" asked Shub once they were safely inside the bedroom.

"Shub I need to get you something for me," whispered Hakuno.

"Sure but why are we whispering?"

"I do not want to risk the guards overhearing. Shub, I need you to visit the azu and discreetly, so no one will know, get me a pregnancy test."

"WHAT!?" Shub screamed.

Hakuno clamped a hand over her friend's mouth.

Sounds of crashing came from the other room and Ishne and the rest of the guards burst in with swords drawn. Ishne blinked as he took in the scene before him. "Is everything alright?" he asked slowly.

"I just saw a bug," Shub squeaked. "We are fine. It is all fine!"

"A bug?" Ishne stared at Shub like he was not sure she was joking or not.

"We are fine here. You can leave us, I killed it," Hakuno said quickly.

"Sorry," whispered Shub after the guards left. "It's just…wow…"

"Can you get me the test?" whispered Hakuno.

Shub nodded. "Leave it to me, I will be right back."

"Take one of the guards with you."

Hakuno sat on the bed to wait for Shub's return. She really hoped it was just her mind overreacting due to what happened yesterday. Being a Queen did mean a lot of rich foods so it would make sense for her to put on some weight. And there were plenty of reasons why the monthly bleeding would not happen.

After what seemed like forever, Shub returned with a parcel under one arm. "Here you go."

Hakuno unwrapped the parcel and was glad to see the tightly rolled cloth that smelled faintly of herbs. "Did the azu ask any questions?" Azus were known to put the patient before kingdoms but this was enemy territory.

"I took Ishne to one in the city." Shub shrugged. "It was easy to pretend there that I was just a traveler since I had Ishne wait outside. The azu, I think, assumed it was for me as he asked me if I was going to come back later depending on the results."

"Sorry you had to do that." Hakuno put the tampon in place and squirmed at how uncomfortable it was. "Did the azu say how long it needs to be kept in?"

"He said overnight is best but half a day can give results as well."

Half a day it was then.

"Queen Hakuno?" called Ishne from right outside the bedroom. "I am sorry to disturb you but there is a slave at the door. Queen Ninki has invited you to lunch in the gardens."

Seeing Hakuno's expression, Shub got up. "I will handle this," she said softly. She hurried out of the room and said something to Ishne before returning. "And done."

"What did you tell him?"

"I said you were feeling a little under the weather, possibly dinner from yesterday and you wanted to spend today resting but you will have the lunch with her tomorrow." She hesitated. "That was fine right?"

"I am fine with it," Hakuno said with a small laugh. She winced. "Alright, let us keep talking so I don't have to think about this cloth. Tell me Shub, it might be my imagination but it seems like you and Ishne are getting close? I am quite surprised he was the one to go with you into the city."

"It…it was not like that at all!" protested Shub. "You are just imagining it and I was not expecting you to have that kind of expression on your face Hakuno! I thought you were not into this kind of gossip."

"I am not usually but you are a close friend and I do care about you." Hakuno pretended to think about it. "Ishne is a pretty good-looking guard…what Shub? Just because I am married that does not mean I cannot look. He's also a very nice and kind man when not on duty and he does not have an eye on a woman at the moment."

"H…Hakuno!" Shub buried her bright red face into her hands.

"Oh Gods, I was right?" Hakuno was teasing but it seemed like she hit the arrow a little close to the target.

"You did not know you were!?" Shub fell back on the bed. "I want to throw myself into the Euphrates."

"Please do not do that Shub, you know I cannot jump in to rescue you. But I will send Enkidu after you so…"

"Gods," squealed Shub.

"Will you pursue a relationship with him?" asked Hakuno. Despite their difference in class it was not unheard of for people of the slave class to marry someone in a higher status.

"Hakuno!"

"What? It was a valid question!"

"I mean, I have no dowry so," mumbled Shub.

Hakuno let out a long sigh. "I do not think Ishne is one to care about that but if he was…well in case you forgot your friend is a Queen."

"Hakuno you couldn't!"

Hakuno crossed her arms. "I am a Queen and I can do what I want!"

"I'm sorry Hakuno but that King impression was kind of…"

"Bad?" Hakuno sighed. She had no idea how to radiate the confident, stuck-up nature of Gilgamesh. "Well, in the end is your choice. But if you do end up in a relationship with him, I will always here to support you."

"Thank you."

"By the way, how did you explain it to him? That you needed to go to an azu house?"

"Oh that?" Shub threw her dark hair over her shoulder. "I just told him it had to do with my monthly bleeding." She grinned. "He was quiet after that."

Poor Ishne. As the guard for Gilgamesh, he probably was not used to dealing with female problems. "Anyway, I think there's a board game in that chest. Want to play while we wait?"

"Sure."

Shub got out the game and the two of them played a few rounds. Hakuno's growling stomach signaled it was midday and she sighed. Guess it was finally time.

While Shub cleaned up the board game, Hakuno pulled out the tampon and saw it had a red tint to it now.

"Shub, what does red mean?" asked Hakuno. She looked up and saw Shub had her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide.

Oh.

Hakuno looked down at the pregnancy test and then at her stomach. Oh. "I am…" She looked up numbly.

"You are," whispered Shub. "Oh Gods, we need to get you a necklace of Pazazu."

"Wait Shub, you cannot!"

Shub was halfway to the door and she turned around slowly and stared at Hakuno like she was mad. "What do you mean that I cannot? Hakuno, we cannot risk Lamashtu getting her evil eye on your baby."

"Shub, this is bad. I am pregnant and we are behind enemy lines."

Shub walked back over to Hakuno. "What do you mean?" asked Shub. "You are not making sense."

"Shub, they know I do not have power or a kingdom backing me right now. That is why they thought they could try to seduce Gil and have Princess Aea be pregnant with his child. If I am pregnant that will invalidate that plan and I will became a true threat. I have the true heir to the Uruk throne growing inside of me."

She could see Shub was trying to keep up with the conversation but failing to. "So what are you going to do?"

"We have about a week to go before we are to leave. We just need to make due until then. Hopefully Lamashtu's eyes will not set on the child before then." She put a hand over her stomach, already feeling protective of the child growing within her.

"I pray to Pazuzu that it will not happen. Anyway, for now, let us get rid of this pregnancy test."

Gilgamesh walked into the bedroom and swept Hakuno up in a hug before she could get up from the bed. The tablet she was reading was squished between them, the sharp edges of the clay tablet digging into him but he did not care.

"No fair Gil, I want to hug Hakuno too!"

"What is with all of the hugging?" Hakuno was barely able to let out a breath when Enkidu hugged her as soon as Gilgamesh released her.

"It was so boring today Hakuno!"

"Boring?" She looked to Gilgamesh to clarification.

"A lot of negotiations. King Ditanu and I were discussing trade treaties for a better part of the day." He felt bad for Enkidu. He had noticed how they were slowly losing interest in the discussion but of course they were stuck in the same room as him.

"Did anything get sorted out?"

"Some of it. There are still a few things we still need to discuss like what is to be done in times of war but it seems very normal from what I can see. If I did not know better, it seems like King Ditanu wants our kingdoms to be at peace."

"Yes, but you will be careful right Gil?"

"I am double and triple checking everything." He frowned as he noticed Hakuno had one hand on her stomach. "Is your stomach still bothering you? Ishne mentioned to me that you had some stomach problems earlier."

Enkidu's eyes widen. "I know some herbs that can help. Want me to get them for you?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine Enkidu, thank you." Hakuno rested her hands on her lap. "Gil, this might be a weird question but what do you think about children?"

"Children? They are loud and annoying and make a mess of everything." The children he had seen around the palace were all so loud. Also, they were so messy, getting their snot and various other bodily functions everywhere. "That seems like a very random question from you."

Hakuno shook her head and looked down at her lap. "It is nothing Gil, do not worry about it."

That was weird.

But before he could ask her to clarify further, she stood. "Let us continue to discuss on what to do next."