The thing about war is that it doesn't take a break. Wars are constantly being fought. Soldiers don't see that its time for bed and shake hands and hunker down for the night, waking up at eight o'clock the next morning and eating a full breakfast before going back to fighting. And for those kings and queens responsible for their soldiers lives? They can't just stop sleeping. They need their rest so that they can make smart, well thought-out decisions. People die overnight, it happens. It simply is a matter of waking up and getting briefed.

Dad never really went into how to be a leader during a time of war with me. Maybe he didn't think that I would need to know or he hoped that I wouldn't but he only gave me one piece of advice: don't let the war rule your life. He told me that even as a queen, I would need to take at least a half hour to myself in the morning where I didn't look at the paper or news and just focus my thoughts on me for a little bit. Otherwise I would run myself into the ground with constant worry.

I took that required time and cleared my thoughts while Eloise did my makeup and dressed me for the day. When the butler placed the morning paper down in front of me, I realized that no peaceful morning with only the sounds of Eloise's soft humming as she waltzed around me could prepare me for this. New Asian Soldiers Capture French Coastal Town.

The New Asians were officially in France.

I dropped the paper and met Eikko's concerned gaze. I simply passed the paper to him, waiting for his reaction to the news. "Eadlyn, you need to call your brother," he said quietly.

"I can't."

"Eadlyn."

"I can't," I repeated firmly. "What am I going to say? 'Hey, sorry about New Asia, but we can't help you fight them and risk upsetting the treaty'?"

"Surely we can find a way to help them," Eikko argued. "It seems wrong that we're here letting your brother's kingdom get attacked and not offering any sort of aid."

I held up a hand to stop him. "Eikko, I'd really like to not have to talk about foreign policy while eating my oatmeal, okay?"

"Then what do you want to talk about?" he asked, his voice biting into me.

"I don't…" I stammered.

He put down his knife and fork and shook his head. "Why don't we talk about the last time we had a date? Do you know when that was? Two weeks ago, Eadlyn. The only time I really get to see you is at night or in the morning but even then, you're rushing off with Eloise at first light to get dressed. Let's talk about my family, who is currently in a country that the New Asians are occupying."

"We've only known that for twelve hours, we'll discuss it today at my meeting—"

"Our meeting. And it's my family. We should have discussed that last night, as soon as we knew. But I guess since it's just me, your prince consort, it doesn't matter."

I rolled my eyes. "It's not like that, Eikko. You're my husband."

"Am I?" he asked quickly. The room suddenly felt much larger as his words hung in the air between us. "Lately, it's felt a lot like I'm only good for publicity or helping to plan your tea parties." He stood and took his plate in his hand. "I think I'll finish my breakfast in my office."

The Great Room seemed ever larger than a few seconds before with just me sitting at the grand table by myself, staring at the empty room in front of me. A door clicked open and in stepped my parents. Dad must have just told one of his usually insufferable jokes because Mom was giggling with a hand pressed to her mouth, her free arm linked with Dad's. She grew quiet as they got closer to the table and realized that I was alone.

"Eads, honey, what's wrong?" she asked, taking Dad's hand and stepping closer to us.

"Nothing," I said. I rose from the table and left my napkin by my place. "I have work to do. Enjoy breakfast."

There was someone waiting for me in my office when I arrived. My hand slid down the door as I shut it, chewing on my lip and trying to come up with a way to start this conversation. "General Leger."

He turned from where he was standing at the window, looking out over the front driveway for the palace, and his eyes swept over me. "Your Majesty."

I hadn't been alone with him since the news of my mother's scandal with him had broken just a couple weeks prior. He had been keeping his head low and then Gavril made the idiotic decision that wasn't even his decision to make in the first place that General Leger should leave his post at the palace. "Haven't seen you in a bit," I said hesitantly, getting off to a less-than-graceful start.

"I've been hiding, ma'am," he admitted.

I frowned. General Leger was a lot of things. He was a soldier, a husband, a friend, a confidante, a trusted advisor, an uncle…but definitely not a coward. "Why? You've never hid from anything."

He fidgeted with his hat in his hands. "Well, I'm sure you've seen the papers."

Oh. That was true. Whatever the people had to say about Mom for the scandal was bad but it was even worse for him. They accused him of being all sorts of things. They accused him of trying to break up my parents, of seducing my mom into falling in love with him, of raping my mother to force her to not consider the prince. That wasn't even the worst rumor. The worst rumor was that he raped her and it didn't work so he planned the rebel attack to then get the rebels to kill my dad. It all was atrocious and I understood why, if I were him, it would be best to hide from it all.

"Then it's a good thing that we have much bigger fish to fry here," I said, walking over to my desk and thumbing through the folders left for me for the day. "I pray that one of those less-than-competent officers briefed you on the issue of New Asia's involvement with the war in Europe. I need to know the extent of the damage in France, right now." He was quiet, just staring at me. "Is there a problem, General Leger?"

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I haven't been here in days. With the press that's circulating, I don't think it'd be wise—"

"General Leger," I said in my sharpest Queen voice. "Listen to me very closely. You dated my mother. You dated my mother when she was dating the most favorite king of this nation. The press is talking about you and my mother and we all are screwed because of something that you two did as teenagers. That happens sometimes, I guess. Right now, we have a nation with an exceptionally powerful military with whom we have an exceptionally unstable treaty invading my brother's shores and I need my commanding general at my side to help me sort through this mess."

"I didn't want to hurt your family, you know."

I nodded. "I know."

"No, Eadlyn, you don't. For the last twenty years, I've sacrificed myself every day for the sake of your family's protection. I always told myself that the day I failed to do that would be the day I died in the line of duty." My eyes widened slightly. "I know it's extreme but for me, that is what I've given my life for and I wasn't going to let myself retire just to watch any of you get hurt when I should have still been here."

"So you're just going to work here until you're ninety years old?"

"Or until I need to take a bullet for any of you."

"What about Miss Lucy? She'd be devastated to lose you."

He smiled sadly. "She understands me though. She knows that I have a hero complex." He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "Thank you for bringing me back."

"Of course. That's what I do," I reminded him. "Can we save my brother now?"

"Yes, we can."

Having General Leger back in command made going to my security meeting for the day feel like going home after an arduous business trip. In the meeting, we got fresh information on the status of New Asia in France and how much of a threat they were. We were able to formulate a game plan moving forward. As good as it felt though, I couldn't shake an uneasiness I had with what he had said earlier. My dad loved being a king and I think he could have been king happily for another couple years but he couldn't wait for retirement to spend every day with unlimited free time with Mom. Why wasn't that enough for General Leger? He absolutely loved Miss Lucy as much as my parents loved each other. Why wasn't he in any hurry to retire for her?

It was when I was walking back to my office that I knew the answer. Passing a large, open window, I heard the sound of laughter coming from the lawn down below. I stopped and watched, smiling slightly. Mom and Dad were with Kaden and Osten. From the looks of it, they were painting a huge white canvas together. I had no idea what they were supposed to be painting or if they even knew but seeing Dad with his sons, sitting next to Mom and bopping her on the nose with the end of his brush, I could see why he was so anxious to leave this life of being trapped behind a desk. He had so much to look forward to after being king whereas General Leger had no children. He had no children and Kile was in Panama, Ahren was in France, Kaden was starting to date Josie and was becoming more of a man with each passing day. Even the kids he helped to raise and was an uncle to were starting to grow up. When he retired, he would be retiring to a life spent with his wife. Happily but there would always be something missing. That didn't mean he had to do his job until he died.

I really needed a break from everything. Just a breath of air to give me some clarity. My brother was stuck in a war that his wife started by accident and now one of our biggest enemies was breathing down his neck. Eikko was feeling unworthy and I had no idea how to balance his insecurities with my work life and we were about to have a baby together. I really just needed to talk to someone who understood all of these pressures of family and personal life and scandal but managed to be a good queen.

When I got to the fourth floor, I took my usual seat across from my grandmother's portrait and chewed on my lip for a while. "I really don't want this to become a habit but for some reason, I find clarity here. So here we go again," I said.

"Mom and Dad have always spoken so highly of you. Dad said that you were the mom he needed to balance out his dad. Your husband was too busy being the king so you were the mom your family needed, even when it was hard. It's just not fair that you died so young. You deserved to see your son grow up. It's not fair that you didn't get to meet us." I sighed and touched my belly, the bump that was growing just a little bit every day. "I guess if you were here, you would tell me to call my brother, wouldn't you?" Her pleasant smile was the only response I got. "Cool. Got it. You win."

I withdrew my secure cell phone. It was technically only supposed to be used for emergency calls but I figured General Leger would forgive me for this one phone call. Ahren answered on the first ring.

"Eadlyn?"

"Hey," I answered softly. I wasn't expecting to feel nervous but I did.

"Oh, Eadlyn, I am so sorry. I was a fool, I should have never said any of those things to you. Of course I can't expect you to help me with every little thing. You have your own economy and everything to worry about for yourself and I can't always be your needy little brother." His syllables were all running together with the rate at which he spoke and it made me smile. "And I understand with the baby and all. Oh my gosh, I haven't even said congrats yet. I mean, congratulations! You're going to be a mother Eads and I know you're scared but you'll be fine—"

"How do you know I'm scared?" I asked suddenly.

It made him stop and I slapped myself internally. This was not the way I'd imagined starting the conversation. "Well, I…I don't know. I can just tell that you're scared."

"You know me."

"Yeah, I do. You're my other half, of course I know you. You've been my best friend for my entire life. Literally, you've always been by my side."

I blinked to stop myself from crying but dammit the tears were coming. "It's really good to hear your voice again. I don't even remember what happened but it sucks to fight with you."

"Let's not do it again, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

His own voice sounded a little watery. It was eerie really, how similar to Dad he sounded on the phone. "Eadlyn, why are you calling me on your private line?"

"Officially? To tell you that I'm sending you food and medical supplies for your civilians so that they're not suffering too much. Unofficially? Because I couldn't stand not talking to you anymore."

"I know what you mean. I think Camille was about to go crazy from how agitated I've been without you."

I huffed in agreement. "Yeah, there aren't enough of us Schreaves to be fighting."

"Definitely not. How's Eikko?"

"Good," I said haltingly. "We're actually fighting."

"Eadlyn. Why?"

"I'm a terrible person and haven't been a good wife lately. He feels like I've been ignoring his needs, which is true. I just can't find a balance to everything. And it's only going to get worse come June fourteenth."

He gasped. "Is that the due date?"

"Yeah."

"Hm. So there's a time limit on this little fight, huh? Well, if you can't find a balance on your own, delegate. You have a palace full of people at your disposal Eads. They are meant to serve you. Put them to work."

"I can't delegate my marriage."

He laughed. "You can but you probably shouldn't. Listen, you need to make it clear to those working for you that you're in charge. Who does your schedule, Eadlyn?" I was quiet as I responded rhetorically that a room full of secretaries set my schedule for me. Ahren knew how it worked though. "Tell your secretaries that you aren't available at specific hours. You're the queen, they have to honor you."

"Do I really have time to give up though? There's so much happening now."

"Do you really have to be at every public image strategizing meeting? Let Gavril's new minions plan things for you and they'll tell you where to be and what to wear. And those meetings for agricultural planning? You really need to be that in touch with the nation's farmers? Send Eikko or Brice if you have to. After all, isn't the point of your constitutional monarchy to ensure that kings and queens are no longer working themselves to death by doing everything?"

I drew circles on the velvet seat of the bench beneath me. "I guess it's just hard to give up the reins."

"Obviously," he said like I was being dumb but not so much so that I felt like an idiot.

"How did I survive without talking to you for so long?" I asked him, mostly rhetorically. It seemed ridiculous that we hadn't talked for weeks and now we were back to our usual banter.

He chose not to answer and was quiet for several moments before saying, "You know I won't be back for Christmas, right?"

"I figured."

"We just can't get away right now."

"Ahren, it's okay. And Mom and Dad will understand. They've been in your shoes before – I'm sure they understand why you won't be able to make it home." There were some voices in the background of his line and I knew that he was just seconds from saying goodbye.

"I need to go Eads but hey, it was really good hearing from you. Don't be a stranger, okay?"

"That's fine. I have plenty to do to keep myself busy. I love you Ahren."

"Love you too, Eadlyn."

I knew Eikko normally went to bed early so that he could relax a bit before going to sleep. It helped him sleep better if he could read or watch television, anything to keep his mind off of his normally anxious thoughts. I decided to take my brother's advice and delegate the reading of my bill to one of Brice's assistants. He didn't look up at me when I entered our bedroom. I quickly went through my nightly routine, washing my face and finding a nightgown that wasn't too small with my belly, which was getting more and more difficult since most of my nightgowns were made of unforgiving silk.

When I emerged in a cotton gown stretched tight around my hips, he couldn't help but glance up at me from his book. It was some sort of sci-fi book about physics and time travel and it made my head spin just thinking about it. Not Eikko's though. He was constantly finding new things to be interested in and physics was his latest obsession. I didn't know what he was planning on using with all of his new physics knowledge but it seemed to be entertaining him thoroughly and keeping him from being anxious about the baby and his family.

"I called my brother," I said casually as I rubbed my nighttime lotion into my forearms. He didn't respond. "We made up."

"That's good," he said in an even voice.

"And we'll be sending aid to the civilians in France. It's not really helping either side but it's at least helping the people who are caught in the crossfire."

Eikko nodded and turned a page, still not looking at me. "Good."

I lifted my phone into my hand and climbed into bed beside him. "I called my brother and made nice. Now it's time for you to do the same. Call your parents."

"No." Still didn't look up. He just kept turning pages.

"Do you want to protect your family?" He stopped reading and his eyes flicked up over his book, not looking up at me but focusing on something far away from us. "Call your parents. I'm not bringing your family here if you aren't getting along. You need to be the one to invite them."

Finally, finally, his eyes met mine and there were a million fears and questions dancing in them. "How am I supposed to do that, Eadlyn? They hate your family and our positions in the world. How will I convince them to come here?"

"I think you'll find it rather easy to invite your parents and sister to come here when you bribe them with quality time with you and a baby, come June," I told him, gently pulling the book out of his hands and setting it behind me. "And they hate us because they don't understand our lifestyle. Having them here will help them see what we're doing on a daily basis and understand how busy we are."

He frowned, his hand placed over mine that was outstretched with the phone sitting in my palm. "I hate it when you're right."

"The safest place for them is here in the palace. If you're going to take them out of Swendway for their safety, don't do it halfway. We'll bring them here or find them a house nearby like my grandmother and the Legers. Either way, they should be here because that's what family does for family."

"Yeah?" he asked, not sounding so sure about that.

I put my phone down and took his hand in mine, placing it on my belly. "Family stays together, no matter what. And they're a team. I promise to spend more time with you and to put you first from now on because you are the last person that should come in last. You're the last person to deserve to come in last. You're as good as they come and I question every day how I ended up with someone as good as you."

He smirked and put his other free arm around my shoulders. "I don't deserve you. It's probably why I accept it when you don't pay attention to me but that's not the kind of marriage I want our baby to be born into."

"You're right."

"My parents were good friends but they were never soul mates or anything. You and me, we have something truly special and our children deserve to see that. I don't want it to die before they even get the chance," he admitted.

I rested my head on his shoulder, throwing one of my legs over his. "I agree. So what do we do to fix it?"

"Dates every Tuesday night. No matter what is happening, even if it's simply the two of us eating dessert in here. But for that hour of time, there will be no distractions."

"Okay."

"Now give me the phone," he grumbled. He took the phone and dialed a number without hesitation, putting it to his ear closest to me. I leaned in obnoxiously, making him roll his eyes but he was smiling at me anyway. Then it vanished. "Mom?"