Author's Note: This is the final chapter. and OMG the first story I've EVER finished. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and/or followed the story.

As always, I don't own Voltron or any of its characters.

Chapter 6 - Final Victory

Lotor stopped in his tracks, his pulse accelerated and his breathing came in fast, shallow bursts. Her screams and anguished sobs, a knell to his ears, echoed in the hallways. The king felt impotent; not a feeling he relished. Her pain and pleasure were his sole domain to control, but neither were under his command at the moment. When he left her only a few hours ago, Allura had been so optimistic she could endure the pain.

His gaze met the furrowed brows of the staff, as they bowed and watched him expectantly. His muscles twitched as if he was about to sprint but he stopped himself. He could reach her in less than a minute, if he ran. However, he was the king and he could not be seen rushing for anyone – he was at the beck and call of no one – to appear as such would reveal a vulnerability. While it was a foregone conclusion on everyone's part that she was his weakness, he could never confirm that for them – least of all to her. But the human side of him, the side that he had beaten down so long ago that he was surprised any of it survived, wanted to run to her, wanted to proclaim his undying love for her, wanted to tell her she was more than a toy. But he was not a king of humans, with their overly sentimental and weepy emotions. No, he was a king of Drules. And as his father repeatedly beat into him as a child, he could NEVER, for one second, reveal weakness.

After all, he liked her submissive (or at least her special brand of submission), always fearful of his displeasure. Her capitulation would be considered inadequate by any other Drule, who would have settled for nothing less than breaking her. But they were hasty fools who lacked the finesse and skill required to control such a fiery woman. No doubt, it required more work this way but anything worth having was worth the extra effort. What a waste it would have been any other way, when having his spirited wife bend to his will was so much more satisfying. To watch a blaze build in her that could raze all around her, only for her to gracefully succumb to him was the one of the most beautiful things he had ever witnessed. It would forever arouse him. Alas, the others could not appreciate the rush this brought.

As he walked into the hospital room, though, she was not gracefully succumbing. This was not the image of the fearless girl who stood up to his father's army, to him, without fear. Her skin glistened from sweat and her face contorted from contractions racking her petite frame. He looked at the foot of the gurney and saw her blood and felt his drain from his face. He shot a consternated look at her team of doctors and stalked over to them. The sight of her blood pooling and the memory it invoked turned his own blood cold.

Even now, when he thought about finding her limp body in a puddle of her own blood with a dagger in her shoulder, his jaw clenched and his eyebrows clumped together. They had only been married for a few months when it happened, and he thought for sure the Gods were mocking him – that they would give her to him only to snatch her away so soon. While she laid in a hospital bed, not too dissimilar to the one she was in now, soldiers overran the capital city; hunting her would-be assassin. Their search led them to Lord Krayta. The powerful lord had ambitions that included titles on Arus and Allura stood in his way.

By the next day, Krayta's entire house, including his children and grandchildren, were dead. And while Lotor never verbalized his affection for his wife, Krayta found out the very painful way how dear the queen was to him. Of course, Allura never saw it as a sign of devotion, only that someone attacked the property of the king and suffered the consequences.

"The blood is normal, your majesty," the lead obstetrician informed him, stealing Lotor back from his dark ruminations. The man stared intently at the rippling lines of the two heart rate monitors. Until the queen progressed more, there was little the doctors could do. But given the risks of hybrid pregnancies, they monitored her vigilantly.

Lotor looked back at Allura and her swollen belly. He smiled, knowing soon he would have the ultimate triumph over her. The proud Arussian girl would soon be mother to his child; his son. He laughed to himself recalling how nervous she had been to tell him she was pregnant. There was none of her characteristic defiance. Instead, she stumbled over her words before just blurting it out. She wrung her hands waiting for his response to the news; knowing a pregnancy would ruin her figure for its duration. Her fear for her people had never been so heightened. In truth, he did nothing to allay her worries, at first. But in all fairness, he really didn't think it would've been required. Most women would see carrying his child as a way of insuring their security. But not her, always equating her value in terms of beauty. If that was all he valued, Romelle would have been a less troublesome bride to secure.

Yes, while it's true her figure was affected by bloating and that enormous belly (seriously, there had to be a litter of babies in there not just the one), it did not diminish her hold over him. In fact, he found his admiration grew. She endured the torment of pregnancy - both physical and emotional – as always with the brave dignity that she seemed to endure all things. And the high mortality rate among human women bearing Drule children didn't seem to outwardly affect her. The thought of dying didn't bother her so much as leaving her people unprotected.

Allura's stress reduced somewhat when she learned she carried his son. The king was with her when she learned. She seemed to hold her breathe the entire time. When the baby's sex was confirmed, Allura released a long exhale. He wanted to blurt out then how much he loved her but as ever all he said was, "I'm proud of you," and walked out.

Lotor felt a jolt run through him and then his muscle tense as a blood curdling scream reverberated in the room. "We could give her majesty something for the pain," one doctor whispered.

"She said she wanted to this naturally. I assume her midwife has been called?"

The king approached her on the bed but she began swinging at him; muttering that she wanted to him to stay away and something about how he did this to her. He chuckled, indeed he had done this to her.

"Should we restrain her, your majesty?"

Lotor rolled his eyes at them. Allura, even in her prime, offered him no threat. He followed her gaze to a table with surgical implements (left there as a precaution in case intervention was needed). He chuckled to himself. Did she think she could waddle over there and get to them before he could?

The king looked at the monitor beside her and saw that this contraction was cresting – perhaps now she would be more tolerant of his presence. In a rare conciliatory gesture, he knelt beside her and dabbed her forehead with a cool wash cloth. Her screaming stopped but she was still sobbing. "These…exertions are only making things worse," he whispered

"I don't want this anymore. Make it stop!"

"It's a little too late for that, love." He laughed to himself as she muttered something and turned away to look at the falling snow. He knew full well how much she wanted this child. How many times had he walked in on her while she sang lullabies to her belly? But the shocking part for him was how much he wanted this child. The child was needed in order to maintain his blood line, however, he liked the effect pregnancy had on her. His ice queen finally began to melt. She became unguarded in her thoughts; sharing her feelings and thoughts with him for the first time ever. Again, while he found humans overly emotional, insights into her inner thoughts enabled him better understanding and control over her, without the threat of brute force. He suspected the hormones as the cause, but he enjoyed this change in her. It brought him one step closer to his final victory over her.

Over the next several hours medical staff wondered in and out. The king eventually overrode Allura's wishes and commanded pain relief be administered. While it never fully relieved her pain her behavior became notably more… civil; no longer hissing at anyone who dare approach or even look her. And eventually their son was born. The midwife swaddled the baby and placed it in the queen's arm. The baby had scruffy, down-like white hair on his head and the king's blue skin. Despite seeming to have only Lotor's feature Allura stared down at the child smiling. The king committed the sight to memory because despite the smile she exuded in public, this one actually reached her eyes. The baby eventually opened his eyes and her smile grew.

"He has my eyes." She looked at the king and his breath caught in his chest. It was the first time ever that she looked at him and smiled. It latest only a few seconds. In that moment, Lotor knew, despite all her protests to the contrary, that through this tiny baby he would finally rule the one thing she withheld from him for so long – her heart.