Chapter 2

Cora was awoken by a very scared looking servant girl. Normally, no one would dare disturb her, but it must be very important…

Cora glared at the girl in the dim early morning light and if looks alone could kill, well, she supposed her entire staff would have died long ago. "This had better be very good or very bad."

The servant swallowed hard, sweating profusely already. "Yes my lady… uhm… the new infant… she's hungry…"

Cora tilted her head at this obviously suicidal child. "So feed it. After you feed it, come back so I can kill you for waking me for something so stupid."

The girl paled even further, which was quite a sight. "uhm, yes. We tried my lady. The infant will not take a bottle and she will not stop crying. We're afraid she will perish if she doesn't eat soon."

Cora frowned at this. Could the infant die? The whole point of a siren guardian was that they had never been killed. Immortality could be assumed. The crying was likely going to get annoying very quickly however. Sighing heavily Cora sat up a bit in her bed. "Well, Regina's nursemaid is out of the question. That woman can barely feed her own child after Regina suckles. Ask the other staff, find a nursing mother who can produce enough to sustain their own infant and if they make too much, bring them in to nurse her."

The servant looked incredibly relieved and began backing out of the room quickly while curtsying and saying "yes my lady".

Cora stretched and considered managing this problem, but in the end laid back down, because really, the worst case was the siren screamed until it could eat solid food. She would simply avoid the nursery until then if they could not make it eat.

…

Bethany practically flew through the manor asking every servant she passed if they knew of a nursing mother. The problem was that it had been most difficult to get one for Regina. No one wanted the responsibility of taking care of Cora's offspring. If the child had an ailment, surely the nursemaid would be the first to lose their heads. She asked everyone until she came to the kitchens. At this time of day, only the lady of the kitchen was there, busily preparing the breads to bake for breakfast.

Bethany sat heavily on a stool and allowed herself to breath even as she cried. She was going to die painfully if she failed, she just knew it. The kitchen lady came over to her, calmly comforting her. The older woman was a grandmother now, and well accustomed to comforting servants who came crying to her kitchens. She had worked for Henry and Cora since they had wed and although Cora never came at her, she was well aware of the trauma and death she handed out daily.

"Shush now girl. It can't be all that bad; you still have a head after all."

Bethany dried her tears and took a few steady breaths before answering the woman. "It's fine now, but when I fail to produce a nurse maid, I'll be dead."

Frowning at the girl the older woman asked, "Regina has a nurse maid. Surely Cora hasn't killed her?"

Shaking her head quickly the girl answered in broken sobs, "the new infant needs one also. She won't take the bottle and Cora said to find her one. Except no one is admitting they know a girl!"

The kitchen lady patted the girls head and asked her to take her to the new child. Bethany looked confused, but maybe this old woman knew something she did not. So she did as she was asked and led the woman up to the nursery. The screaming infant could be heard from two halls away easily. Poor dear was starving and nothing would soothe her.

Stepping into the room, the older woman stopped in her tracks, nostrils flaring at some smell. The other ladies assumed it was the baby smell of diapers and sour milk the old woman was probably unaccustomed to. She quickly recovered and held her hands out to the woman with bags under her eyes holding a screaming infant. The moment the grandmother held the child against herself, the infant quieted. She stared up at her with her silver eyes and reached her shaky hand up to the womans hair, tugging it gently.

Every woman in the room sighed heavily and took seats, some on the floor. They were all exhausted from the childs all night wailing. Regina was fast asleep in her cradle, apparently uncaring of her friends plight. "There now, what is all that fussing for?" The woman spoke gently to the child. After a few minutes of gentle rocking, the infant fell asleep peacefully in her arms.

"How the devil did you do that?" One woman asked her in a hushed whisper.

"I'm a grandmother now. My granddaughter is one week old today in fact. Maybe this babe just needed her own granny to hold her?"

The girls looked skeptical, but so long as she wasn't screaming, they didn't care. They'd never heard a child make such a racket. The wailing was unnatural at best. Three other women had run off in the night from the wailings. The rest had been too scared of Cora's wrath. The kitchen lady thought for a moment and then nodded to herself, mind made up. "Bethany, go back to Cora, tell her I am taking this infant to find her a nurse maid. If she questions it, tell her she can hold it while she screams."

Bethany actually wavered on the point of fainting but nodded eventually. "I will inform her when she awakens."

Several women tried to talk her out of taking the child, but in the end, the kitchen lady ignored them. She wasn't afraid of Cora, never had been. This child needed to eat and she knew someone who might have a chance of feeding it. If Cora had a problem with her finding a child food, well she could bring it straight to her.

….

It had taken time to get enough staff to manage her kitchens properly, but eventually she was on her way, walking quickly. The child was still asleep, now wrapped in a blanket to hide her from the early morning sun. She made her way west from the manor house, hoping she knew what she was getting herself and her tiny family into.

She finally made it to the tiny house on the outside of the village and quickly entered, barring the door behind her. Her daughter was already watching her, having heard her approaching.

"Mother? What is that?"

"It's a baby dear. Well, not a baby deer… it's a baby, baby. A baby something in any case." She was hurriedly racing around the tiny house closing all the windows so no passing person could possibly see in. Her daughter was watching her curiously, glancing at her own sleeping infant in her cradle. "Cora acquired this child yesterday. I don't know how, no one saw the infant coming in. But, she won't eat. Apparently she screamed all night and refuses a bottle."

"Great, but why did you bring it here? If Cora learns you stole her… new infant?"

The older woman dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "I will probably be back before she pours her ass out of bed." Finally satisfied with the house security, she gently uncovered the infant in her arms. Once the light hit her face, the infant awoke. The womans daughter gasped as she caught the scent of the child, and then again when she saw her eyes open. "Have you ever smelled something like this before?"

Shaking her head slowly, the daughter came closer to the infant, "She is not human. But, what is she?" The infant cooed and reached eagerly for the woman staring down at her. She took the infant from the blanket and her mothers arms, holding her gently. She glanced at her mother again, "they said she won't eat? What did they try giving her?"

"A bottle, with what I assume was extra milk from Regina's nursemaid."

Frowning the daughter asked again, "should I try?" The older woman nodded and she sat down, gently holding the infant up to nurse. The child latched on instantly and began nursing loudly and hungrily. "Well, she certainly is hungry…" She frowned harder then and shook her head. "We shouldn't be doing this mother. My milk could be…"

The older woman sat and put her hand on her daughters shoulder. "It's fine. You're not human, but neither is she. I tell you when I held that child it quit crying in an instant. My blood called out to hold her, to comfort her. I don't know what she is, but she is a kindred creature and I will not let her starve." She smiled then at her daughter, "Even if I have to go get knocked up myself to make her food."

Her daughter laughed then, careful not to disrupt the infant. "Yes, I can see it now. My mother out holding a sign for the village men that says 'Granny Lucas needs a bun in her oven'" She continued laughing as the infant fell asleep, finally full.

Smiling happily at the sleeping infant she said, "well, my dear Anita, if you won't do it, I will."

Anita smiled and gently wrapped the child up again, handing her back to granny. "I will do it. But do Red and I have to live in the manor?"

Granny stood and nodded, "yes, of course. It's only for eight or nine months, maybe less if this child can be on mush as soon as a wolf babe can."

Anita swallowed, but gathered up her own child and began preparing a few things to take with her. "I will come for my things later then. I will try to raise my daughter as human, mother. But I cannot make any guarantees. Even with your cloak, I feel the pull so very strongly."

Granny nodded and put the cloak in question around her shoulders. "If you cannot, then you cannot. I trust you to make the right decision for Red though." They started out towards the manor together, two babes and a few satchels of belongings in tow. It was going to be a long few months.

…

Cora eventually did pull herself out of bed, it was somewhere around lunchtime probably. She didn't have anything to do nowadays since she was thought to be burdened with an infant. However, she still enjoyed her time to herself so she simply employed more peasants to do it for her. One day she would take control of Regina's life and mold her into a proper queen. But that day was not today. She washed and rang for her maid to assist her and send for lunch. "Did that girl find a nurse maid for the new infant?"

The maid jumped slightly, usually Cora ignored her entirely through the routine of getting ready. "Yes, my lady. The Lady of the kitchen has a daughter who gave birth to a daughter of her own not long ago. I believe she is with the new infant now."

Cora nodded and brushed past her maid, ignoring her once again, which was just fine by the maid. She made her way to the nursery, she liked to hold Regina for a few minutes every so often so the child knew her. She went to the cradle and picked up her dark haired infant. She was thankful her child had been born with hair; the siren was completely bald. "Has Regina been eating and sleeping well?"

The ladies in the room all nodded and stood with heads bowed, except one wild haired woman sitting in a chair watching her. Cora immediately did not like her. She glared at the woman, "do you not know to stand when I am in your presence servant?"

Anita raised a brow and stood slowly. She very much hated Cora already, meeting her has now increased her hatred. "Beg your pardon my lady. I am the new nurse maid for Lorelei."

Cora hated her more. "Who is Lorelei?"

With an amused look, Anita responded, "the infant who has been sharing a cradle with your child? The infant whose name is on your childs chest and who bears your childs name on hers?"

Cora put Regina down gently before rounding on this woman. "How dare you insinuate I do not know my child? I simply have not had time to learn this other childs name. What gutter did they dig you out of and bring you here from?"

Anita smiled sweetly and showed her teeth, "I am the daughter of your kitchen lady."

Cora stopped herself immediately. She knew exactly what the kitchen lady was. This woman was her daughter, then she was a werewolf too. A werewolf, in her house… A SECOND werewolf! This one was nursing her… oh. Cora waved at the other women, sending a clear signal to get out. They rushed out quickly, assuming they would need to clean up another corpse soon. "What do you know of this infant?"

Anita shrugged and took her seat again. Cora was a pompous ass, but she knew better than to anger a wolf pack. She didn't know her and granny were the only members of this one though. "My mother brought her to me to nurse. Our blood calls to her, and hers sings back to us. I don't think this child would take human milk."

Cora clenched her jaw at this arrogant woman. But, they said the siren wouldn't eat. Maybe it was a beast thing. She promptly decided however to have it off milk by six months at the most. Cora rolled her eyes and headed out of the nursery, "just keep it alive."

Anita smirked as Cora left and the other ladies came flooding back in. When they saw her not only alive, but smiling, they decided she was dangerous and left her to her self. Which was exactly what Anita wanted. The less human socializing she had to do, the happier she would be and maybe she could last until Red was off the milk at least.