It was clear to Santana that her mate was close with her mother, and with that in mind she should be on her very best behavior, and at the very least be respectful. Charlie was Judy's youngest child, and had probably been spoiled to some degree, and she had gone around Judy's wishes to make sure that Charlie was hers. But if she wished to have a somewhat happy mated life she would need to make peace with Judy and they would need to come to an agreement. Charlie was hers, but she wasn't unreasonable, she understood the importance of family.

Still she expected a private meeting with Judy, but when she arrived she saw an army of maids and immediately took a step back, unsure of what was going on. "Your majesty—"

"You mated," Judy stated simply, she could smell it all over Santana and for the first time she wished she hadn't been cursed with sharpened senses.

"I—well—yes," Santana replied, there was zero point in denying it. Given what Judy was she had to believe that she could smell Charlie's pheromones all over her, her scent would eventually mix with her mates and they'd smell similar but until that time, Charlie would smell like her and she would smell like Charlie.

"While I understand that the beastkin do things differently, and to you mating is everything. Charlie is still the heir to the throne and you have to realize that she has responsibilities no matter how much she wishes it wasn't so. She can't hide from it, and even if she could she's not that type of person. But hopefully with a child she'll finally stop trying to shirk her duties and responsibilities."

Santana's ears flattened on the top of her head, "I understand, but knowing what you are and the effect that has on beastkin, I needed to stake my claim before Sansa invited every unmated Prime to meet with your daughter. It's not about the throne, I just knew she'd make a perfect mate. I've spent quite a bit watching her, and she's kind, and while she lacks confidence in certain areas, I think she just needs a bit of a push to be who she's meant to be, and I plan to support her anyway I can. And given who my clan is, and the fact that the Cat Clan has a seat of power, there are powerful warriors, that's what I can promise if the need arises. And perhaps with time, joining our two nations will be possible."

Judy tapped her finger on the table in front of her,"My daughter has many strengths, but she also doesn't stand up for herself when it comes to her sisters when she should. She lacks a head for budgeting, don't get me started on her manners, so long as you can help her in those aspects of her life, and discuss with your people about opening trade with your medicinal herbs, then we have something to take to the nobles. You must start getting fitted for a dress, I don't have much time to prepare a grand wedding but I can't trust such a thing to Charlie. Which clans should we invite?"

"We're already mated—" Santana protested, this seemed like far more work for something that had already happened.

"I think you fail to understand the severity of what you did, it is not common knowledge that Charlie is the heir. She doesn't have that much support amongst the nobles and while none of my children care what the nobles think, they can cause enough of a headache. They need to see you as their Queen and they will test you and try to humiliate and discredit you. All so that they can install a concubine that they hope will have Charlie's ear. You need to be able to shut that down immediately. She should have explained all of this to you, before you mated so you had a choice to back out."

"Even knowing all this I still won't back out and I'd like to see them try, she's promised me—"

"Her promises mean nothing, she is the heir and she will soon rule. She can't predict the future and to think that she is naive, the most she can promise you is that one of your children will be the heir and she will not sire a child with another." Judy sighed. "Though a child might change things, they certainly won't press immediately, but you must take care of yourself. If you wish to cement your position then having a safe and healthy pregnancy is important."

Santana paused that was the second time that Judy had mentioned a child, "While I understand that, I believe learning everything that is required of me would be the best use of my time—and I discussed this with Charlie."

Judy stopped tapping her fingers on the table and narrowed her eyes, "What exactly did you explain to my daughter?"

"I explained how many beastkin get pregnant, especially the cat clan. I told her that I needed to be in heat."

Judy studied Santana for a moment before shaking her head, "I love all my children but there are times that they hear what they wish to hear. So I take it that you aren't pregnant?"

"No!" Santana said immediately.

"Well at least there is that, but my suggestion is that you discuss this with her again, because I think she's about to insist that Kara and Mike create a crib for your child, and I would rather not have an elf and a dwarf complaining fighting over who are the best craftsmen."

Santana's eyes widened at this piece of knowledge, "I told her several times—"

"Well you mated without really getting to know her," Judy comments. The wedding would still need to happen at an accelerated pace, but at least she wouldn't have to worry about Santana showing. "You can do so after your fitting. There is only so much time and I have to start inviting dignitaries from all over the continent."

Santana blinked, "Who has she told?"

"Anyone and everyone that has to listen, she is very proud of herself. I suggest keeping your clothes on the next time you wish to have a serious discussion with her, she won't listen otherwise. Now your dress, I've brought over the best designers and we can incorporate your culture with ours. You are to be Queen and as such you are the trendsetter of the nation."

~ O ~

"And how many children do you have? What are their ages?" Charlie questioned her head maid, she had dumped all the many papers that littered her desk onto the floor and was currently scratching something down. She needed to narrow down the best maids, so that Santana could pick the one she felt most connected to. Once her list was compiled then she would need to talk to Mike about building a crib, dwarven cribs were ugly and her child deserved the best.

"Your highness, while it is true that a child would be assigned a maid, several maids, the position of the child's nanny and the wetnurse will come from a noble family."

"Of course they won't, I will protect my child and I don't trust the nobles. Perhaps Ra's and even then I don't actually trust what his motives are. No, a maid that is thoroughly vetted will be granted a title of baron, and they will be entrusted to help raise my children. I plan to have many of them."

The maid stared at Charlie like she had grown another head, "I understand, well I can make a few—"

The door to her study slams open and Charlie shifts her attention to yell at the person who had interrupted them but instead a massive dopey grin crosses her face when she sees Santana, and she immediately hops to her feet, so she can make sure that Santana was comfortable. "Do that, a list by tomorrow," Charlie says dismissively. "And bring some tea, and something to eat for her."

Santana watches as the maid bows and quickly scurries out, closing the door she waits until the maid is no longer at the door even as she places a firm hand on Charlie's chest to stop her from getting to close, the pheromones would make her dizzy and the last thing she needed was to get back into bed with her mate. "You told your mother I was pregnant!" She hissed keeping her voice low.

Charlie blinked, "Was I not supposed to? I should have waited until you were there so we could tell them together, but I'm excited and she needs to start getting a wedding ready, so I simply—"

"I'm not pregnant." Santana informs Charlie bluntly, she watches as confusion crosses Charlie's face.

"But you didn't take any of the preventive herbs the entire time we were together," Charlie leans in a bit, dropping her voice. "And we did it a lot."

Santana shivers, Charlie's pheromones were overpowering but she truly needed to make sure that Charlie understood how her body worked at least when it came to having children. "Humans don't get pregnant everytime they have sex, they have safe days and it's the same for me, we had sex as many times as we did because we were mating, I wasn't in heat. When I am in heat, I assure you that you will know the difference. It lasts 8 to eleven days. I doubt very much if you'll even be able to handle it."

Charlie stared at her soon to be wife and grins, "I'm a master swordsman Santana, I have plenty of stamina, I spend longer in the Badlands and I'm always in danger then," Charlie states pridefully. "When do you become fertile?"

Santana narrowed her eyes, "Charlie, I understand that siring children is important to you but it's clear that I have a lot to learn and I would prefer if your mother thought that I was the perfect match for you. If all you want is a brood of children—"

"I don't! I just think that having a child that looks like you would be the best thing in the world, I'd probably spoil that child—"

"And what about me?"

"Well it goes without saying that I'd spoil you as well, I've wanted a family since I was a child Santana. If I'm going to be forced to be the heir, and dealing with the nobles and the plots and having people criticizing me—I just wanted a family who loved me. I got excited, but I don't want you to think that I just want you to bear me at least 3 children."

Santana stared at Charlie, she could easily tell Charlie she wasn't interested in raising a litter of cubs, but there was something so eager on her face, and she couldn't say no at this moment. "Your mother is right, we really should have talked before we mated, this is my fault, I just didn't want anyone else to have you."

"Well I wouldn't want anyone else but you Santana," Charlie said motioning to the couch, before turning to look at Santana. "You talked to my mother?"

"She summoned me, what was I supposed to do?"

"Run away? That's what I do."

"She's the queen."

"She's my mother, don't you ever run from your mother?"

"Of course I run from my mother, she nags me all the time! But would you run from my mother?"

"Of course not, that would be disrespectful—oh."

Santana nodded, Charlie finally understood. "You're not beastkin and expecting you to know everything about my culture is impossible, but at the same time I know very little about the responsibilities of possibly becoming queen, and that takes time. I can't raise a child right now, there is etiquette I must learn, your mother has hired several tutors for me."

"Don't worry, I know how to ditch all of them."

Santana smiled, "Even if you don't wish to be the heir, you plan on being a good ruler do you not?" She watches as Charlie's shoulders slump, "I am still moving into your bedroom, so don't think that your mother is going to keep me from my mate. But she did talk about concubines—"

"I plan on abolishing that, first thing. Having concubines seems like a great idea, but my father had to murder his half-siblings to get on the throne. I mean I don't always get along with my sisters and I'm pretty sure they pick on me because I'm the youngest but I do love them, and if they want the throne they can have it. I was going to have Sebastian draft something to that effect."

Santana relaxes, and she leans forward to kiss Charlie on the cheek, it was the best that she could do at this moment. "And you'll help me with my studies?"

Charlie's eyes widened, and she forced a smile onto her face even as she nods. She had been terrible with her lessons, and she didn't want Santana to think she had married someone stupid. "Yes, we'll do them together."