When Pigs Fly ♛ Anthony Bridgerton

Prologue

Laboured breaths, gut-wrenching screams and cries echoed through the heavily closed doors of the maternity room in the castle. The little prince, who despite hours of gentle persuasion, refused to leave for his room (stubbornness inherited from his dear father) , buried his face in the crook of his father's neck seeking for comfort. The king, known for his cold logic and unrelenting stone face, would usually discourage such showcase of vulnerability. However, this time it was different. Even he, the strongest Tsar the Russian Empire had ever met, held his son close to his arms, seeking comfort from the small figure of a seven year of boy. 

King Aleksandr closed his eyes and he swayed his son side to side in order to comfort the stressed ridden boy. His heart was pounding against his chest, straining with anxiety. He knew this could happen. The doctor had warned him countless of times. When he and his wife, Queen Louisa, conceived their first child, it was not an easy birth. Far from it. He had almost lost her before they could stop the bleeding. Their most trusted royal physician had warned them that a second pregnancy was going to be dangerous, potentially fatal. And they had been careful, for six years they tried their best to avoid it. However, one drunken night, a night of celebration, a child was conceived.

The doctor was correct, of course. Queen Louisa suffered much during the nine months of wait. It was the night of Christmas eve when it finally occured. The whole castle was quieter than ever with half of the help being released to celebrate the holiday with their families. The wintry weather of Russia, cold and unrelenting, settled in the grand corridors that were decorated with blooms of poinsettia and it looked lonely, with only few remaining members of the help, occasionally waltzing through them as they approached their own quarters. In the Great Hall, stood a humongous tree, decorated with dried fruits, candies, nuts, cranberries and winter flowers sticking out here and there. The royal family had retired to bed, Prince Igor, safely tugged to dreamland by his mother and father, the king and queen had also fallen fast asleep on their bed which was far too large for only two persons, the king's hand gently and protectively placed on the expanded stomach of his wife.

It was almost midnight when the Queen gasped awake, feeling the intense pain and pressure in his abdomen. The ever light-sleeper, (forged because of countless years in battlefield) her husband wakens immediately asking what had happened.

That is what had resulted to the current situation. An inconsolable prince and an anxiety filled king, pacing outside the room from where screams, cries and shouts of encouragement echoed. Then, finally after a long wait of ten hours, the last pain-filled scream and the room fell dead for a second. It was soon followed by  the cries of a newborn baby, the midwives and the doctors scrambling, King Aleksandr could at long last release a relieved breath. But it was short-lived. He remembered his wife and quickly put down the little boy, who whimpered at the loss of his father's warmth and comfort and rushed into the room.

One of the midwives was carrying a bundle of soft cloth where lies a tiny new life. An innocent soul, thrusted into the cruelty of the world. The king slowly approached, his eyes darting towards his newborn and his wife, who looked half dead but awake, sobbing in pain. The doctor was still scrambling around trying to stop the bleeding. He moved to approach his exhausted queen but stopped when he heard one of the women speak up.

"Vashe Velichestvo, eto printsessa." {Your Majesty, it is a princess.} The midwive informed him as soon as she took note of his entrance. The king quickly turned to the bundle of life and  reached out his hand. The midwife, carefully transferred the swaddle to his arms and he looked down on his new child. And that was when he felt something change in his heart. As if the tiny human being in his arms had wriggled her way into his heart, making a comfortable room for herself. It was in that moment, that very second he laid his eyes upon her, that he knew he would do anything for her- he would sacrifice his royal status, his riches, his authority, his dignity, his own life and he would behead hundreds and thousands, if it was for his princess.