King Of My Heart (mpreg)

CH 41

I spoke far too soon.

Briana demanded jewels and gold and practically shoved Maria off of her throne as Empress. Briana hung on my arm like an annoying bracelet and the only time I was seen with Maria now was in public where the common folk would see us; all other times Briana was on my arm. The Jungwirth family were nobodies, they owned only a small piece of land which their house was built on and that was the extent of their holdings. But now, with Briana as my 'mistress', the entire family was catapulted into the elite of Britannia.

It infuriated me to no end that Maria merely accepted this as her new situation. She was my wife! The Empress! Surely she should protest at least a little bit? But no, Maria merely kept smiling and doing her duties without so much as a frown. I supposed I shouldn't be too mad though, I've overheard Maria's brothers coaching her to not be upset that it was my right as a royal and a man to have more than one lover. My right. I was utterly disgusted.

I scoff at the very idea, far be it for me to think that married people should be faithful and loyal to each other. And no, the situation with Maria, Harry and myself was completely different, that relationship was ordained by God as Harry was going to give me a son.

Mr Sorrento, the tailor I picked up from Italia, had a new strange duty along with being my personal tailor: he had to create Briana's baby bump. He made dresses designed to imitate the girth of a woman's pregnant belly that she wore in public. The only enjoyment I got from this entire situation was that Briana hated the dresses.

Briana started to blackmail me near the end, since I didn't make it a secret that I didn't like her, so she threatening to tell everyone of our situation if I didn't do exactly what she wanted, mainly give her gifts and favor her family even after the birth. She had no idea she was covering for Harry and for that I was eternally grateful. I have spent more money on her these past six months than I have spent to improve the lives of my citizens.

Harry loved and hated being pregnant. I've never seen him smile so much and I could make him smile just by placing my hands on his tummy; but he was going stir crazy inside of his apartments. Sometimes at night I would take him for a walk around the gardens but we didn't do it often anymore since it was freezing cold now since it was already early December. The only people that saw Harry were myself and my inner circle: Eleanor, Edward, Culpepper, Liam and Niall, he was very lonely because of it.

Fleur, now almost a year old, was already being tutored by Eleanor. If Harry was actually going to give birth to a boy then Fleur couldn't know about her royal heritage or there might be conflict in the future between my son and my daughter about who sits on the Lion Throne.

It was decided that she would train to become a Shadow until she married later. It upset me that this had to happen but I couldn't do anything about it, the people and nobles were wary at best about a female monarch; Anne of Scotland was always sitting on the edge of a civil war simply because she was female. When Fleur turned sixteen then she would be married to the new-born nephew of the of King of Iberia, who was Fleur's fifth cousin so it wasn't incestous; the boy would eventually inherit the duchy of Barcelona.

I sat in the war-room as my commanders and Sir Panzer, along with several military leaders from Champagne, were finally planning the invasion of Francia. One thing became really clear really quickly: we'd have to be at war for a long, long time simply because Francia was so large. I regretted having Prince Charles' help now.

Swords were drawn in reaction as the doors to the war-room were suddenly burst open. "Sire...the Lady Briana...she's in labor" the servant said through panted breaths. I stared at him, uncomprehendingly, since Briana wasn't pregnant. I however ran out of the room, shoving aside the servant as I realized what the code meant.

Harry's birth was a lot more stressful than Maria's, it took all my strength not to cry each time Harry screamed. I still wasn't allowed into his bedroom turned birthing room so I was pacing around the sitting room of Harry's apartment nervously, too agitated to sit and play chess with Niall or cards with Liam.

It took all afternoon and a large portion of the night for the baby to be born and the moment I heard it cry I bursted into the room to make sure Harry was alright. As I entered the doctor's scrambled to make Harry decent since his lower half was exposed so the baby could be born. I paused though as I watched a doctor clean off and bundle up a little tiny thing in big soft blankets.

"It' a boy" the doctor said, handing me the baby. "Of course it is, I've always been able to depend on Harry" I said softly, choking up as I saw bright green eyes looking at me. "What's his name?" Harry asked through panted breaths. "I've thought about this for a long time his name will be Henry Arthur Tomlinson. Henry after his...after Harry and Arthur because he will be a great king one day just like Arthur Pendragon of Camelot." Harry smiled "A name fit for an Emperor."

-

"You know, a lot of people will be curious as to why 'Briana's' baby was given to Harry" Culpepper said at the feast of the Naming Ceremony, the official event in which I named Henry as my heir over Fleur about two weeks after Henry was born. "It is my will, is that not enough?" I answered as I watched Harry moved through the crowd, talking to everyone since his house arrest was now finished.

"There will be rumors" was all Culpepper said. "Then those people can eat my ass, dammit Culpepper can't I have one evening of happiness and peace?" I said, half serious and half joking. "Yes you're right...you have your son after all, a blessing that many Monarchs would and have killed for" Culpepper said before saying "Sire have you noticed that Briana and Peter have become...close?"

I followed Culpepper's eyes and sure enough Peter and Briana were talking over a goblet of wine and some cheese. "It matters not" I said "Peter has lost my friendship long ago since Harry didn't like him and I have no love for Briana...if they seek companionship with each other than so be it, hopefully they have a scandal and Peter gets her pregnant so I can finally be rid of her. We both know she is running around with other men but until she gets pregnant or one of her...lovers, comes forth we're stuck with her."

"Briana may not be a nice person but she isn't stupid either" Culpepper said, thoughtfully taking a bite out of a turnip "Unfortunately I fear she'll be in our lives for many years to come. I'm just curious why Peter and her have become friends..."