The Goblin's Throne

Chapter Three: Calling

"Things are moving along swimmingly, Your Highness," Edda announced as she washed her hands in a basin of clean water. The midwife, a very human-like goblin with a grandmotherly face and long nearly white hair she wore in a tight knot at the nape of her neck, came at least twice a week to check on the baby's progress. "His heartbeat is strong and he's growing well. However, I am worried about you. You didn't have time to fully recover from your pregnancy with Odd before this one began forming. Are you eating well?" 

"I'm trying." I sighed as I pushed myself out of the bed. Ask helped me into a bath wafting with floral scented steam. "Whether or not it stays down is up to luck." I sank down into the hot water, my sore muscles practically melting. 

"Should I have some tonics made?" Edda asked.

Ask and her helpers scrubbed at my skin until it turned pink, saturating me in the scent of flowers. "No need," I said. "I've sent word to Tova and she'll be bringing some more tea for me." The elf queen had given me some of her people's traditional remedy, a mix of wormwood and mint, ages before I'd had my first baby. It had worked wonders during my pregnancy with the twins and it was easier to drink than the horrible concoction Edda tried to force on me. I swore by Tova's teas. 

"Do whatever you wish, Empress, just be sure to eat. You need your strength for the birthing. You know how hard it is on you." Edda frowned at me, her long lower canines overlapping her upper lip. She tucked her clawless hands into her apron pocket. In her dark brown eyes, I could see her concern. She didn't have to remind me. I remembered all too well how difficult childbirth was for me. Humans weren't meant to mother goblin babies to start with. They were sometimes quite large and according to her, my hips were so narrow I would have had a difficult time of it even if my sons were entirely human. "And give yourself a few years before trying for the fifth prince. You can't keep having babies back to back. It's not good for you or the baby." She wagged her finger at me.

"Yes, Edda, we'll behave." I laughed, though I knew how serious the matter was. My pregnancy with Odd and his birth had been awful. I prayed every day that this labor would be easier than my last. He hadn't been born so much as he had escaped. Only Edda's expertise and Knut's comforting presence had gotten me through it. I hadn't intended to conceive so soon after his birth. I had actually wanted to wait a few years, but...The Hollow had other ideas.

"That's what Knut said when I scolded him about it." Edda rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I knew he was lying then too." She swatted my arm with a playful giggle before scurrying out of the room.

After Edda left Ask synched me into a pretty emerald green gown that showed off my shoulders and collarbone, the only parts of me it seemed that were not swollen. The embroidery on the bodice and skirt looked like bare tree limbs entangling with each other as they reached for the sky. She pulled my hair up into twin horns and draped black diamonds around my neck. My iron pendant was sitting in my jewelry box in Knut and I's personal chamber. Though it hadn't hurt the twins, I didn't dare wear it while I was pregnant again. We'd been lucky then, but who knew if that luck would continue. She slipped my slippers onto my swollen feet and finally I left the brooding chamber to seek Knut out. He'd gone to our personal chambers to dress while the midwife conducted her examination. 

I passed down the familiar halls, admiring the paintings of past rulers and princes that lined them as I did. These paintings that had once frightened me, were charming now. When I looked into the faces of the children that had once played in the same chambers as my own, I wondered what they were like, if they were adventurous like Frit or gentle like Floki, if they were as eager to bite things as Odd. I wished I could find a portrait of Knut with his mother, but when I asked Knut even he didn't know. As far as he knew, his father had destroyed every remnant and reminder of his first wife after she failed to protect him from Mab.