Lord d'Alene heard the quick footsteps of his guards approaching. By the time he looked up from the pages to see, they were already bowed with urgency.
"My Lord," one of them said, "it's Lady Ceraya. Her water fell, sir."
He stood immediately, beckoning to the cries of his wife in her chambers. He had hoped- prayed to the Greats for a son. After five beautiful girls, it was all he asked for- that he was graced with the chance to continue the bloodline.
°
A scream tore through Lady Ceraya's lips as the head of a baby slowly ripped her walls open. She didn't know what irked her more, the blood or the sweat. Four maids surrounded her, mopping her wet skin, as they urged her to ease the child's birth.
"My Lady, the lassie is almost here," one of them said with a beam.
"Soon, she'll be a part of us," another said.
Ceraya's heart dropped at the words. Perhaps she had heard wrong- Greats be good to her, she hoped she heard wrong. It would be the sixth girl in only four years. One more push was all she needed to know.
"Aaarggghhhh"
The final force brought out the child, and silence hovered beneath the girl's cries. Disappointment, but also fear from the chief nurse. The old woman looked at the baby, a strange omen clouding her right judgement to give her to the mother.
"Nurse Marda," said Ceraya.
Marda's eyes looked downward at the genitalia. "Female, my Lady."
A curse!
The voice whispered sharply in Marda's ear. She gently placed the newborn in her mother's arms and walked out without another word.
They all watched her, bewildered by her sudden demeanour.
°
Lord d'Alene found the chief nurse coming from Ceraya's chambers and asked hopefully.
"How is my wife?"
"She's well, Lord," replied Marda
"And the baby?"
He felt her reluctance, and his disappointment creased the aging lines on his face even more.
"A healthy baby girl," she smiled and curtsied as she took her leave.
He walked into the heat of the candlelit chamber. Just above the fireplace and on a stove, a pot brewed warm broth for the mother while the babe suckled. He found Ceraya tightly wrapping her arms around it, as if she had never seen the same pair of blue eyes before. She looked up to find him watching- she knew it displeased him to see yet another girl.
"We've been blessed with another," she tried to smile, but her lips only curled downwards at the sight of him leaving.