The Dying

18

The female stares at him angrily before finally huffing and throwing her hands up in the air. "Why are you being so stubborn about this? All I asked Aurora to do was to tell you to marry the other female. That's not a horrible thing to do. I'm just giving you another wife."

"That's just it, I don't want any more wives. Hell, except for Aurora who I've been in love with for over twenty years, I don't want any wives. We both accepted Margaret because it would be downright cruel for her for me not to. But I promised Aurora, promised her that I wouldn't take any other wives. I didn't want any mistresses. I don't need them nor do I want them. You are forcing me to break my word to her and it's killing her.

"How are you so blind that you don't see that she is going through the exact same symptoms that my mother went through before she died? I have spent the last two weeks doing my damndest to make sure that she lives and in such an incredibly short time you undid all my work. 

"Even if Aurora doesn't die at this time and the children don't die and you still force me to take her to be my mistress, I refuse to take her as my wife, I won't be sleeping with her. Hell, I won't sleep with any of those that you force on me as mistresses. I will have them artificially inseminated only.

"That is, of course if you still wish for me to live." Marcus has had it with the manipulation he's been put through. He doesn't want any other females, Aurora is enough, but he'll accept Margaret because Aurora agreed. He won't take others and doesn't need or want more females to deal with. He is happy enough having children with those two.

The female just stares at him before the body collapses.

"Bring her to a bed," Emmett orders the ones closest to her. As soon as she is laid on the bed he checks to see if the baby is still living.

"Marcus..." Emmett says hesitantly.

"Is the baby dead?" Marcus asks coldly. At this point he no longer cares.

"Not yet, but I'm not sure that we'll be able to save her."

"The mother?" Marcus asks with slightly more warmth.

"She seems to be fine, just unconscious."

"Very well, just do what you can. If the Throne continues to insist on this farce then all my children will die any way."

All the medical personnel turn and stare at him, among them Emmett. "You can't mean that?" Emmett says in disbelief.

"Aurora is dying, Emmett. I might not be medically trained, but I remember seeing this with my mother. It took my mother month's to get to this point, it's taken Aurora hours. If my children in her aren't dead yet, they will be shortly when she dies. Aurora will likely be gone before dawn comes in the morning.

"When that happens all my children will die because I have no desire to live. You are aware of my living will." Marcus demands of his brother.

"Yes, brother you don't have to do that."

"Yes, I do actually. I have had one that I loved taken from me, helpless to stop it because it wasn't my place to do so. This time I'll lose her because the Throne is on some kind of power trip. She can find another pawn to take my place because I'm tired. I'm tired of the cruelties I've seen and had done to me. I'm tired of having to lose those I love. My mother, my brothers, my children, my lover. I'm done, Emmett, I'm so done. 

"The Throne allowed that bitch mother of yours to destroy our father, to destroy my mother and our people. You can't convince me that she actually gives a shit about our people. You can't convince me that she cares about her people when she has no concept of love. 

"She's killing her daughter that she claims she loves, just because children from that other female will be great scholars someday. Pride, the downfall of the Lockheartians. It seems that father got his pride from the source, from the throne itself and not your mother after all."

Emmett scoffs, "Oh mother was a right bitch and as prideful as they come. I have no doubt that it was her insidious whispers that caused the rift between father and the queen. But like you said, and she's said multiple times, the females are her daughters. The pride must come from the Throne after all.

"But don't give up on Aurora just yet." Emmett hasn't stopped working and doing his best for Aurora.

"Doesn't matter, Emmett. She's at peace, she's not fighting and I can't do it alone either." Marcus tells his brother with tears in his eyes as he caresses Aurora's face.

Emmett finds himself unable to move to Aurora now. "Marcus."

"Go, do what you can to help Margaret. She's going to be lost without Aurora and I won't be here to help her through it."

"You're going to let us all die?" One of the other doctors demands.

"Yes, don't pretend you give a shit, Delaney. I know the only reason you didn't participate in the insurrection two weeks ago was because Emmett had you busy helping him research.

"If the Throne cared about people like she claims then she wouldn't have allowed Garrett on the throne for as long as she did."

"You are the one that allowed him the throne." Delaney all but shouted back.

"Because if I hadn't he would have killed me. I knew of the plots, Delaney," Marcus tells his brother who looks down in shame. "I know that you even tried to poison me. I wonder if you were the one to try to poison our sister? Would have worked too if Korban hadn't tasted the food and found it off. You damn near killed your brother and tried to kill your sister and yet, the Throne didn't do anything.

"She won't kill you. She's not going to do anything because then she won't have any one to rule over." Marcus said that last with  definite sneer to his lips.

"You truly feel that way, Marcus?" A female from the ship speaks.

"Oh, you're back are you?"