The Destitute Queen || h.s. au

24. Liam

     "Where the hell were you?" Tadia asks as soon as she wakes up, right at the moment Harry leaves. I hand Penelope to a nurse and sit on the bed, secretly eyeing Prue and the new maid, Lena, in the corner of the room. She's uncomfortably pale and sickly. I hope there isn't anything seriously wrong with her, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something were to happen to her.

     "I wasn't aware that you were in labor, my love," I force a smile, trying to keep up the appearance that we're happy together. "I'm so sorry, but I'm here now. And we have another baby!"

     She plops her head onto her pillow and groans. "What I wanted was a boy, an heir to take your place in the future."

     I frown at her words. "Tadia, is that all you care about? We just had a baby, how can you be so negative?"

     "I'm just thinking practically," she shrugs, and my blood starts to boil. "Who is going to be the King after you if we don't have a son?"

     "Well, who says I need a son to replace me?" I argue. "And why are you thinking so far ahead? I'm not going to be the King for years!" Nobody seems to be paying attention to either of us, except for Prue.

     "Do you expect Genevieve to take your place?" She scoffs. "Leria needs a King to rule it."

     "I'm not having this conversation with you again," I shake my head and sigh. "If you're not going to even ask to see your baby because she isn't a boy, then you can stay right here while I go bond with Penelope."

     "Penelope?" Tadia repeats, confused. "You named her without me?!"

     I huff. "You were too busy sleeping to even care. Besides, one of the maids told me you had picked a boy's name and I didn't even know about it. If we had a son, you were just going to name him without my consent!"

     She exhales dramatically and says, "Just hand me my baby and get away from me. I can't deal with you right now, I just gave birth and I need my space."

     I let out a frustrated sigh and walk away from her. I stay in the room, though, because the head servant, Leonardo, walks in with little Genevieve in his arms.

     "Your Highness," he bows quickly. "I figured you would like to introduce your eldest daughter to your youngest."

     My anger immediately melts away as I'm greeted with the brightest smile from my little girl. She reaches out for me and I wrap her in my arms, laughing when she grabs ahold of the collar of my linen shirt tightly.

     "Thank you, Leonardo," I grin, earning a smile and a nod in return. He notices Lena and walks towards her as I turn my attention to Genevieve, who is resting her head on my shoulder. I rub her back and give her a kiss on the top of her head, and she yawns. She must have just woken up. Once Tadia has cooled off, I'll introduce Genevieve to her new little sister.

     The head maid, Edith, tells Prue and Lena to leave the room because Tadia needs all the rest she can get. Knowing Tadia, she probably complained about having too many people in the room. Ten people in a huge, lavish room the size of a common village home is definitely not too many people.

     Prue glances at me for a moment, then nods her head at Edith and leaves the room, taking Lena and Leonardo with her. I'm surprised at myself for remembering Lena's name. There are so many maids, it's difficult to keep track of all of them. I suppose I remember her name because Prue has mentioned her so many times, and Harry happens to fancy her. I think back to when I first arrived in this room, when I noticed Harry holding Penelope while sitting next to Lena.