Raidyn
"Flora, it's fine. Settle down and you and Bren can talk this out and work through it." I calmly murmur over to her.
"No Raidyn!" She glares at me and then back to Bren who is setting down the boy, "We can't work through something like this! My people don't even accept me as a queen and they're going to disregard me even more now! Not to mention that this just confirms everything! This confirms that I am useless, my body is useless and will never bear me any children! The gods are laughing down at me right now. Who knows how much more you have, Bren?! Watch them all come out of the woodwork now!" Flora sobs.
"Flora, no, your body is not useless. I fell in love with you and your body--you haven't beared me a child yet, but it will happen. This boy has no mother, I can't abandon him, look at him and say you would like me to just turn my back on him. We can't do this right now, we can't fight in front of him like this." He shakes his head.
"Then why did you come find me!" Flora seethes and starts storming the opposite direction of Bren. Once again I chase after her.
"Flora." I jog behind her.
"Go away, Raidyn!" She growls.
"Byrd, please watch him." He calls to my wife quickly and chases after Flora behind me. "Flora!" He yells. "Stop and listen to me! I didn't lie to you! I swear!"
She stops and curls up on a bench under one of the hallway paintings of a great uncle of mine and I stand beside her.
"Say your peace and leave me alone, King." Flora angrily calls out.
He takes a step closer to her. "I am so madly in love with you. My past before you was crazy, yes, and I had sex with a lot of women. Franny was just one of those girls, she hid this from him. She hid the boy from me--I never knew she was pregnant. Just like every girl I've slept with, I have no speculation that they would be pregnant and why not reach out when they did find out. Please, I do not know any other girls pregnant with my child. She is the only one."
"I should've expected this when you got me pregnant." She says lowly. "I don't care how in love with me you are, you are a jerk and always will be one!"
"The tonic was sabotaged!" He whines. "I am not a jerk, Flora. I love you, this changes nothing! The boy's mother is dead, there is no woman connected to me, just a child."
"This changes everything! This changes our entire lives! At this point, I would rather have a woman over a child! You have yet to address any of my remarks about our kingdom and people!"
"About them not accepting you? Yes, Flora, I know that my people do not think of you as their queen and I say to hell with them all. This changes nothing in my heart, you are still my perfect wife and queen and together we can raise this child. He can act as your own, we can get you all the custody rights--please, we can have this life together."
"No Bren! I don't want the custody rights! I am not this boy's mother and I will never be her! Now I am forced into this miserable life with you, raising another woman's child and pretending that things are okay! I am not okay right now! Not in the least!"
Bren's fists flare up. "I am the boy's father!" He screams. "Do you think I wanted this thrown upon me? You think I want another girl's baby, I only want yours but it happened, Flora! I can't change what I did four years ago!" He continues to yell with rage. "You're so miserable then I give you a way out. You can leave if that is what you truly want." He mutters.
"Fine. Leave me." Flora huffs.
"Fuck, Flora." He shakes his head and then puts his hands on his hips. He points at her. "Tell me you don't love me and I will leave you alone."
