mad queen » reign cw

xii.

( fact twelve! )
isabelle's favorite sibling is
sebastian, due to their similar
humor and interests.

—

isabelle de valois sat at the head of the table, surrounded by her family. on one side sat bash, francis, and arthur. on the other side sat catherine and james.

five days had passed since the family had arrived back in france, and isabelle felt that she was ready to share her news.

"i am with child." isabelle revealed, resulting in a spectrum of reactions.

for example, pure and utter happiness from catherine de medici and james stuart. genuine happiness from sebastian and francis, and complete shock from arthur blackwood.

"congratulations, belle! wait until your sister arrives, she will be just ecstatic!" catherine grinned.

isabelle then remembered that her sister claude would be arriving to french court in order to meet possible suitors.

isabelle's smile stayed on her face until she glanced over towards arthur, who hadn't reacted at all since the news was revealed.

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isabelle placed her hand on her small stomach, and looked over towards arthur. it was only them in the room as they worked on travel plans. belle couldn't believe how arthur was behaving. the advisor was sitting in the opposite side of the room.

"arthur, can we please discuss this?" the queen asked. the advisor placed his parchment down on the table.

"discuss what? belle, you're pregnant. you do not know if that baby is my child." he pointed out. isabelle sighed and placed her maps down.

"arthur, we slept with each other many times. james and i? only twice. i strongly believe that the baby that is growing inside of me right now is yours." belle reassured.

arthur's blue eyes looked at belle. he wanted this, ever since he fell in love with belle, it's all that he has ever wanted.

"you strongly believe so, but you may not be right." arthur commented. the duke knew that he did not want to get his hopes up.

the doors to the room opened, and james stuart walked in. he glanced over at arthur before looking back towards isabelle.

"what is it, my love?" isabelle questioned, emphasizing the last part. arthur looked towards belle in annoyance.

the duke was growing beyond annoyed with his queen, and he just hoped that she would give him space to fully settle into the news.

"your mother has advised me to tell you that your sister is here, but i do not know why i am doing it instead of your advisor." james commented, shooting a glance at arthur.

arthur rolled his eyes at james stuart.
"arthur was helping me approve travel requests for royals coming into france. that is all, james." isabelle insisted.

isabelle de valois stood, and she looked over towards arthur.
"come on, arthur. don't you want to meet my lovely sister, claude?" isabelle offered.

she knew that she wanted to talk more to him about her baby. she needed to talk to him.

arthur shook his head in disagreement.
"no, i'll be quite alright. some work has to be done around here." the advisor responded, resulting in a sigh from isabelle.

"let's go, belle." james smiled down at the queen as they departed the room.