The Prince and His Family

Chapter 1

The Prince and His Family

More than a year had passed since their wedding day, but married life seemed to move forward at a much faster pace, like sand slipping through Rayla's fingers. When they were together, time washed over her like the lapping of the tides, gentle, easy, but dependable. There were times that she missed the excitement, the perilous adventures, but she had settled into a rhythm, finding comfort in certain constants. Callum - ranked highest among them - would always be with her. Just the two of them, forever.

"So..." Claudia drawls. "Have you told him yet?"

Rayla teases the knots from her snowy locks with a silver, filigree comb. She'd only just woken up when Claudia had pounced on her, so she hasn't even had the chance to make herself look presentable. There are dark bags under her eyes and her skin looks even more pale than usual.

"Told who what?" She croaks.

Every morning for the past week, Rayla hasn't felt so good and she can already feel her stomach twisting uncomfortably.

She takes a refreshing gulp from the glass of water Claudia had brought with her when she arrived. Throwing an exhausted look at the raven haired mage, Rayla tries to swallow the bile threatening to escape, to no avail.

Claudia crosses her arms and sighs. "You don't know yet, do you?"

Rayla would have replied with a rude remark to let the older girl know how much she disliked her condescension, but it's too late. Sprinting to the luxurious stone bathroom she shares with her prince, Rayla only just makes it to the bucket she had set aside yesterday after she had felt particularly queasy.

An acidic taste burns the back of her throat and she gags, but her stomach is empty. Kneeling beside her and plaiting her damp hair, Claudia strokes her forehead soothingly. Rayla's head spins as she feels the urge to vomit yet again.

"What is happening?" Rayla croaks miserably.

"Rayla." Claudia's voice is soft, "You're pregnant."

"What? Ha, ha very funny, Claudia. Like I'm going to fall for that!" Rayla is in stitches, it has to be a joke. "I'm just sick, it was probably something I ate. I just uhhh, I need to rest, and food. I have a serious craving for jelly tarts..." Rayla runs her hand through her hair, undoing Claudia's neat braids and sweeps it into a messy bun.

"Can you not hear yourself? Rayla, I'm telling the truth!" Claudia chides exasperatedly.

The elf looks at her as if she's talking crazy. "Ezran has constant cravings, but you don't go around telling him he's going to have a baby."

"Now that would just be ridiculous, wouldn't it?" Claudia agrees evenly. "Look at the facts Rayla, this isn't food poisoning, it's morning sickness. Plus, since when do you like jelly tarts? I thought you hated them before last week."

"Are you kidding? Jelly tarts are the best! Besides, can an elf even get pregnant with a human?!? I've never heard of it happening before."

"Yes, and precisely how many elf and human couples do you know?"

"Uhhh..."

"Exactly. None, it's never been done before, so you have to be open to the possibility that anything could happen, and by the looks of it, you're pregnant."

"But I can't be pregnant – I don't know the first thing about babies!"

Rayla has always been the type to solve her problems with her fists, but something tells her that a baby will be a very different story. She walks towards her bed and sits on the edge, fully taking in the possibility that she may be, in fact pregnant.

"How am I going to tell Callum?" Rayla turns to her mirror, practicing with her own reflection "'Oh hey by the way, you're going to be a Father'. How does someone react to hearing that? A-and how am I going to prepare for the baby? What stuff should I get? I don't even think I'm qualified to give birth!"

Rayla starts to get overwhelmed with so many emotions and feelings of panic and the thought of having a baby terrified her, not because she didn't want to, but because she doesn't know the first thing about being a mother, she wasn't raised to be as such, she was raised to be a warrior.

Claudia moves next to Rayla and puts her hand on her back and comforts her, relieving some of her panic and worry. "Don't worry, we're all here for you, me, Ezran, Callum, we're all in this together, you're not alone, but first we need to find a way to tell Callum." Before they leave, Claudia hands Rayla a potion, "here, this will help with the stomach sickness and fatigue and will make you feel better overall."

Rayla drinks the potion and hands the empty vile back to Claudia, "Thanks."

"No problem, now let's work on getting you ready for lunch, and by the looks of it, it's gonna take a while."

"Hey!"

After rifling through Rayla's wardrobe for a few moments (making a face at a particularly garish ball gown), Claudia selects a loose-fitting tunic dress that covers Rayla's long creamy legs, reasoning that they were probably what got the moonshadow elf into this mess in the first place. In response, Rayla flings her plush duck feather pillow at the teasing mage, reminding her that she's a trained assassin and she is treading on dangerous ground.

Still, Rayla appreciates her choice as the floaty angel sleeves mean she can move freely, not to mention she feels good in the outfit, but she'll never say it out loud - Claudia's ego is big enough already.

As Rayla slips the dress over her head, ready for afternoon lunch, she rehearses what to say to Callum. It might even turn out to be a false alarm and she briefly entertains the thought of keeping this to herself. But Callum is her rock; her constant and she needs him to know.

That doesn't mean she has any idea how he'll react. Maybe he'll be generally excited or shocked at the prospect of fatherhood. She didn't even know if having a child was something he wanted, they've never spoken of it before because - up until this morning - they didn't think it was in the cards for them.

It was as much news for her as it would be for anyone else. She also didn't like the thought of telling him during lunch in front of everyone, she would much rather do it on her own terms, when she was ready.