Trigger warning: Infertility, Spouse finds a way to have children without you.

After a decade, the royal physician spoke up to the kingdom's beloved Queen. "You need to stop trying for children before the next loss puts you in the grave, Your Majesty."

The Queen grimaced as she slowly sat up. It was devastating on it's own. The pressure on Andrej to pick a new Queen would increase, as there was something broken in his first love. If he didn't do something, women would appear in the consort's wing, whether he agreed to it or not.

"I trust you will leave me to tell him everything?" She rasped out her demand as her mouth went dry. Too many implications to this life-altering decision reared it's hoary head.

Save for the nights when unbearable pain shot through Nadia, Andrej never left her bed. He happily left the King's room cold from disuse. When pressured to share his body with another woman, the Queen would be cold and lonely. The castle was already frigid without his presence.

"Ma'am, if you attempt to have a child again and I didn't tell him, my life would be forfeit!" The doctor took off his round glasses and wiped them with the hem of his jacket. He did that when he wanted naked honesty between himself and patients. "I can give you a week, or until you figure out another way to beget an heir that satisfies both of you."

Andrej always claimed to love her and her alone, but a King didn't have the rights to his heart. Balancing another woman in his care against his love for her had never been tested, to see if he could hold onto her like that. Nadia now needed to decide on what way forward she would endorse her husband taking. Could she handle a 2nd Queen, Consorts, or some eldritch means beyond the meager science of the day?

"And if satisfied, I get more than a week?"

The doctor nodded solemnly.

~~~

Queen Nadia couldn't approach the throne of her own volition without risking death. Not officially. Andrej told her in no uncertain terms, "Fuck my father's rules."

And he meant it. He would rather die in his wife's arms than prevent her from being accepted in front of him. This is what gave her strength to defy the court, even as she feared losing favor.

One day, they would dare to bar her before she made those last steps within his sight. Then they would see how far Andrej would fight for his wife.

The rule came from the year that Mad Prince Ivan had managed to make it into the throne room. The guards let him walk in, unannounced, without an army. Ivan had his sword pressed deep enough into his own father's throat to cause serious bleeding. He nearly executed King Boris before a quick-witted and loyal servant dropped the chandelier on his head.

It had been a last-ditch effort. All of his army had been ground under his father and brother's efforts when Ivan wasn't interested in their war. But somehow, Boris had finally stoked that mad rage the man had and came close to dying for it.

Boris had his son held by the useless magician, then sent to the tower. Ivan's sentencing involved rotting until death claimed him and dragging him to the acidic caves of death. That left no leeway in the judgment's interpretation.

Then he executed another consort for smiling at Ivan. She wasn't far enough along for Andrej to save her child.

Something shifted in The Golden Prince that day.

Boris fell ill soon after, the weight of the nation on Andrej's still-young shoulders. He often cried to sleep on Nadia's shoulder.

That's the man she kept firmly in mind as she strode into the King's hall, interrupting his peace. No matter how much she trembled at the thought of his not saving her.

"Halt!" The guards crossed their spears at face height for the petite Queen and glanced back at their lord.

Never had his face looked so cold. For a moment, she thought he would send her away. He grieved the loss of another child as well. This mattered to a king's pride. He was reaching the end of his patience and had been for a few years, now.

Andrej let out a slow shaky breath. "Let my life and light claim my side, you damned fools. I'd as soon die by her hands than deny her."

Queen Nadia nearly fled to his side to toss herself at his feet, weeping. Decorum in the court demanded she hold to a sedate pace. Not that Andrej showed that same peace. He ran to meet her and swept her off her feet to carry her up on the dias to the seat she usually had by his side.

Or so she thought. Instead, he sat on his throne and kept his wife in his arms.

It scandalized the men who were petitioning the court for favors that day. Even though Andrej gentleness dwarfed his brother's and father's, that didn't mean it was safe to speak rashly to him. "Your Majesty, would you like to adjourn?"

"By death's crystal throng, speed up instead of worrying about what I choose to do."

"Y...yes sir." The man went back through his petition, as he nervously forgot his place, adding another allotment to his time.

Eventually, the decision to expand the granaries in the east ratified over the grave of his stuttering. Then there was no more time for petitions. Well, none that King Andrej would hear.

"Out!" The fair King barked when Chancellor Dusan started to bring up another case. "I have family matters to attend to."

Dusan bowed and bade all the court walk before him, sweeping himself out in front of the guards. They in turn took possession of the great door which closed with a finality.

Andrej tilted Nadia's head back to face him. He gently nipped her lower lip until she let him in. Desperate for balance, she tossed the arm furthest from him over that firm shoulder while he bunched up her skirts. Andrej searched for her knee, to get past the ends of the hose, and further up still, until his hand came to rest between her legs. "Did the doctor clear you?"

Nadia groaned in frustration. "No..."

"Damn!" he muttered against her hairline. "I had hoped to please you before dealing with more pressing matters."

From the emotional high of being in her husband's arms to the fear and dread that drove her to come to him. Perhaps he had finally been forced to move? "What's wrong?"

"I have found an acceptable surrogate."

Nadia burst into tears as she sorted through the options. He had been looking at other women while she nearly bled to death?

Andrej moved his hand down her thigh, pulling her tighter against him. He was content to let his queen cry it out, until he could explain himself better than he started with.