Queen Raeanne

"Did she sleep through the night?" I enter the nursery and find my brother rocking in the corner, his feet on the windowsill.

Only a week after setting up this routine and this is the first time I was not woken up before the sun rose in the sky to help tend to my child.

I really think this is working.

James nods. "I only just got here but your mother in law said the night went well. I've just been sitting here watching the sunrise."

I glance over at Charlotte's crib. She is still sleeping peacefully. Victoria lays awake in the crib beside her sister. She smiles and coos.

I decide to tend to Victoria before she is able to cry and wake her sister up. I change her dirty diaper. If there is one thing I dislike about having children, it is the mess they create inside their little bodies. How can this much come out of one little baby?

James excuses himself so I can feed Victoria in private. I sit in the chair and rock with her in my arms, watching her curious eyes explore my face. Her shark-like teeth bite me, leaving me ready to scream in pain. I remove her from my body and set her back down in the crib to tend to my pain.

Victoria begins to cry. She is not done eating yet and she wants me to know it.

James renters the room. "Charlotte?" He asks.

"Victoria. Charlotte is still sleeping." The look of pain on my face worries him. "She just bit me, is all. I only need a moment."

James lifts Victoria from her crib and bounces with her, aiming to calm her cries before she wakes her sister. She cries for a while but he is able to calm her down quicker than I thought.

"Rae?"

"Yes, James?"

"Could you come check on Charlotte? She still has not woken yet and- well, I can't be sure but I do not think she is breathing." He struggles with the thought.

"What?!" I rush to her crib watching her chest. It is not rising and falling as it should be. He is right. She has stopped breathing. But for how long? I lean down and hold my ear to her chest.

I do not hear her heart beating. I shake my head and lift the child. "She is as cold as ice, James." Terror fills my voice.

"Guards!" He wastes no time getting help. His shout upsets the previously calm baby in his arms. She begins to wail again, no doubt scared by his volume.

Charlotte does not respond to his booming voice shaking the room. She does not respond to anything at all.

Ashton and Luke are quick to respond. They try to quickly process the situation they have walked into. But there is no time to get them up to speed. We need to act now.

I continue trying to wake Charlotte. Even if she cries for days and never sleeps though the night again, I will take it over this deadly silence.

"The princess is compromised. Retrieve the physician immediately and find the King. Fetch Lady Lorena as well but find her last. Go. There is not a minute to waste." James instructs Ashton and Luke.

Before they are able to leave, Henry enters the chaotic room. "Mommy? What is wrong?" He asks, tugging on the bottom of my dress. There is no doubt in my mind he was woken by my desperate cries.

My attention is now pulled in two opposite directions. Do I focus on the unresponsive child and ignore him or tend to the nervous boy who notices his mother is in peril and risk the moments lost fighting for Charlotte to wake?

James quickly graves Henry's hand and guides him to Luke. "You, occupy the prince." He updates Luke's orders. "You, physician. King. Lady Lorena. Go!"

I notice a blueish tint to my daughter's skin. Has she always looked this blue? Is she blue because she is not breathing? Does she just appear blue because of the clothes she sleeps in?

How could I not have noticed my child was in danger? That is the type of thing a mother should notice?

I sink to the floor, holding Charlotte close to me as my knees hit the ground. I do not know what to do.

How could I have failed this bad as a mother?

"Lorena?" James asks. His wife must have just entered the room. I do not take my eyes off of Charlotte to check. "How on Earth did you get here so fast? Where are the Physician and Michael?" He asks.

"I heard the Queen's wails and I came running." She kneels down beside me. "Hello honey. Let me see her. I can help." She reaches a finger in to feel her neck. I can feel her body sink a little when she realizes the same thing I have.

Charlotte is gone.

"No." I shake my head, clutching her limp body closer to me. "I did this. I did it."

"This is no ones fault, Raeanne. No ones." She holds me around my back and shoulders, resting her head on my arm. "It'll be okay. You will be okay."

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