A Wintertide Spell by Jody Wallace Page B

away.
    She only wished her womb were numb,
but instead it twisted and throbbed as the babe readied herself. A pain shot
through the Queen’s lower back, sharper than the rest. Her throat tightened
with woe. Would this babe ever know a happy family or had her husband doomed
them all to dysfunction?
    Damn Reginald, and damn the fairies
with their dubious christening gifts! All the misfortunes of their family—of
the Middle Kingdoms—could be tied to those devious creatures. At the same time,
it would be hard to exist so comfortably without their aid, their enchantments
and their healers.

 
     
    Chapter 2
     
    When Geneva arrived, Binny jerked
open the chamber door and immediately began scolding. “I told you not to go out
in this weather. I told you you’d bought enough gifts. I told you the healer
wouldn’t let you go.”
    The nurse’s voice faded into a buzz
of annoyance as the Queen’s watery gaze fell on her two young daughters, seated
on the edge of a divan, their eyes wide with concern. The guards set her
carefully on her feet and scurried off to tend to other duties.
    “Hello, darlings,” she managed
between pants. “Mama is going to have your baby sister tonight.”
    “Papa says we’re to have a baby
brother. I helped him break the Female Curse last week.” Susannah’s unruly,
dark hair did not suit her serious nature. She had, however, already showed
signs of one of her happier christening gifts—canniness. “I thought I should
warn you, Mama, so you won’t give our brother a girl’s name.”
    The Queen sighed. They’d tried to
protect Susannah, but their eldest daughter had somehow concluded the Middle
Kingdoms were in trouble, however indirectly, because of her. Probably learned
it from her father, who loved to lecture his daughters. Five and three year
olds couldn’t be expected to realize when their Papa was teasing, sadly
mistaken—or straying from the bosom of his family.
    “Your Papa,” Geneva told Susannah
and Calypso, “tells a lot of fine tales.” Including the one about how he would
love his wife, and only his wife, forever.
    After Binny rang for the maids, the
healers and everyone else she could think of, the Queen allowed the nurse to
help her out of her clothing. The princesses clung to her, getting in the way
yet welcome just the same. They would be separated from her for most of the
birthing process, and she wanted to assure them everything would be all right.
    “Are you excited to meet the baby?”
she asked as they hovered. “I know I am. What color hair do you think she’ll
have?”
    Calypso’s hair was as red as her
grandfather’s had been. She sniffled and threw herself at her mother. Binny
caught her before she could latch onto the Queen’s wet, dirty skirts.
    “Mama, Mama! Will you die when the
baby comes out?” she wailed.
    “Of course not. Women’s bodies are
made to have babies.” The Queen finished shedding her skirts and held out her
arms. Calypso ran into them for a hug, joined by Susannah. “Healer Naudo will
be with me every moment.”
    “Will Suze and I have babies?”
Calypso asked.
    “Only when you are much older. And
married.” She kissed the children’s cheeks and smiled tightly as a
purple-frocked maid burst through the chamber door. “Go with Evette. Mama needs
to rest.”
    Reassured, her daughters left with
the maid, with the promise they could play “Who Shall Be Queen?” on the thrones
in the receiving room.
    “I told you not to go shopping,” Binny
nagged her again as soon as they were alone. “You don’t have to do everything
yourself anymore. You are the Queen. You have servants.”
    “I like to do things myself.” She
breathed deeply as another pain hit her. This babe was coming fast, and all the
stalking she’d done today had doubtless accelerated matters.
    Another ill to lay at her husband’s
door, should he ever deign to walk through it.
    “This is what happens when you do
too much.” The nurse bagged the soiled