cw. very difficult birth, mentions of death and struggling with grief, infant mortality, fun history lesson about childbirth, and implications of the Royal struggling with breathing.
The Duchess of Zara was having a perilous night. Jasmina went into labour the day before, early in the morning, and in the night of the second day, she was barely able to retain energy. Duke Leoni only ever strayed from her side to pace in his office, wringing his hands in her quiet moments, rushing back when her cries got louder once again.
The child was … Not coming. Stuck. The Physicians and Witches agreed it was most probably some trouble with the positioning. All these centuries of furthering an every-man's knowledge of medicine, double that for Witch alchemy and education, and yet childbirth remained clouded. Why? Depends on who you ask. "Too sacred" was thrown around. "Risks are too great for Blood Witches to get involved" was another, but that had at least a leg to stand on. No one would forget that one drawing in the grimoire of the partially smushed infant.
No, only the most reclusive of Witches really seemed to have that corner of the magic spectrum held down, and none of them would ever be found in the Kingdom of Zara. So Leoni paced. It felt as if he had been dunked repeatedly in ice water throughout the night, shortening his breath and quickening his already frantic steps.
The gentle creak of his office door opening stilled his pacing, already looking over with an almost vicious frown.
"Haven't you ever heard of knocking? Get out- Oh." Leoni fell silent at the sight of his long-time friend.
Instead of any sort of snarky, light-hearted reply that the man would usually give, Laszlo simply crossed the room and flung his arms around Leoni. There was no hesitation in returning the gesture. Leoni loved this man more than his own brothers, alive and dead. Nothing could disprove that the Prince Consort felt the same, his very presence during the worst night of the Duke's life more than enough.
"Laszlo… I…" Leoni's throat seized up. The many nights they shared, together with Marlen and Heikki and countless other soldiers, lying in wait among frozen snow banks, hands bloodied and bones bursting forth from frostbitten skin, yet this was the most scared he had ever been. "She's… Been struggling…"
"I know. Tatsi is sitting with her now. After the twins, she's an expert."
Leoni gave a dry laugh and pulled his comrade, his friend, closer, as if hoping to absorb his hope, his everlasting optimism.
"Are the others-"
"The twins are at home, with Stas. Pavel, Aksana and Sasha insisted on coming with." Laszlo gently pulled away and gave his friend a gentle smile.
Of course. Leoni remembered when Pavel was just a small mite. The day Sasha was born, pink and furious and screaming. Everyone dressed in black at Aksana's birth, and she, in turn, was quiet and small and staring, as if she knew her beloved father was still being mourned. The girl never seemed to slip out of this state. The Duke always felt bad for showering Marlen's children with attention, being a proper uncle, but not making the time for Laszlo's own. It was easier, before. When they were fighting, when they were all untitled except for Marlen, who was just the old Tsar's brother.
Now they were all married, a Prince Consort, a Tsar, a Duke… And one was gone.
Leoni couldn't bear it if… If…
"Oh… Leo." Laszlo gently wiped away the tears Leoni hadn't even noticed starting to drip down.
"I don't want… Jasmina… She's going to… And my baby… My… Laszlo, they're all I have. Jasmina is struggling and the baby is turned the wrong way and we just have to wait. I've heard the whispers. They might both die. I couldn't…. I'd die too-"
"Leoni-"
"I will jump from the walls, Laszlo, if they both leave me." The dam broke.
The Duke of Zara, rewarded for his military prowess, beloved by his subjects, broke into harsh, unrestrained sobs. The Prince-Consort could only bring him back into a hug, gripping the back of his rumpled white shirt. Laszlo couldn't help his own eyes watering. The empty maw of grief had yawned wider and wider between Leoni, Heikki and himself every year that Marlen was gone, the one man who had tied them together in the first place. Every loss since then seemed like an added weight, a larger than life presence that grew every time they turned to talk to him, send him a letter, laugh with him once more, only to find nothing.
Not even a grave to mourn at.
Laszlo had seen his own father's worry at the birth of his youngest sibling, Anna. The panic. The anxiety. But the fear that seemed to overtake Leoni, that had gripped Laszlo when Tatsiana was struggling with the twins. That had driven Heikki further and further away as more and more of his own children were stillbirths or died in the crib shortly after.
As if none of them had finished mourning, and were terrified at every turn that someone would join the hungry maw.
"Your Grace-"
Leoni and Laszlo broke away from each other at the appearance of one of the physicians, the Duke desperately dragging his hand over his face.
"We think it's time."
The moment of truth.
"Time?"
"… Either the child comes out within the next hour, or…"
Laszlo felt his throat close up. Leoni shuddered. Breathed in. Opened his mouth.
"Get my bastard husband in here!" Jasmina screeched from down the hall.
Leoni shot off, faster than he had ever been on the battlefield. Laszlo trailed after him, but hung back at the double doors. Jasmina was like a sister to him and he… Wasn't sure she wanted him in there. Tatsiana, however, sat by the Duchess' side, gripping her hand.
The Tsarina had… Never been close to Jasmina. Didn't really know her, not like Laszlo, or her previous husband had. Hells, she doubted she had many true friends, at least not one that she was close to like her husband or… Her sister. But arriving to the bedroom, no husband in sight, she couldn't stand the sight of her. Beleaguered, alone, fresh tears falling in the tracks of dried ones. The twins were… Atrocious. Apparently, both in the womb, and out of it. Laszlo had been there the entire time. Even Pavel coming in just to hold her hand.
"Your hands are cold." Jasmina whispered, hoarse. Tatsiana looked down and realised she must have linked their fingers without thinking about it.
"Oh. Sorry-"
"No… It's nice. Someone is getting me more ice but they might have gotten lost." She wheezed out, giving a small smile before wincing. "Leoni's crying in his office again."
"… You know this for a fact?"
"I know it because it's him. He doesn't like crying in front of me. Treating me like I'm already dead. Or the baby." Jasmina shakily inhaled and one shaking hand reached down to weakly cup her swollen belly. "Poor thing. Just tried to say hello to the world and now doesn't even know why it's taking so long."
Tatsiana blanched at the thought of any of her children having concrete thoughts or consciousness while within her womb. It would mean the twins had been that cruel on purpose and that Aksana… Well.
"How much longer now?" She switched to a safer topic. A slightly safer topic. Safer like eating mouldy food over trying to catch a bullet with your teeth.
"They… The baby has to come out soon. I didn't want them to tell Leoni. And-"
"And why ****ing not? He'd be here. We'd have you off the bed and back to getting the infant out." Tatsiana couldn't help the sharp edge to her tone. The Western method of being in bed was the result of some pervert getting a say and idiots have been following the advice ever since. She only was in bed during childbirth for a break, and other than that, gravity was helping more than some Gaulian moron.
"That won't help. The baby is stuck. They're worried about breaking their neck, or injuring the head or the baby being strangled by the cord-"
"Then you deal with it then." Tatsiana bit her tongue sharply. She could have advised to have another one later on, but that's not what any pregnant woman wants to hear mid-childbirth. "But for now, we need your husband in here, and if needs be, to do this in the farm animal way."
"Oh." Jasmina blinked her cloudy eyes at the Tsarina for a few moments before slowly sitting up, straining her arms. She took a moment before looking at one of the physicians hiding away in the shadows. "Get His Grace."
Not even seconds after the bird-like man had vanished out of the door, Jasmina sucked in a sharp breath and flung her head back, shrieking for her husband and using some very choice language.
Before too long, Jasmina was perched on the edge of the bed, sweaty and gripping Tatsiana's fingers hard enough that she did wonder if her hand would survive this. Leoni, eyes rimmed with red, gently tucked his Duchess' hair back and out of her face.
An hour. Jasmina had a fairer temper than Tatsiana, allowing nurses and Witches and physicians to faff around her, hanging a strip of leather from the top of the canopy bed for her to hang onto, helping her to lift her body until she was kneeling instead.
Time ticked by, the screams growing louder, the whispers increasing. Tatsiana didn't really want to be here. Ofeliya had her child far away from Varan. She never had to sit with any other woman during the birth of their children. A part of her wanted to slink away, forget the sights and the sounds, but a bigger part knew she'd never forgive herself if she did. She had to see it through now.
And downstairs? The three siblings sat. The youngest, Aksana, lay on her stomach, something her mother would have told her off for doing, idly and slowly flicking through a book. Sasha sat upon the couch, knees drawn up to their chin, seemingly transfixed by the distant screams of Auntie Jas. Pavel, stood, just like their long dead father used to, hands behind his back, staring out the window as if he could ward off the dawn if he kept watch.
"She's going to die." Aksana finally said.
"Sana." Pavel turned around with a frown. He had recently started looking older than he actually was. He didn't smile as much. "Don't say things like that."
"Mama didn't take this long."
"She didn't because you slept through most of it. Idiot." Sasha replied flatly, beginning to pick at the fabric over their knee. "For both Stanislav and the Twins."
"I was only one year old for Stas." Aksana looked over her shoulder and frowned at her older sibling. "And three for the twins."
"And if you were a better sister, you would have been awake." Sasha gave their usual teasing grin and their sister huffed and looked away again.
"Nevertheless," Pavel cut through them both swiftly, having watched their conversation like someone spectating a card game that was displeasing him. "Our Aunt-"
"She's not our Aunt. Our actual one died." Sasha hugged their legs harder.
"… Y'know what, Sash? I'm going to tell her that. Then Uncle Leoni will stop sending you nice things." Pavel jutted his chin out and turned back around. Silence followed his statement and he smiled to himself.
The fire crackled gently in the fireplace. Footsteps paced up above their heads. Screams had tapered off into crying.
"… Do you think the baby will survive?"
Pavel opened his mouth to once more snap at his sister, when a gentle wail rang out. One that was let out after so long of not being able to breath. One of pain but also relief. A beat of silence, Aksana's fingers pausing in turning the page. Then a burst of jubilation upstairs.
The physicians had barely gotten to check over the infant when Leoni lifted it from their arms, cradling close to his chest and cooing gently. Skin mottled, lips a greyish-blue, eyes blurry and watery, but alive. Laszlo finally slipped in and seemed to melt at the sight. Babies always had that effect on him, but this one seemed to be summoning tears to his eyes. Jasmina didn't even seem to be aware of the child, too busy being helped back onto the bed, a Blood Witch gingerly peeking underneath her nightshirt to tend to the crimson still running down her thighs. Tatsiana gingerly flexed her fingers and offered her new sister-in-arms a gentle smile.
"Oh, they're perfect. Jas, they're so perfect." Leoni whispered, unable to stop repeating himself, as if he was trying to convince himself that his heir was real.
"Your Grace, please, we have to tend to the child soon. We think there was some damage-"
"Not yet. Not yet. Please. Jas, here." The Duke sat by his wife on the bed, lowering the gently stirring bundle to let her see.
Jasmina seemed to finally be able to focus, gently crushing a piece of ice between her teeth as her eyes scanned over the little face whimpering back at her.
"Oh." She whispered. Her bottom lip began to wobble. Her eyes shined with un-shed tears. "Oh. Oh, you beautiful thing. Hello. Hello, baby."
The two new parents looked at their child, their instincts fighting to breathe even when it was proving uncomfortable and hard. The moment stretched for a few seconds before the physician finally stepped in.
"Your Graces, please. We're worried."
The illusion of perfection broke. The infant gave a pitiful, struggling wheeze and Leoni gave a sharp breath.
"Okay. Very well. It's okay, little darling." He couldn't help dropping a kiss to the child's little forehead, Jas desperately stroking their chubby cheek, before handing the bundle over.
The room steadily cleared out, leaving the new parents, as well as Laszlo and Tatsiana. The Tsarina was giving her husband a gentle kiss to his cheek, his eyes bright and his bottom lip jutting out slightly. Her soft-hearted love had been fighting back tears watching it all and Tatsiana couldn't help but also feel a twinge in her chest.
"… Thank you both. For being here." Jas finally whispered. "My parents were too old to make the journey. And Leoni's… Well. We wouldn't have wanted to tarnish the occasion with their presences."
"My siblings are ****." Leoni gave an absentminded nod, blind to Jasmina's soft laugh.
"It was all Laszlo." Tatsiana smiled at her husband, her fingers reaching up to gently stroke along his soft cheek. "He loves any event where he gets to coo at cute things. You should have seen him the other month with the newborn puppies in the kennel."
"… Would…" Jasmina blinked slowly at them, drowsiness taking over after such a long time in labour. "Would you two be Witch-Kin to our child?"
Leoni turned to her in surprise, tears already returning to his eyes. They had been struggling to find anyone they liked to ask, and Leoni had repeatedly made the case for Laszlo. Leoni and his house was the Witch-Kin for Aksana, promising to care for her and bear witness to her power, magical and not. To step in if anything happened to her or her parents, envelop her into their coven. Heikki had been Witch-Kin to Pavel, even before he became the Tsar of House Arctos. Laszlo, with a twisting in his stomach, was named Witch-Kin to Sasha, now actual Kin, his stepfather.
"We will." Tatsiana met Jas' eyes and answered before her husband could even dream of doing so. The two women gently smiled at each other and Laszlo gave another tearful sniff. "Oh, you. Come, let the Duchess sleep. Our own children have been up far too late."
Leoni couldn't help but to stand up and envelop but into a crushing hug as they left, desperately kissing Tatsiana's knuckles before stepping back.
"Thank you. Stay for a while, will you?"
"We shall try."
The entire household slowly settled. Witches that gently prod at the infant frowned at each other, tickling along their chest where their lungs rattled under their ribs. Not happy. Unable to do much for now.
Jasmina fell asleep quickly, unaware that her husband was firm in being the only one to slowly slip the bloodied sheets out from under her, careful and gentle. Tatsiana rested in front of the big chair in front of the fire, Pavel, looking like he was his age again, a boy barely past his tenth year, shuffling over to lay his head on her lap. Laszlo reading to Aksana, unaware that she had just finished the book, but her small smile gave nothing away.
And Sasha. Waiting for the physicians to leave the nursery before stepping in, icy eyes on the barely moving lump underneath a thick blanket. Resting their chin on their forearm, which in turn, lay against the crib. The silence making the desperate wheezes all the more louder.
"… Prove them wrong, will you?" Sasha finally whispered. "Apparently Father told me that when I got sick. Enjoy that. That's all of him I shall share."
A gargled whistle answered him. Sasha frowned.
"Or not. You probably won't live through the night, like Uncle Heikki's children." Even with their annoyed words, their finger slowly extended down, to poke against the tiny palm that star-fished against the blankets.
All that hostility drained free when those tiny fingers slowly, with effort, curled around Sasha's little finger, giving a desperate squeeze.
"… Oh." Sasha stared before a smile slowly crept over their statuesque face. "You'll be okay, I guess. If you want my help, just ask."
But you never did have to ask. Within two years, you were brought to your new home, cradled by a crying Laszlo, dressed all in black. When Tatsiana had made that promise, she never thought she would have to follow through so soon. But, unlike the other child lurking below stairs, she was more than prepared to become a mother to you. She couldn't bear it if she let Leoni and Jasmina down, if she ever stopped showering the last Royal of Zara with endless love and care.
The Duchess of Zara was having a perilous night. Jasmina went into labour the day before, early in the morning, and in the night of the second day, she was barely able to retain energy. Duke Leoni only ever strayed from her side to pace in his office, wringing his hands in her quiet moments, rushing back when her cries got louder once again.
The child was … Not coming. Stuck. The Physicians and Witches agreed it was most probably some trouble with the positioning. All these centuries of furthering an every-man's knowledge of medicine, double that for Witch alchemy and education, and yet childbirth remained clouded. Why? Depends on who you ask. "Too sacred" was thrown around. "Risks are too great for Blood Witches to get involved" was another, but that had at least a leg to stand on. No one would forget that one drawing in the grimoire of the partially smushed infant.
No, only the most reclusive of Witches really seemed to have that corner of the magic spectrum held down, and none of them would ever be found in the Kingdom of Zara. So Leoni paced. It felt as if he had been dunked repeatedly in ice water throughout the night, shortening his breath and quickening his already frantic steps.
The gentle creak of his office door opening stilled his pacing, already looking over with an almost vicious frown.
"Haven't you ever heard of knocking? Get out- Oh." Leoni fell silent at the sight of his long-time friend.
Instead of any sort of snarky, light-hearted reply that the man would usually give, Laszlo simply crossed the room and flung his arms around Leoni. There was no hesitation in returning the gesture. Leoni loved this man more than his own brothers, alive and dead. Nothing could disprove that the Prince Consort felt the same, his very presence during the worst night of the Duke's life more than enough.
"Laszlo… I…" Leoni's throat seized up. The many nights they shared, together with Marlen and Heikki and countless other soldiers, lying in wait among frozen snow banks, hands bloodied and bones bursting forth from frostbitten skin, yet this was the most scared he had ever been. "She's… Been struggling…"
"I know. Tatsi is sitting with her now. After the twins, she's an expert."
Leoni gave a dry laugh and pulled his comrade, his friend, closer, as if hoping to absorb his hope, his everlasting optimism.
"Are the others-"
"The twins are at home, with Stas. Pavel, Aksana and Sasha insisted on coming with." Laszlo gently pulled away and gave his friend a gentle smile.
Of course. Leoni remembered when Pavel was just a small mite. The day Sasha was born, pink and furious and screaming. Everyone dressed in black at Aksana's birth, and she, in turn, was quiet and small and staring, as if she knew her beloved father was still being mourned. The girl never seemed to slip out of this state. The Duke always felt bad for showering Marlen's children with attention, being a proper uncle, but not making the time for Laszlo's own. It was easier, before. When they were fighting, when they were all untitled except for Marlen, who was just the old Tsar's brother.
Now they were all married, a Prince Consort, a Tsar, a Duke… And one was gone.
Leoni couldn't bear it if… If…
"Oh… Leo." Laszlo gently wiped away the tears Leoni hadn't even noticed starting to drip down.
"I don't want… Jasmina… She's going to… And my baby… My… Laszlo, they're all I have. Jasmina is struggling and the baby is turned the wrong way and we just have to wait. I've heard the whispers. They might both die. I couldn't…. I'd die too-"
"Leoni-"
"I will jump from the walls, Laszlo, if they both leave me." The dam broke.
The Duke of Zara, rewarded for his military prowess, beloved by his subjects, broke into harsh, unrestrained sobs. The Prince-Consort could only bring him back into a hug, gripping the back of his rumpled white shirt. Laszlo couldn't help his own eyes watering. The empty maw of grief had yawned wider and wider between Leoni, Heikki and himself every year that Marlen was gone, the one man who had tied them together in the first place. Every loss since then seemed like an added weight, a larger than life presence that grew every time they turned to talk to him, send him a letter, laugh with him once more, only to find nothing.
Not even a grave to mourn at.
Laszlo had seen his own father's worry at the birth of his youngest sibling, Anna. The panic. The anxiety. But the fear that seemed to overtake Leoni, that had gripped Laszlo when Tatsiana was struggling with the twins. That had driven Heikki further and further away as more and more of his own children were stillbirths or died in the crib shortly after.
As if none of them had finished mourning, and were terrified at every turn that someone would join the hungry maw.
"Your Grace-"
Leoni and Laszlo broke away from each other at the appearance of one of the physicians, the Duke desperately dragging his hand over his face.
"We think it's time."
The moment of truth.
"Time?"
"… Either the child comes out within the next hour, or…"
Laszlo felt his throat close up. Leoni shuddered. Breathed in. Opened his mouth.
"Get my bastard husband in here!" Jasmina screeched from down the hall.
Leoni shot off, faster than he had ever been on the battlefield. Laszlo trailed after him, but hung back at the double doors. Jasmina was like a sister to him and he… Wasn't sure she wanted him in there. Tatsiana, however, sat by the Duchess' side, gripping her hand.
The Tsarina had… Never been close to Jasmina. Didn't really know her, not like Laszlo, or her previous husband had. Hells, she doubted she had many true friends, at least not one that she was close to like her husband or… Her sister. But arriving to the bedroom, no husband in sight, she couldn't stand the sight of her. Beleaguered, alone, fresh tears falling in the tracks of dried ones. The twins were… Atrocious. Apparently, both in the womb, and out of it. Laszlo had been there the entire time. Even Pavel coming in just to hold her hand.
"Your hands are cold." Jasmina whispered, hoarse. Tatsiana looked down and realised she must have linked their fingers without thinking about it.
"Oh. Sorry-"
"No… It's nice. Someone is getting me more ice but they might have gotten lost." She wheezed out, giving a small smile before wincing. "Leoni's crying in his office again."
"… You know this for a fact?"
"I know it because it's him. He doesn't like crying in front of me. Treating me like I'm already dead. Or the baby." Jasmina shakily inhaled and one shaking hand reached down to weakly cup her swollen belly. "Poor thing. Just tried to say hello to the world and now doesn't even know why it's taking so long."
Tatsiana blanched at the thought of any of her children having concrete thoughts or consciousness while within her womb. It would mean the twins had been that cruel on purpose and that Aksana… Well.
"How much longer now?" She switched to a safer topic. A slightly safer topic. Safer like eating mouldy food over trying to catch a bullet with your teeth.
"They… The baby has to come out soon. I didn't want them to tell Leoni. And-"
"And why ****ing not? He'd be here. We'd have you off the bed and back to getting the infant out." Tatsiana couldn't help the sharp edge to her tone. The Western method of being in bed was the result of some pervert getting a say and idiots have been following the advice ever since. She only was in bed during childbirth for a break, and other than that, gravity was helping more than some Gaulian moron.
"That won't help. The baby is stuck. They're worried about breaking their neck, or injuring the head or the baby being strangled by the cord-"
"Then you deal with it then." Tatsiana bit her tongue sharply. She could have advised to have another one later on, but that's not what any pregnant woman wants to hear mid-childbirth. "But for now, we need your husband in here, and if needs be, to do this in the farm animal way."
"Oh." Jasmina blinked her cloudy eyes at the Tsarina for a few moments before slowly sitting up, straining her arms. She took a moment before looking at one of the physicians hiding away in the shadows. "Get His Grace."
Not even seconds after the bird-like man had vanished out of the door, Jasmina sucked in a sharp breath and flung her head back, shrieking for her husband and using some very choice language.
Before too long, Jasmina was perched on the edge of the bed, sweaty and gripping Tatsiana's fingers hard enough that she did wonder if her hand would survive this. Leoni, eyes rimmed with red, gently tucked his Duchess' hair back and out of her face.
An hour. Jasmina had a fairer temper than Tatsiana, allowing nurses and Witches and physicians to faff around her, hanging a strip of leather from the top of the canopy bed for her to hang onto, helping her to lift her body until she was kneeling instead.
Time ticked by, the screams growing louder, the whispers increasing. Tatsiana didn't really want to be here. Ofeliya had her child far away from Varan. She never had to sit with any other woman during the birth of their children. A part of her wanted to slink away, forget the sights and the sounds, but a bigger part knew she'd never forgive herself if she did. She had to see it through now.
And downstairs? The three siblings sat. The youngest, Aksana, lay on her stomach, something her mother would have told her off for doing, idly and slowly flicking through a book. Sasha sat upon the couch, knees drawn up to their chin, seemingly transfixed by the distant screams of Auntie Jas. Pavel, stood, just like their long dead father used to, hands behind his back, staring out the window as if he could ward off the dawn if he kept watch.
"She's going to die." Aksana finally said.
"Sana." Pavel turned around with a frown. He had recently started looking older than he actually was. He didn't smile as much. "Don't say things like that."
"Mama didn't take this long."
"She didn't because you slept through most of it. Idiot." Sasha replied flatly, beginning to pick at the fabric over their knee. "For both Stanislav and the Twins."
"I was only one year old for Stas." Aksana looked over her shoulder and frowned at her older sibling. "And three for the twins."
"And if you were a better sister, you would have been awake." Sasha gave their usual teasing grin and their sister huffed and looked away again.
"Nevertheless," Pavel cut through them both swiftly, having watched their conversation like someone spectating a card game that was displeasing him. "Our Aunt-"
"She's not our Aunt. Our actual one died." Sasha hugged their legs harder.
"… Y'know what, Sash? I'm going to tell her that. Then Uncle Leoni will stop sending you nice things." Pavel jutted his chin out and turned back around. Silence followed his statement and he smiled to himself.
The fire crackled gently in the fireplace. Footsteps paced up above their heads. Screams had tapered off into crying.
"… Do you think the baby will survive?"
Pavel opened his mouth to once more snap at his sister, when a gentle wail rang out. One that was let out after so long of not being able to breath. One of pain but also relief. A beat of silence, Aksana's fingers pausing in turning the page. Then a burst of jubilation upstairs.
The physicians had barely gotten to check over the infant when Leoni lifted it from their arms, cradling close to his chest and cooing gently. Skin mottled, lips a greyish-blue, eyes blurry and watery, but alive. Laszlo finally slipped in and seemed to melt at the sight. Babies always had that effect on him, but this one seemed to be summoning tears to his eyes. Jasmina didn't even seem to be aware of the child, too busy being helped back onto the bed, a Blood Witch gingerly peeking underneath her nightshirt to tend to the crimson still running down her thighs. Tatsiana gingerly flexed her fingers and offered her new sister-in-arms a gentle smile.
"Oh, they're perfect. Jas, they're so perfect." Leoni whispered, unable to stop repeating himself, as if he was trying to convince himself that his heir was real.
"Your Grace, please, we have to tend to the child soon. We think there was some damage-"
"Not yet. Not yet. Please. Jas, here." The Duke sat by his wife on the bed, lowering the gently stirring bundle to let her see.
Jasmina seemed to finally be able to focus, gently crushing a piece of ice between her teeth as her eyes scanned over the little face whimpering back at her.
"Oh." She whispered. Her bottom lip began to wobble. Her eyes shined with un-shed tears. "Oh. Oh, you beautiful thing. Hello. Hello, baby."
The two new parents looked at their child, their instincts fighting to breathe even when it was proving uncomfortable and hard. The moment stretched for a few seconds before the physician finally stepped in.
"Your Graces, please. We're worried."
The illusion of perfection broke. The infant gave a pitiful, struggling wheeze and Leoni gave a sharp breath.
"Okay. Very well. It's okay, little darling." He couldn't help dropping a kiss to the child's little forehead, Jas desperately stroking their chubby cheek, before handing the bundle over.
The room steadily cleared out, leaving the new parents, as well as Laszlo and Tatsiana. The Tsarina was giving her husband a gentle kiss to his cheek, his eyes bright and his bottom lip jutting out slightly. Her soft-hearted love had been fighting back tears watching it all and Tatsiana couldn't help but also feel a twinge in her chest.
"… Thank you both. For being here." Jas finally whispered. "My parents were too old to make the journey. And Leoni's… Well. We wouldn't have wanted to tarnish the occasion with their presences."
"My siblings are ****." Leoni gave an absentminded nod, blind to Jasmina's soft laugh.
"It was all Laszlo." Tatsiana smiled at her husband, her fingers reaching up to gently stroke along his soft cheek. "He loves any event where he gets to coo at cute things. You should have seen him the other month with the newborn puppies in the kennel."
"… Would…" Jasmina blinked slowly at them, drowsiness taking over after such a long time in labour. "Would you two be Witch-Kin to our child?"
Leoni turned to her in surprise, tears already returning to his eyes. They had been struggling to find anyone they liked to ask, and Leoni had repeatedly made the case for Laszlo. Leoni and his house was the Witch-Kin for Aksana, promising to care for her and bear witness to her power, magical and not. To step in if anything happened to her or her parents, envelop her into their coven. Heikki had been Witch-Kin to Pavel, even before he became the Tsar of House Arctos. Laszlo, with a twisting in his stomach, was named Witch-Kin to Sasha, now actual Kin, his stepfather.
"We will." Tatsiana met Jas' eyes and answered before her husband could even dream of doing so. The two women gently smiled at each other and Laszlo gave another tearful sniff. "Oh, you. Come, let the Duchess sleep. Our own children have been up far too late."
Leoni couldn't help but to stand up and envelop but into a crushing hug as they left, desperately kissing Tatsiana's knuckles before stepping back.
"Thank you. Stay for a while, will you?"
"We shall try."
The entire household slowly settled. Witches that gently prod at the infant frowned at each other, tickling along their chest where their lungs rattled under their ribs. Not happy. Unable to do much for now.
Jasmina fell asleep quickly, unaware that her husband was firm in being the only one to slowly slip the bloodied sheets out from under her, careful and gentle. Tatsiana rested in front of the big chair in front of the fire, Pavel, looking like he was his age again, a boy barely past his tenth year, shuffling over to lay his head on her lap. Laszlo reading to Aksana, unaware that she had just finished the book, but her small smile gave nothing away.
And Sasha. Waiting for the physicians to leave the nursery before stepping in, icy eyes on the barely moving lump underneath a thick blanket. Resting their chin on their forearm, which in turn, lay against the crib. The silence making the desperate wheezes all the more louder.
"… Prove them wrong, will you?" Sasha finally whispered. "Apparently Father told me that when I got sick. Enjoy that. That's all of him I shall share."
A gargled whistle answered him. Sasha frowned.
"Or not. You probably won't live through the night, like Uncle Heikki's children." Even with their annoyed words, their finger slowly extended down, to poke against the tiny palm that star-fished against the blankets.
All that hostility drained free when those tiny fingers slowly, with effort, curled around Sasha's little finger, giving a desperate squeeze.
"… Oh." Sasha stared before a smile slowly crept over their statuesque face. "You'll be okay, I guess. If you want my help, just ask."
But you never did have to ask. Within two years, you were brought to your new home, cradled by a crying Laszlo, dressed all in black. When Tatsiana had made that promise, she never thought she would have to follow through so soon. But, unlike the other child lurking below stairs, she was more than prepared to become a mother to you. She couldn't bear it if she let Leoni and Jasmina down, if she ever stopped showering the last Royal of Zara with endless love and care.
