Straightened herself and bowed gracefully to them both.
"I will take my leave now Your Highnesses."
She turned and took her first step.
Then stopped.
Her ladies in waiting moved before anyone else registered what had happened, rushing to her side immediately.
"Her water has broken," one of them called out.
Vangelis did not hesitate. He stepped forward and gathered her up carefully, moving swiftly toward the coach that Roxanne had prepared, his stride leaving no room for delay.
"Take it easy," Vangelis said, keeping pace beside the coach. "Everything will be fine."
"I will take over from here My Lord," Roxanne said, stepping forward. "Please return to the Queen. I will stay with her and report everything back to you directly."
Vangelis held her gaze for a moment then stepped back and let the coach go.
He turned and walked back into the park.
Every conversation stopped. Every head turned. Nobody spoke and nobody moved because the man who had walked back through those gates was not quite the same one who had left. The warmth was gone. The radiance that made people feel at ease in his presence had pulled back into something quieter and unreadable.
The silence held for one breath too long.
"Return to your activities," he said simply.
Like a switch had been flipped the music resumed, conversations restarted and the gathering continued as though nothing had interrupted it.
Vangelis walked to Fiona.
She had not moved. She was somewhere inside her own thoughts, standing still in the middle of everything moving around her, until she felt his arms come around her from behind.
She came back to herself slowly.
"Vangelis," she said. "Let us go after her. I want to make sure she is going to be alright."
"Do not worry," Vangelis said. "Roxanne went with her. She is in good hands."
He guided Fiona back to her seat and settled beside her.
"I apologise," he said quietly.
"For what?" Fiona shook her head gently. "No wonder you loved her. She is intelligent and warm and completely charming." She paused. "I found myself lost in her presence too."
Vangelis looked at her with something full and unhurried in his eyes.
"You always find a way to make me happy," he said.
Fiona giggled softly and laid her head against his chest, listening to the steady rhythm beneath it.
Her thoughts moved quietly in the warmth of him.
She is the rightful Queen of Bloodmoon. Her and Vangelis gave up so much. For me.
The guilt arrived before she could stop it, moving through her slowly and completely.
Tears slipped from her eyes without permission.
"I am sorry Vangelis," she whispered.
He did not ask what for.
She closed her eyes and listened to his heartbeat and said nothing more.
Down the corridor Seraphine's final scream filled the room.
Then silence.
Then crying. Two voices. Small and new and insistent.
Seraphine reached for them before anyone could speak, pulling them both close and pressing her lips to each of their heads in turn.
"A boy and a girl," the midwife announced.
The midwife stepped out and found Roxanne waiting.
"Both babies and the mother are doing well Your Grace," she reported. "A boy and a girl. All three are healthy."
"That is wonderful news," Roxanne said. "Ensure the mother and the children get adequate rest. They are to be well attended to."
"Yes Your Grace," the midwife replied with a bow.
Roxanne turned and made her way back to the park to find Vangelis.
Vangelis settled Fiona gently onto the bed.
"Rest now," he said.
"Yes Vangelis," she replied, already closing her eyes.
Roxanne met him at the door.
"My Lord please take a seat while the midwife prepares the room for visiting," she said, gesturing to the chair beside her.
They did not wait long.
The gates opened wide and the room beyond revealed itself slowly. Light white curtains divided the space, the soft shapes of a woman and two small forms visible through the fabric, Seraphine seated on a mat surrounded by an arrangement of pillows, feathers spread across the large room in a way that made the entire space feel sacred and unhurried.
"Draw the curtains," Seraphine said.
The maids pulled them back immediately.
She sat in a white robe, her hair braided and resting over one shoulder, a baby cradled in each arm. She looked up when they entered and smiled, the expression settling naturally around the small mole beneath her eye, making her look entirely at peace with everything the day had brought her.
"Would you like to hold them?" she asked.
Vangelis smiled, his eyes filling quietly as he reached out and took them both, one nestled carefully in each arm. He pressed his lips to each golden head in turn, holding the moment longer than he intended.
"They look just like their father don't they," Seraphine said, watching him.
"They are perfect," Vangelis said. "Just like you."
Then the gates opened again.
"The Prince of the Leopard Beastman Land has arrived," the announcer called.
The man who entered filled the doorway before he had fully crossed it. Golden hair, sharp jaw, eyes the colour of polished amber. He wore dark trousers and nothing above the waist, his physique built and unhurried about it, biceps defined, the lines of his abdomen visible, veins tracing his arms in a way that made his strength look entirely natural rather than performed. He had only just crossed into his twenties and carried it with an ease that made the room adjust to him rather than the other way around.
"Greetings My Lord," he said, his eyes moving immediately to Seraphine and the babies before settling respectfully on Vangelis.
"Prince Ashar, greetings," Vangelis replied warmly, carefully transferring the babies back to Seraphine before rising to his feet.
Standing before Ashar he looked considerably younger and smaller, something that registered without diminishing him.
"It is a great honour that my children were held by you My Lord," Ashar said.