It had been almost three days since she’d sent Rogue off. Both Callida and Verum were actively pretending that nothing had happened, and for all anyone else in their lives knew, Rogue was at home studying and Flore was floating around the palace gardens. At least, no one had asked any related questions.

“Your Majesty,” Councilman Legatus, the council spokesman, stood up to outline the issues that had been submitted for discussion, “respectfully, we’d like to request an update on the state of the military from the Lion General.”

“Callida, are you prepared to present the latest information?” Callida nodded curtly at Verum and Legatus continued.

“There are some requests to discuss from a few of the Reguluses, the committee assigned to prepare for the Dapsilis Banquet next week has an updated report to submit, and the issue of succession has been submitted by sufficient among us to–”

“Yes, yes,” Verum cut him off sourly, his eyes flickering briefly in Callida’s direction. “Is that all, Legatus?”

“Uh…. Yes, Your Majesty.”

“So you all want a report on my bedroom activities,” Verum growled irritably. “Shall we get this over with first? Callida, would you like to kick this off?”

A startled council turned to a smirking Lion General. “Certainly, Your Majesty,” Callida silkily stepped forward, not missing a beat. “As you all know, Her Majesty has suffered a series of pregnancy losses in rapid succession. I’ve been consulting with doctors that have confirmed that nearly constant pregnancy and repeated pregnancy loss is… taxing on the wellbeing of the hopeful mother. A simple nine month pregnancy ending with the delivery of a healthy baby is difficult enough, but Her Majesty has spent the better part of the last three years in a state of pregnancy with only heartache to show for it through no fault of her own. In fact, rapid, repeated loss may increase the likelihood of future loss. She needs a break, and I propose that we, the council, permit her up to a year to rest and recover before ordering her to try again.”

“What do you mean ‘through no fault of her own’? As the mother of His Majesty’s heir, it is her responsibility to carry the babies to term. She is required only to care for her own health and ensure that the birth of an heir is successful. She is failing in her commitment as the queen of this tribe.”

Callida glared at the offending, older councilman with nothing short of hatred for this statement. “It’s Councilman Sectarius?” The man nodded, his chest puffing up. “I understand that you were recently diagnosed with gout and a weak heart.”

“What do my personal ailments have to do with the issue at hand, General?” Sectarius’s puffed demeanor became combative.

“I’d have thought that was obvious, Councilman,” Callida simpered dangerously. “Are you not responsible for your own health — for the maintenance of your heart and joints? What should you have done differently to prevent such a grievous diagnosis from befalling you? You have failed, Councilman, in the maintenance of your own body.”

“I never!” Sectarius hissed. “I have taken the utmost care of my body for nearly eighty years, and I–!”

“Who are you to judge a young woman struggling to care for the health of another entity entirely when you can’t maintain your own heart?” Callida asked with icy forbearance. “I assure you that Her Majesty is doing everything that she can to care for her own health and to provide the best possible outcomes for the children she’s been struggling to bear. Just as your failing heart and arthritic joints are not your ‘fault’, Her Majesty’s pregnancy complications are not her fault. It is not productive to seek blame in this case, Councilman, and if you dare to accuse a bereft mother of somehow not doing enough to maintain the health of her own child, then it is only fair for me to accuse you of sabotaging your own health and, by extension, question your commitment to this council.”

“How do you go from my poor health to my… loyalty to this council?!” Sectarius balked with a sudden fear.

“Poor health can only lead to poor performance, or, in severe cases, death. If you are committed to this council, you will surely maintain perfect health so you can fulfill your commitments in an unhindered, undistracted manner.”

“Your logic is flawed, General!” he spat.

“Then so too is yours, Councilman,” Callida said with a crooked smile that dared him to argue with her. “Just as you may need to seek special accommodation to perform your duties on account of your ailing health, so too should we, as a council, afford that same understanding to our queen. Again, I propose that we grant her up to a year of leave for her health. The time will be spent resting and recovering so that she can resume her duty of bearing the king an heir in earnest upon her return.”

“And if, upon her return, she still fails?” Councilman Trebax, one of the more quiet but calculating among them, asked. “If this council allows the queen to take this leave of absence for her health, and it proves to be ineffective, what then?”

“I gather that you have something in mind, Trebax,” Callida stated shrewdly, offering him the floor, and the councilman stood up with a smirk of his own curling his lips and narrowing his eyes.

“You want to give Her Majesty a break. In the spirit of fairness, that is a reasonable request. However, if an entire year of recovery ends, and the queen returns still unable to bear a child to term, I believe it is also fair to require His Majesty to… outsource the task of bearing an heir.”

“It never ceases to amaze me the lengths you all go to in order to avoid the term ‘mistress’,” Callida snorted. “So your terms are, in exchange for granting Her Majesty this leave of absence, His Majesty must agree to take a mistress if his wife is still unable to bear a child successfully upon her return?” Trebax nodded a slow, deliberate acknowledgement at Callida, his lips still twisted in an unfeeling grin of self-satisfaction. “That is… reasonable. Your Majesty, are these terms acceptable?”

Verum swallowed and reluctantly nodded. “Yes.”

“In that case, I would also like to propose that His Majesty should declare to this council who he intends to take as a mistress within the next six months as a sign of good faith,” Trebax added, and Callida’s eyes narrowed subtly at him.

So people can be put in position to sabotage another woman’s pregnancies? Note to self: look into Trebax. “Your Majesty, what do you think of this additional requirement?”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Verum shifted on his throne in Callida’s peripheral vision while she continued to stare Trebax down. “Why six months? Six months is quite arbitrary of a timeframe. If the council wants me to declare an intended mistress, why not wait until my wife’s pregnancy fails first?”

“If the mistress is already declared, you can’t back out of the plan when the pregnancy does fail,” Trebax said simply, his eyes still locked unflinchingly with Callida’s.

When it does fail.

“I’ll be frank. This council is growing impatient, Your Majesty. You are nearly thirty years of age and have yet to father a child, let alone a male heir. Your own mother toiled for over ten years of successful pregnancies before she finally gave birth to a son. A throne without an heir is a recipe for civil war. This is as much about the future of our tribe as it is about the privacy of your bedchambers. Surely you can understand our concerns.” And then Trebax’s eyes seemed to glint. “Since the Lion General has taken such a proactive interest in your private life, perhaps she would care to offer her own womb for the siring of your heir?”

The room went so still, the barest shift in movement was an audible disruption. Every eye in the room turned to Callida, her own eyes still locked with Trebax’s.

“Everyone knows that you have an intimate history with His Majesty, General,” Trebax continued in a challenging hiss. “You want to bully this council into granting Her Majesty reprieve? Your personal stakes should match your adamance.”

“You want me to have personal stakes in the matter? Fine,” Callida declared with a darkness that gave Trebax his first moment of real pause since he’d started talking. “I will finance the queen’s entire retreat. Her year of rest will cost this tribe and this council nothing except a single year more without an heir to the throne. And if the subsequent pregnancy following that year fails, I will personally help His Majesty select a substitute ‘womb’.”

“Indeed?” Trebax cooed. “You are prepared to shoulder the burden of persuading His Majesty to take a mistress?”

“Correct.”

“On your honor, General?” Trebax pressed.

“You’re asking me to swear it.”

“Of the members of this council, you are the one with the greatest influence on His Majesty,” Trebax stated with a certain flippancy that stoked Callida’s already burning anger. “I, for one, would take great comfort in knowing that you, personally, were taking responsibility for His Majesty’s commitment to producing an heir one way or another, because, surely, with you pushing him, he will proceed in earnest.”

“His Majesty is not a child to be ordered about and manipulated by your capricious whims! He is not only your king but also a man — a husband and a friend. And then you wonder why I have His Majesty’s ear and you do not. I am astounded by your lack of respect! Yes, I understand that the need to produce an heir is one that affects more than his private family, but if you cannot treat this matter with the sensitivity it deserves, then perhaps you shouldn’t be here, Trebax.”

He laughed. “I make a valid point, and you threaten me?”

“His Majesty already agreed to accept a mistress in the event that his wife is given time to recover and she is still unable to successfully bear a child, but apparently his word wasn’t good enough for you. Now you want me to promise that I will personally coerce or seduce him into keeping his word. Never mind the personal insult to myself, how you can justify the insult to His Majesty’s honor I cannot fathom!”

An appraising eyebrow lifted, and Trebax backed down subtly. “Then, let us formally declare the terms of this agreement, shall we? The Lion General will generously sponsor a retreat for Her Majesty for up to one year. Upon the queen’s return, she will resume her duty to produce an heir. If, at that time, her pregnancy fails, His Majesty will take a mistress, and the Lion General will help him select an appropriate young woman to carry his child. Have I left anything out, General?”

“I believe that covers it,” Callida said icily.

“Then I propose that we put it to a vote,” Trebax declared and sat back on his seat with a flourish, and Callida finally looked away from him to nod at Councilman Legatus who took that as his signal to lead the vote.

“All in favor?” Callida glared at Trebax from across the room while he raised his hand for the tallying. “All opposed?” Another moment of tallying. “The motion passes in a five to one vote,” Legatus announced, and Callida’s eyes moved to exchange a glance with Verum.

“When will Her Majesty begin this leave of absence?” someone asked, and everyone turned once again to Callida for answers.

“Oh,” Callida smiled, “she already left.” The room erupted in angry comments and questions as everyone rose to their feet at once, an ubiquitous tirade that rolled harmlessly down Callida’s back and shoulders. She was unconcerned with the indignation of the subverted council; instead, she glanced around the room looking for signs of genuine distress — like the quiet circle gathered in animated but hushed whispers near Trebax’s seat that scattered as soon as Trebax noticed the return of Callida’s observing gaze. Seven men returned to their seats. Seven men sat stoically in thought while the rest of the council berated Callida for her insolence.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!!” Verum shouted, and the council began the process of hushing each other back into their seats. “What’s done is done!”

“This is outrageous, Your Majesty,” Sectarius declared adamantly. “This is not the way things are done! It is a requirement to seek the approval of the council before the queen leaves the palace. To merely inform the council after the fact is… treason!”

“Sit down, Sectarius!” Verum growled. “And it is not treason because I approved it.”

“When were you planning on informing this council of the queen’s absence?” Legatus asked with much more diplomacy.

“The plan was to inform this council as soon as the matter of succession was brought up again, which, seeing as this has been a recurring discussion biweekly for the last year, you can rest assured that this is all a very recent development.”

“And where did you send Her Majesty?” someone towards the back shouted.

“I don’t know,” Verum said honestly. “The Lion General was put in charge of the details of the trip, and I know nothing.”

“Of course the General is behind this,” someone snarled.

“You enjoy toying with this council,” someone else accused, and Callida accepted the impugnment of her character with barely an extra blink for acknowledgment.

Verum sighed and produced the cover-story Callida had fed him. “General Yudha was ordered to help Flore seek alternative treatments and secondary medical opinions for her pregnancy struggles. It was recommended by multiple doctors that she take some time for herself to recover and to not be pregnant, and expediency in her treatment seemed prudent as producing an heir is somewhat time sensitive. In order to protect her sanctuary and privacy, only Callida knows Flore’s itinerary, accommodations, and all other travel-related details, and that was also the reason Flore left before seeking the council’s approval for her trip. It was important to give Flore the best chance of a true break from the stresses of her everyday life. Seeing as you have now approved Her Majesty’s travels, I don’t feel that it makes much difference whether she left last week or leaves tomorrow. And the conditions approved by this council concerning Her Majesty’s trip stand. You have my commitment to accept a mistress should this treatment fail.”

The room settled unwillingly even as Callida continued to field an excessive number of dirty looks without reacting to them. “An approved trip and a concrete plan for the succession of the throne…. Is it really worth quibbling over a few days and the order of operations?” Callida asked calmly. “His Majesty and I predicted that the council would extend this measure of grace to Her Majesty, and, in return, you’ve been granted long-sought concessions. Either His Majesty will have a child within the next two years, or he will have a mistress.”