Day 1 — First Trimester

The Empresses’ Royal Protector was pregnant, and quite literally everyone seemed to know it despite the wishes of Elris’s Imperial Knight.

Sir Nevan Innes hadn’t been pregnant long, just under a month or so, but his symptoms were obvious enough to the people who saw and interacted with him day in and day out, no matter how well he tried to hide it. The servants, the soldiers, and any and everyone else who lived within the castle all took it upon themselves to spread the ‘good’ news, and he wouldn’t be surprised if word had reached the outer Kingdom already.

Only, no one was brave enough to bring it up to him plainly. Not to his face at least, though there was one stubborn trainee in the new recruitment of soldiers who always thought they were quiet enough with their remarks.

‘Anyone want to play bets on how many more times he’ll blow chunks before lunch?’ He recalled them murmuring under their breath one day after he emerged from the officers latrine for what wasn’t even the first time that morning. Their comment gained them a few snickers in response, before he silenced them with a single look and ordered them to scrub the stable floors until they were clean enough to eat off of.

He knew in his heart of hearts then that it wouldn’t be the first nor the last of the gossip that he would catch about his current and persisting ailment as not even an hour later that day he began overhearing more and more bouts of whispers more often than not. And it only got worse when he couldn’t keep much of any meal down and often ended up nearly barreling through a poor servant on his way to a washroom throughout the day.

Though, thankfully, no one was comfortable enough to call out this sensitive a topic to such an imposing man, even the people ranked near his equal. That didn’t mean the trainees didn’t take advantage of his perceived absentmindedness to exchange rumors about just who might’ve knocked up their highly regarded Knight. It was obvious that the new recruits, along with the rest of the castle, were all wondering about it.

It was hard for anyone to ignore a man like Sir Nevan, not only because of his position in the Court but also because of what he was. A canine living among ovine people was hard to miss, not because they were afraid of him, no. The people of Elris praised and adored him and every other canine who dedicated their lives to protecting the kingdom, as they weren’t the first generation to live among canines. But the citizens couldn’t help noticing just how massive the Imperial Knight was compared to the lot of them. Even more so than most other wolves.

While most commoners within the Kingdom of Elris were of sheep and ram heritage and very rarely grew to be more than six feet tall, the majority of soldiers and guards living within the Castle walls at least were bigger and broader. Especially Sir Nevan who was over seven feet tall and broad across his shoulders, every bit of his body rippling muscle.

He was a beautiful specimen of a wolf, and one that Empress Bahati’s Mother didn’t take for granted when she was alive. The Late Empress had Knighted Nevan as a young man after he quickly rose among the ranks, distinguishing himself from his class, and displaying his courage, bravery, and devotion to the Crown. It didn’t take long after that for him to be appointed Royal Protector, and at the time, he had been the youngest Knight to ever be given the honor, not only due to his size, strength, and smarts, but his heart as well. And he was eternally proud of the title.

Now, it had been nearly a decade since his designation and the older wolf was currently late for his morning training session due to one of his most recent violent bouts of vomiting. The huge beast of a man had brought to his knees before his chamber pot, he had already lost the entirety of his undigested breakfast and was now holding his head in his hands, threading his fingers through his thick black hair and closing his eyes.

He grimaced at the lingering taste of bile as he knelt there with his arms braced upon the smooth wood, “Come on… pull yourself together Nevan. you’ve work to do.”

The ovine people of Ershi were largely pacifists. They had been for centuries, eons even, which was the sole reason why they had attracted the wolf’s ancestors to their land. Easy pickings it seemed, until one generation decided to benefit more immediately from the relationship between the sheep and dogs. Someone or some group of someones decided one day to work together and profit as a combined people, the Ershinian’s, rather than to continue as enemies.

And so here he was several generations later, a faithful wolf in service to the crown.

So dedicated to his Empresses, in fact, that he proved it by not only yielding his body to them, but by supplying his life force to aid in the continued endeavor of keeping the decades long peace between their beloved Kingdom and their closest allies.

Though no one needed to know of such a thing so early on in his pregnancy. Nor did he think anyone besides himself, Empress Bahati, her wife Naomi, and the parents of this child shall learn of their true origins even after its born.

‘Sir Innes? You have been summoned to the throne room.’ He remembered the surprise he felt at the sound of the Page’s voice, though he hid it well, leaving training in the hands of his First Lieutenant before he went immediately to meet with his Empress.

The Royal Protector had been around long enough to know that when he was summoned outside of a scheduled diplomatic matter that his sovereign often wished to solve a heated matter discreetly and without any bloodshed, as was her character. Though, as he recollected the moment now, he could have never expected what his Empress or her wife had asked of him that day. Not even within his wildest dreams.

He had stood before them at attention, his ephemeral Ladies of sunlight looking upon him fondly where they sat on top of their thrones of opal and silver, hair like wool and eyes shining and warm. His back was straight and hands folded behind him once he bowed, keeping his eyes cast down as they asked him to take up this task.

Not remembering the conversation exactly, but some phrases especially stuck with him.

‘..Who better to entrust with Elris’s future than our most faithful sword?’ One of them sang in a soft voice, making him lightheaded.

‘There’s no better answer to this matter than you, our dear, dear Nevan.’ The other purred.

And that was that.