I’m pacing back and forth in front of the door of my wife’s bedchamber, and claws of anxiety are ripping through my body as I wait for the Royal Physician to emerge. The candle I am holding to illuminate my path is burnt to a stub by the time he finally emerges. I shove the candle into the hands of a nearby servant before grabbing the doctor by his shoulders. 

 “Tell me, Doctor, are Selene and the child alright?”

The Royal Physician takes a step back and bows deeply.

“Your Majesty, I am truly sorry, I was unable to stop the bleeding, and Her Majesty has… passed away.”

I strike the physician across the face, sending him flying to the ground. 

“You fool!” I shout, “What kind of Royal Physician cannot perform a simple childbirth properly!? I’ll have you beheaded!” The doctor simply kneels before me, head bowed low to the ground. I raise my hand to strike him again, but the Midwife suddenly rushes out from the bedroom, carrying two tightly wrapped bundles of cloth. She runs in front of the Physician and shields him with her body.

“Please have mercy, your Majesty!” she says, despite her whole body shaking with fear. “The Imperial Physician was unable to save Her Majesty, as he was occupied delivering the twin Princes safely. Please, your Majesty, take a look at your sons!” She presents the bundles of cloth to me, and up close I can see that they are wriggling.

I quickly unwrap one of the bundles, and am greeted by the sight of my newborn son. He is covered in dark, dried blood and is as wrinkly as my great-grandfather, but still I feel my heart soften; his face looks just like his mother’s. I unwrap the second bundle, revealing his twin brother. Despite the crimson staining, I can tell that this son has hair as blond as my own, but when I look at his face, I feel a wave of uneasiness. I quickly try to bury that feeling and turn my eyes back to the first twin, but this time I notice that something is wrong. His right leg is twisted backwards in a grotesque and unnatural position, and this sight makes my hands itch. If I wasn’t holding the two Princes, I would strike that foolish physician again, but instead I settle for shouting: 

“What is the meaning of this!? What have you done to my son!?”

The Physician trembles before saying, “The Eldest Prince was born breech, your Majesty, which has caused complications. Please have mercy, your Majesty!” the midwife echos his cries for lenience “Please have mercy! We did everything we could, your Majesty…”

Their incessant pleading is only fanning the flames of anger within me. My wife has died, and my son and heir is injured because of these two idiots, and all they care about is saving their own skin. The terrible reality of the situation is beginning to set in, my Queen is gone, leaving me alone once more. Anger and despair flow through my body like a river that flows into the sea, creating a brackish, turbulent mix of emotions in my heart.

I clutch my children to my chest like a lifeline before speaking

 "Guards, take these two incompetent fools away and have them executed at dawn.” 

The Midwife and Physician cry for mercy as they are dragged away, but their voices are drowned out by my turbulent emotions. I look down at my eldest son and the misery of his twisted leg. As I look at him, I am reminded of the person who was always by my side, the person who always protected me during turbulent times.

 I hand my children over to a servant to be cleaned, on the condition that if anything happened to them, everyone involved would share the same fate as the Midwife and the Imperial Physician. I then summon a messenger to the royal office.

“Send an urgent message to Sir Aquilo. He is to immediately return from the border.” 

 The messenger nods dutifully before leaving to carry out my orders. I return to my bedchamber as the first brilliant rays of dawn are peeking out over the horizon, but they bring me no comfort. I collapse into my bed, and as I finally begin to fall asleep, reality warps before collapsing in on itself once again.