Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Franz had largely moved his base of operations into their shared bedroom so he could watch over his wife but once he saw that I was in a bad mood he kissed her briefly and headed back to his office, leaving us alone to talk.

"What did Alpheus do this time?" she asked with a light laugh.

She knew me too well. He was the only person in this place that could really get a rise out of me.

"He won't stop teasing me about having children," I complained. "He knows I'm not ready for that but keeps giving me a hard time."

Mariela didn't understand where I was coming from. Her world had always been about getting married as a political tool. Children were an incidental but natural part of that.

If her baby wasn't under threat, she would have been proud to bear offspring. As it was, her worry couldn't hide her maternal glow. It was obvious she loved the baby already.

I did my best to explain that things didn't work that way in my homeland without mentioning medical tech like birth control that she wouldn't understand.

I could tell she was trying to be supportive even though she didn't get why it was such a touchy topic for me. She had been thrilled when I accepted Al's position as my husband but couldn't comprehend my thought process about it.

Even if the pregnancy thing wasn't an issue, I needed to go through the stages of dating first for the sake of my own sanity. I didn't have exact terms to explain my situation but it was basically like I was trying him out as a boyfriend to see if I could develop feelings for him.

A heart could be stubborn. Since I hadn't liked Al first and had friendzoned him for so long it was as if there was a dam holding back any potential romantic feelings.

Our relationship right now was kind of like a subdued version of friends with benefits. Not that Mariela or anyone in this world would know what that meant. Trying to explain my muddled feelings was exhausting.

"Katie…you think about things differently because of your home country. For Alpheus, talking about these things as a married couple is perfectly normal."

"I know," I said sourly.

I just wanted to complain, okay? Was that not allowed anymore? Girl talk back home always involved ranting about something or other.

It was time to change the subject. I wasn't going to get anything else helpful out of her. I pulled my legs up onto the bed to sit cross legged and leaned forward expectantly.

"So, have you thought of any baby names yet?"

Her eyes lit up at the mention of the baby and she rubbed her stomach lovingly. "Yes, Franz and I have talked about it. We are considering Roland Augustine for a boy and Diana Estelle for a girl."

I would never in my entire life name a child Roland but names were a bit different here. For the most part, they either seemed super outdated, like something a great-grandparent would be named, or completely made up. I sincerely hoped I would be able to give my children normal American names.

"Those sound nice," I said supportively. I was sure they were perfectly lovely names in Annalaias or Shibatsu.

I had never given much thought to the names I would give my future children. My parents had been fairly traditional themselves, naming their daughters such outdated names as Katrina and Abigail but they always called us by nicknames so it didn't matter much.

It could be a bit annoying dealing with the legalities of it though. I forever had to explain to people at the doctor's office, at new jobs, or during the roll call at school that my name was Katie. Katrina felt weird because I literally never used it.

For the longest time, I didn't even know it was my name.

My mom liked to tell the story of how when I was about three I was playing in my cousin's bedroom by myself and my aunt, who had only met me as an infant previously, called me to lunch using the name Katrina.

I didn't know it was my name so I didn't respond and kept playing. She found me twenty minutes later, hungry and wandering out to the kitchen for a snack. She felt terrible about it but my mom thought it was hilarious.

Flower names like Lily and Violet always seemed pretty. Maybe I could run that by Al someday. Far, far into the future. As for boy names…I had nothing.

A knock sounded on the door and a maid stepped inside to announce a visitor. "Crown Princess Rosenia has come to visit you in your illness, Your Highness."

Mariela and I exchanged worried looks. Rosenia had to know I was in here; turning her away would be incredibly rude. But why was she here in the first place? She and Mariela were barely civil!

Sigmund must have sent her. This could end very badly.