Divergence: The Vampire Queen

An Intimate Moment

As they walked through the halls back to their room, Natasha saw Sienna. She had learned the woman's name from one of the other maids after inquiring about a particular maid who had a fancy for her husband. The little wench was trying desperately not to look at her. Her eyes were glued on Marcello, though. She watched as those chocolate brown eyes briefly drifted over to her abdomen. For a second, a flash of something close to jealousy shined in them before locking back on her husband.

She had to wonder if the girl had ever wanted to bear his children. She wasn't royal, Natasha assumed that was a qualifier, and of course, she'd been turned, probably before they ever became intimate, possibly before they'd ever met. Still, she knew the pang of wishing to be a mother, and she wondered if Sienna regretted it after the fact.

As they walked back, Marcello noticed Sienna staring at him. He had avoided her advances multiple times in the past few weeks, but she had been getting bolder with her attempts, going so far as to approach him when he had been painting alone. It had been a feeble attempt at seduction, but one nonetheless. He did feel some guilt about it. She had been his lover, and he had feelings for her back then—But Natalia had changed everything! From the moment his parents had announced that he would marry, he'd made it quite clear they could not continue.

He had not shared Sienna's advances with his wife, though. He hadn't wanted to stress Natalia, especially in her delicate state. It was perhaps a little secretive and underhanded, he knew, but he would tell her eventually, when her life was not in mortal danger. Besides, he relied on her trust to know that he loved her wholly and completely. He had never strayed, and he would not.

They finally made it back to the room, and she laid down on the bed, feeling tired as her abdomen started to move. Barely detectable features pushed through the skin as they moved around. The cream was working, and though it felt odd, it wasn't painful.

She pulled her dress up all the way to expose her abdomen so they could watch them more clearly. What could only be a head or butt—an orange-sized bump—moved across her abdomen before disappearing back inside. "I think they're playing..." she laughed.

He sat on the bed with her as she lifted her dress to watch the two children move. "So long as they play nice. They need to know how to share. As well as not use their mother as a boxing ring." So long as she was happy, he was too, and the two babies definitely seemed happy. He rested his hand over them, feeling them push against it as they played. "I wish I could somehow draw this. Them moving so happily."

"I suppose you could draw several images that as you looked through them seemed like movement. Though, that would probably be quite taxing..." Then her face lit up as an idea washed over her. "Oh! You could show the drawing of the foot to the doctor and see how far along he actually thinks they are! Well, at least one of them." She wasn't sure if they were the same size or not. There was no way to be sure of that.

"He should be able to judge about how big they are by that... right? I mean, he saw the bruise but..." she looked down and it had vanished. She wondered if it was the cream or her own body that was causing her to heal at an alarming rate. "There's no bruise," she said almost sadly. As badly as it had hurt, she'd loved the little imprint of her child's foot on her. If she could've had it forever engraved on her, she would. It would be a beautiful memory one day.

Marcello retrieved his drawing supplies and began to sketch the little movements. He could fill a gallery of just his beautiful wife carrying his children. She had been exquisite before, but now she was simply breathtaking. As he laid down his pencil, Marcello once more placed his hand on her stomach.

One child seemed to respond by pushing their own tiny hand through and stroking his larger one. It amazed Natalia how aware the baby seemed to be. So she put her hand beside his, and the child performed the same action.