Apollo

Chapter Thirty - PART ONE

All right, so there's been a bit of a complication...I had most of Chapter Thirty ready but then I found it too rambly and I didn't want to end Apollo off with a chapter that didn't really have much value. So I've begun rewriting, but the full chapter isn't ready yet. As such the last chapter of Apollo will be uploaded in parts – and here's the first. Enjoy!

THE TEMPEST OUTSIDE ROARED AS IT DROVE A RAGGED BLADE OF LIGHT into the Earth, and as if in synchronisation with the deafening thunder, Princess Emmeline screamed. Her husband and brother heard this from where they sat in the next room, Emmett holding his young son on his lap. Despite all the ruckus, the toddling young nobleman was fast asleep, his face buried in his father's chest. The three-year-old David Lockhart had, thankfully, inherited all of Victoria's features, and his chocolate brown eyes and curly chocolate locks rendered him a most adorable young lad.

"It sounds terrible over there," Prince Alexander said worriedly, casting a glance at the door as if he hoped to see his wife walk through it with a baby in her arms any minute now. "I'm not sure I want more children after this. I couldn't make her endure such agony a second time."

"It broke my heart to see Victoria go through such pain as well, but David was the best thing to ever happen to us. She thinks him worth all her suffering, and I am certain that your child will bring just as much light to Emmeline's life as this one has to mine. Victoria is already asking for more children, you know." He smiled. "Do not worry yourself. Both my Aunt Beth and Victoria are by her side, and both of them have had children of their own before – I promise they will make sure that Emmeline is all right."

"I suppose," he replied, sighing. "I wish I could bear her pain for her."

Emmett chuckled. "Do not underestimate my sister, Alexander. She might just have a higher tolerance for pain than you do."

"Again, perhaps you are right." The crown prince sighed again.

The thunder rumbled outside. There was a pause before Emmeline screamed again, the loudest yet this time, and Victoria could be heard speaking to her, urgently and encouragingly, though her exact words were muffled by the wall between them. Emmeline screamed again, and then there was silence for a brief moment.

Then the cries of a baby could be heard.

"She's done it!" Emmett cried, sounding just as triumphant as his sister must have looked in the next room. He shook his son gently. "David, David, lad, wake up now. Your Aunt Emmeline's had her baby, we'll be called in any minute to see her."

"Baby?" David murmured, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his little fists. "Aunt Linnie's baby?"

"Yes, Aunt Linnie's baby. Would you like to meet it?"

"Yes," the toddler answered with a few nods, barely coherent. "B-Baby."

He chuckled, setting David on his feet. "All right. Wake up, then."

Alexander smiled at his wobbling nephew and tried imagining having a little human of his own to love as Emmett loved David. Would the child be a boy or a girl?—Would it have his hair, or her eyes? His sharp chin, or her button nose?

He would find out quite soon – for Penelope Smith burst into the room, interrupting his imagination. Her eyes glittered with excitement and, perhaps, some tears. "Oh, congratulations, Your Highness! Quickly, Sir, the Princess is asking for you. And Earl Portsmouth as well. Both of you, this way, please."

Alexander was out the room before Emmett could pick David up. He rushed into the room where he saw his wife in a birthing chair, dripping with perspiration and a baby in her arms. The midwives tended to her, tittering about the child as they went. Her hair was a mess, with a few strands sticking to her shining forehead, and she had not an ounce of powder on her face; but her eyes shone and her face was more radiant than he'd ever seen it, and she was more beautiful than ever before.

"Oh, Alex," she said, still short of breath, "it's a boy. We said we'd name him William, didn't we?"

"We did," he agreed, coming to stand by her and gingerly running a hand across her forehead. "Oh, beloved, you must be so tired. It sounded horrible from the next room."

"It was horrible," she agreed, laughing, "the most pain I've ever experienced. But this baby – our William...oh, he is worth every bit of it and more. Just look at him, Alexander, what an angel."

"An angel indeed. He takes after his mother." He leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead, and then, with additional caution, to his newborn son's.

"All right, Emmeline darling, give me the child. You must rest and be tended to," Bethany trilled, coming to take her great-nephew from Emmeline's arms. The newborn began to squirm and cry immediately. "There, there, William. Great-aunt Bethany is here. Hush now."

Baby William quietened down quickly enough. The older woman began to shoo everyone out of the room. Alexander was reluctant to leave his wife, but a firm glare from the marchioness was persuasion enough, and he squeezed Emmeline's hand before exiting the room with everyone else.

"That man loves you, you know," Bethany said, smiling. "I know you didn't come together in the best of ways, and – and I am still sorry for what I did and what I caused...I am sorry for being blind to what you wanted, and thinking that I knew what was best for you. But I am not sorry that you married him."

Emmeline smiled back, her contentment written all over her face. "Neither am I, Aunt Beth. Neither am I."

A/N Thank you so much for reading! Vote, comment and share, and look out for part two, coming soon!