After everyone returned from the getaway, Varya and Basileus left for a year to deliver their troops new gear and formally introduce themselves as the emperors who would be in charge of them for the foreseeable future. When they returned, they ramped up their efforts to further develop the empire, especially Planet V.
All the while, the couple tried for a second child any chance they got. With their unwillingness to leave each other alone, that was almost every night.
But it didn't happen overnight.
It happened in years.
So many years that Basileus Jr. was speaking in full sentences by the time he got to have any more siblings.
Varya fell pregnant just before her son's fifth birthday and she and Basileus were ecstatic by the news. After months of negative tests and wondering if there was something wrong despite Dr. Salus assuring them that it would happen in time, it was finally their turn.
