Lucretia burst into tears again clutching her chest tightly, "This cannot be happening to me, My enemies will laugh at me."
Just then, there came a light knock on the door. The queen stared at the door in fear, "don't let the king in."
The midwife nodded, and went to the door, "Who is it?"
"Tell the queen, it's Reggie," a male voice replied.
"Reggie," the midwife repeated, staring at the queen.
The queen motioned for her to let him in. The dark, tall man, stepped in with a child crying in his arms. The midwife stared at him alarmed, and so did the queen.
Whose child is it?" Lucretia asked, wiping her face with the back of her hand.
"Your son," Reggie replied with a deceptive smile plastered on his face.
"That is the concubine's son" the midwife shrieked, as her eyes fell on the little baby boy. What was he trying to do? The horrified woman asked.
Reggie went ahead to place the boy beside the queen, "The choice is yours."
The queen looked at the midwife who shook her head in disagreement. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, making her enemy's child the next king and maintaining her position as the only queen, or letting her enemy's child become the next king, with her enemy as the new queen and mother of the crown prince. Either way, Hadassah's son becomes the next king.
There wasn't much time to think about it, the king would come down there soon if he doesn't receive any word from any of the midwives.
"Give him to me," the queen stretched out her hands. Reggie put the child into the queen's arm, ignoring the midwife's disapproval.
"Martha stated her price and has been paid handsomely," Reggie said, turning to the midwife. "Name your price, whatever it is you desire and it will be yours."
The midwife's gaze flickered from the child crying beside the queen to the child crying in the queen's arms. The woman was torn between taking another woman's right to know her child and making more money than she'll ever make in her entire midwife career.
"Name your price Rebecca," Reggie repeated, more firmly this time.
...
The king was still pacing around the room when one of the royal guards knocked.
"My Lord," a guard in full armor; "The midwife is here to see you."
"Let her in," the king spoke as he settled into his seat.
Asmodeus handed the king a cup of water, "Relax my king."
"How can I?" the king emptied the cup and returned it to Asmodeus.
There was a slight knock on the door, and the midwife walked in cautiously.
"Your Majesty," she bowed slightly.
"Speak woman," the king replied, tensed.
"I have good news and regrettably sad news," she said staring at the Persian rug laid elegantly all over the king's chambers.
The king stood up to his feet, ''Speak!"
"You have two healthy children, a boy, and a girl. The queen has birthed the heir to the throne and her lady gave birth to your daughter."
The king fell back to his seat in disappointment, his only hope of marrying Hadassah had been dashed. But if this was not the bad news, then what was it?
"The bad news?" Asmodeus asked, seeing the king's disappointment.
"Her lady did not make it."
...
Lucretia stared at the child in her arms with mixed emotions, "I just made another woman's child the crown prince." Her words were laced with malice.
"It is just temporary, my queen," Reggie assured her.
"How is that? I did not bear a son, what could possibly change?"
"We just need him to secure the throne for now. He will be the crown prince until you have your own son."
"What will happen to him then?" Lucretia asked staring at the child in her arms. She wished she had just had a son and did not have to do this. Why did the gods not choose her to bear the heir? What did she do so wrong? Was it not enough that her husband had loved a concubine more than her, did she have to take everything from her too?
Reggie tapped the queen's shoulder lightly, all the while smiling confidently,
"We will reunite him with his mother."