“Good morning, your Majesty,” Serena chirped cheerfully, pulling back the covers from the massive four post bed. 

“Nnnngh…. I order you to give me five more minutes,” Audrey complained, squeezing her eyes closed tighter.

“I am deeply sorry, ma’am, but I cannot. His Majesty, the King has requested your presence for breakfast this morning.”

She grumbled again and let out a cute whimper. “Oh very well…” She scooted over to the side of the bed and swung her legs over the edge, feeling the plush rug beneath the bed tickling the soles of her feet.

‘Alright, Auden,’ she thought, ‘no, not Auden, not today… just for today I am Audrey.’ She took a steadying breath and finished her ascent from bed. ‘Let us see how this goes…’

Following her encounter with Camdyn in the training yard, and a very long and confusing session of introspection, she had decided to greet the light of a new day as Audrey. Just as an experiment, of course. She had to know if considering herself as a woman, as Audrey, as the Queen, felt right.

To that end, she gracefully padded across the floor towards the windows - flinching slightly when her feet left the warm rug and hit colder stone - and grabbed the cord to pull open the curtains. She had been expecting another radiant dawn, a staple of her time in Heartgrove thus far. Instead, rain lashed at the windows, and she could see the trees in the royal garden below her window swaying frantically in the breeze.

‘So much for facing the light of a new day, eh?’ She turned to face her handmaidens with a soured look, and trudged into their waiting embrace to be washed, primped, and dressed for breakfast with Cam-- with… her king.

-=-

“You look even more beautiful today than usual, ma’am,” Serena complimented, making minor adjustments to Audrey’s dress. “His Majesty is ill-prepared for such a sight.”

“Yes, there’s something different today and it suits you!” Daliah agreed.

Audrey felt color creep into her cheeks. “Thank you, ladies. That will be enough flattery for now.” Truth be told, she was eager to see Cam’s reaction.

She wouldn’t be disappointed.

-=-

“Good mo--” The words died in his throat as he watched Audrey enter the private dining hall. His eyes followed her graceful movements from the doorway to her chair, and it wasn’t until a servant helped her to be seated that he managed to compose himself properly.

“Good morning, my King,” Audrey greeted him, a coy smile playing on her painted lips. She had not been disappointed by his reaction at all.

“Good morning, my Queen… you look… breathtaking.” Though he had recovered, it was clear that Camdyn was still not quite back to his full faculties.

“Thank you, my Lord,” she said, keeping to the formal address that her governess had instructed so firmly. “You are handsome as always,” she added with a slight blush creeping into her cheeks. ‘Did I really just say that? Perhaps I am embracing this role too much… but I cannot deny the truth of the words…’

Camdyn cleared his throat, and straightened non-existent wrinkles in his overcoat. For a moment, Audrey could see the same somewhat timid squire she had known beneath the powerful and confident King he had become.

“I had hoped to speak to you about the upcoming coronation, my lady,” Camdyn said, meeting her gaze.

“Is that so?” She asked, swiftly returning the burden of carrying the conversation to him. ‘This is quite enjoyable, seeing him caught on the back foot…’ She smiled playfully at him, and folded her hands in her lap as she turned more fully towards him, feigning greater focus on his words.

He swallowed hard, and took a moment to compose himself before speaking. ‘Gods, how can she be so pretty? Just a few weeks past she was…’ Camdyn forced the thoughts from his mind. “Yes, the coronation… the people are eager to see the proper return of their King and Queen, and as such we had hoped to hold the ceremonies within the month.”

“Within the month,” she mused, “is this truly just the will of the people, or do you too crave to have me properly as your Queen so soon?”

“I- well, I cannot, erm, that is to say, I have no qualms about taking you as my wife, if that is what you are asking.” Color began to play at Camdyn’s cheeks and the tops of his ears.

‘He’s blushing like a school boy,’ she thought with a grin. “You have no qualms? But no desire? Perhaps it is best we post--”

“No,” Camdyn cut her off hastily, but not harshly. “What I mean to say is, I would be honored, but I was not certain you were ready, my…” He sighed, “Formalities aside, may we speak more plainly when in such private settings? I would… I would address my wife by her name.”

She smiled, and nodded politely. “Yes, I believe that is acceptable, Camdyn. I would rather avoid the rather unnecessary pomp and circumstance of royal address if we are to be wed.”

“I agree, Audrey.” He relaxed a bit, and some of the tension in the air dissipated.

“Now, as for the coronation… I ask for the day to think about it. It is a large commitment to accept,” Audrey said evenly.

“Yes, yes it is. I see no reason to argue with that. Please, take the time you need to reach your conclusion.” He glanced over at one of the servants and nodded.

Within minutes their plates had been heaped upon with a proper breakfast, for which Audrey’s growling stomach was quite happy. 

The rest of the meal was filled with lighter conversation, even some laughter. ‘It wasn’t so hard,’ Audrey had thought as the meal came to a close, ‘to imagine life continuing like this.’

-=-

Her day of rumination began properly after breakfast, with Camdyn and a small number of Kingsguard and Queensguard escorting her to the royal library.

She had spent much time here of late researching the blades that had caused this entire situation. Now she was perching in one of the well-padded window seats overlooking the castle grounds below.

The idea of facing the future, the rest of her life as Camdyn’s wife, his Queen… it wasn’t as terrible as she had once thought, not so long ago. If she was honest with herself, she was enjoying being Audrey more than she had let on. Certainly at first there had been fear, and a sense of wrongness, but that had come from a gut reaction, a frantic grasp for the fleeting edge of the cliff of her former life. Now that her feet had found solid ground again, she found it even more comforting than the previous footing.

There were still questions, of course… and concerns. According to the royal physician, she was due for her “blood” within the next week or so. In that same line of thought, what did the future hold for a family? Nobles were supposed to produce heirs. The history of Heartgrove that she had read so far exposed that to be why the swords had fallen to rest in the first place. A lack of a living heir when the king and queen passed. It would be wrong to force such a situation on these people again after they had finally found hope once more…

Was she really willing to be a mother? 

The thought rolled around in her head, growing exponentially until it threatened to push out all other thoughts.

She tried to envision herself as a mother, children in her likeness running around, clinging at her skirts, being nursed at her…

She shook the thoughts loose, squinting her eyes shut hard. ‘No, no, I can’t worry about that right now, there’s no rush for anything like that!’ She shuddered as a chill ran down her spine, and turned her attention back to the rain beating out its steady rhythm on the window pane.

‘Still, it is a concern for the future…’ The thought refused to be completely dissipated. He could remember little of his own parents, being raised in the care of a relation, a Lord from a land not his own. He had only ever known the care of maids or other servants, and the strenuous mentorship of the Lord of the castle. 

Could she even be a mother? She hardly knew how to be a woman.

Did Camdyn even desire to be a father?

‘Do I want Camdyn to be with me in that way?’ Finally a thought that threatened to dislodge the others. Except it was just as intrusive. More concerning was the answer that her body was sending, and her mind wasn’t disagreeing with it. ‘Oh, gods… I do…’