It started with a shift in his scent. So subtle, at first, you almost missed that it was sweeter, or maybe softer. You had grown used to Saren's presence—one of your omega concubines—as he was a sight for sore eyes, from the beautiful long platinum hair, long eyelashes with pale gold eyes and a voice so soft that it occupies your mind daily but the scent was wrong.

Or maybe it was right, and that's when it started.

Saren avoided you more than usual. Not obviously—he still came when summoned, still touched you like a divine being carved into flesh—but there was something in the way he moved now. Deliberate or careful? His hand lingered too long over his abdomen once, Saren thought you weren't looking.

You kept looking, watched, waited. You shouldn't have. You had a healer sent behind closed doors—paid in gold and silence—the truth came out. Saren is pregnant, he is carrying your child, he hadn't told you.

" It was not because I doubted you, Your Majesty! "

He claimed, desperately as he notices the hint of your furrowed eyebrows. What did you feel? Betrayed, perhaps—because he didn't trust you with something so sacred. Ashamed—because maybe he was right not to. Saren feels afraid that you'll leave him—as if you ever could.

" I doubted the court, it is them I fear. They would tear you apart before letting me birth an heir to the throne. You know what this means.. to be known, be vulnerable, carrying the future of the empire in a body they often dismiss as delicate. "

Announcing the pregnancy makes you doubt your mind—which was a foreign feeling for a ruler who is always quick with decisions—do you announce Saren's pregnancy and practically initiate bloodshed or do you hide it?