Herald of Steel

Alexander's reason for keeping grain prices relatively high was to ensure farmers did not quit their farmlands after one bad year.

On the contrary, he wanted to make sure farming was seen as a lucrative prospect to the people.

Because Alexander was still not self-sufficient in food and needed more and more people to join it.

And to his credit, the forced price increase worked. as farmers were able to make a decent profit, leaving them feeling optimistic about the future.

And speaking of the future, Alexander's future successor or if not that, his future princess was about to be born.

It was already mid- September and the mid- wives told them that Cambyses would go into labor not any day, but any hour.

She was already a bit past her nine months after all.

"Aghh! It's so hot! When will it cool down," And it was on one such night that Alexander and Cambyses were in their beds, with the girl's head resting on Alexander's lap, while fanned using her palms.

As Alexander sitting with his back resting on the headboard looked down to observe the current state of his wife.

And it was a very sexy one to view.

She wore her usual nightwear, which was a thin, sheer, sleeveless negligee that only covered her breasts but parted down the middle, emphasizing her swollen belly.

And it was truly a swollen belly, a size Alexander did not think Cambyses could reach, as it bulged out quite a bit in front of her, even pointing out her belly button and making it more prominent.

While down below, where she did wear a T-back thong, now there was nothing because Cambyses would occasionally leak a white, yellowish liquid called leucorrhea.

This was a totally normal thing during pregnancies, but Cambyses hated it because it made her feel her she was peeing uncontrollably.

Hence Cambyses shamelessly had her legs wide-eagled, with one of her hands constantly wiping over her petal using a linen cloth to keep it dry, an endeavour she was failing miserably given the situation.

All while letting Alexander see everything.

And this new look really tempted Alexander, especially as he fantasized about Cambyses bouncing on him with her swollen belly, the heavy tummy carrying the crystallization of their love swaying lewdly with their movement.

He even half regretted not doing anything with Cambyses when he had the chance out of excessive caution.

"I will be sure to do something next time,' Hence Alexander swore.

As for this time, he busied himself with her breasts, as currently his hands were inside her negligee, gently playing with the pair.

They had definitely grown a bit due to the pregnancy.

"It should be cooling soon. By the way, how are you feeling," At Cambyses's throwaway comment, Alexander too replied casually, instead more focusing on massaging her.

Over the past month, he slept with Cambyses almost exclusively as he made sure to always calm her through physical intimacy as long as he was home.

"Ah! Stop pinching. My milk is coming," And it seemed one of his massages was a bit too strong, as pinching the nubile bud caused it to squirt out a tiny stream of white liquid, staining the jet-black linen cloth covering it.

Yes, Cambyses had of course started lactitating, starting from around the start of the month.

And Alexander did have a few suckles at first, finding the taste sweet and very immoral, but afterward, Cambyses started denying him the nectar, saying, "No! It's for the baby!"

So Alexander contented himself to stimulating her mammaries and turning the thin cloth covering her breast darker as it became wet with leaking milk.

And as if for revenge for not letting him have a taste, at Cambyses's complaint, he not only stopped, but teased her even more, kneading and squeezing the soft puppies, and at one point even pinched the cherries between his fingers so tightly that Cambyses howled in pain and pleasure, even arching her back, and thrusting her hips forward as she lightly came.

Alexander knew Cambyses did not really dislike him playing with her breasts, and given she had not had the D for almost nine months, he would periodically help her release so that she did not become pent up, as there were some times she joked while stroking her tummy, "The second this little bugger is out, we are gonna have so much sex! I so miss that feeling of getting skewered."

As the couple engaged in their therapeutic intimate acts, Cambyses then once again posed a question she had already asked for the umpteened time.

"Alexander, what would happen if I can't give you a son?"

"Not what if I can't give you this time? What if I just can't?"

"You know Aunty Kaysa that used to live next to us back in Argus? She gave birth to fifteen daughters! Fifteen! All girls!"

"What if I'm like that?"

This was perhaps Cambyses's biggest fear.

And Alexander had already exhausted all the possible variations of 'Then we will try again' and 'I will love all of them regardless' a long, long ago.

He even went all scientific mode and told Cambyses that it was the man who determined a child's gender, not the woman.

And this was a hundred percent true. 

Men have XY, while women have XX chromosomes.

And since each parent gave half of his or her chromosome to his child, it was only the male who was responsible for determining the sex of a child.

Something that Alexander tried to explain in a very watered, appropriate for the time way.

Using all these ways Alexander was able to drive these haunted thoughts from Cambyses's head each time, but it would all only be temporary, as after a while, they would soon be back, taking perch inside Cambyses's head like an especially clingy ghost. 

So this time, Alexander decided to give a straight answer.

"If the main wife is really unable to give birth to a boy, the general convention is the man's eldest son became the heir, regardless of who his mother was."

"But since it's you, if the worst of the worst  really does happen as you fear, then I will let you have a say in who I choose as my heir."

"Do you accept that?"

Alexander was very mechanical in his answer, and hearing this out of the norm answer, Cambyses swung her head as if she had been electrocuted, and found herself gazing at a pair of somewhat cold, emotionless dark pearls.

Alexander was serious when he said this.

And looking at it, Cambyses's heart suddenly ached like it never had, as then producing a hurt face, she broke any from the intimate contact they were having and abruptly turned around, burying her face into the pillow.

And a few moments later, whimpered sobs began to drift across the room.

She wanted to hear comforting words, not the cruel truth.

And seeing her reaction, Alexander too knew he had messed had messed up, as he pursed his lips in frustration.

He had let his irritation at the same hackneyed discussion get the better of him, whereas he should have gone with the sugar- coated lie, knowing how erratic women tended to be during their pregnancy due to all the hormone imbalances.

But his tactlessness had rewarded him with this.

And seeing the current state, Alexander too turned around away from Cambyses and decided to go to sleep, leaving the girl to calm down on her own by morning.

Or so he thought. 

As in the middle of the night, Alexander was woken up by the piercing shriek of 'Ah! My water broke!' and he found Cambyses's side of the bed completely drenched with an odorless liquid.

She had just entered her first stage of going into labor.

Seeing this Alexander then instantly jumped out of bed to get the two midwives he had hired, and then even sent a messenger to Jupetus, the one in charge of his clinic to come and oversee everything. 

And as the older lady quickly came with a small team of doctors and started to prepare Cambyses and her room, a few hours later, the girl's womb finally started its contractions, initiating the delivery.

Alexander had wanted to stay beside Cambyses all throughout this event.

But because of an Adhanian tradition which said it was unlucky to have men present during birth, Alexander was not allowed to.

And given how superstitious people of this time were, Alexander obeyed so as to not cause a ruckus.

Hence he waited outside, impatiently walking back and forth along the narrow corridor, while from time to time Cambyses's extremely pained groans pierced through his ears.

It seemed her labor was not being an easy one.

So every time he heard that wounded cry, his heart bled and his knees felt weak and wobbly, fearing that scream was her last and that this might be the last time he saw his love.

"Calm down, master. It's been only a few hours. I have seen deliveries at the temple last half a day,"

And it was only Ophenia staying with him and comforting him as such every other instance did it prevented him from barging open the door and rushing to Cambyses.

Cambyses's painful cries rose and fell periodically, and finally at close to midday, they died down completely, which was either a good or bad thing,

And Alexander very much feared it was the latter.

"Congratulations my lord, you are a father!" 

But it seemed he was wrong this time.