The following morning, Daphne made her way to the inner quarters with Alice trailing behind her.
She was ushered into Empress Katherine's chamber, where the sweet chaos of children's laughter and soft voices filled the air.
Katherine sat in a cushioned chair, dressed in pale blue silk, her face luminous despite the fatigue of new motherhood.
In her arms lay her one-month-old son, swaddled in white, his tiny breaths rising and falling against her chest.
Across the carpet, the former Empress's young son, now adopted fully as Katherine's laughed as he played with his inseparable companion: Katherine's three-year-old daughter.
The two were of the same age, bounding after a carved wooden toy, their joy lighting the chamber.
Consort Jenny sat nearby, her hands folded primly, though exhaustion shadowed her eyes.
Only weeks before she had delivered a daughter, though the child was not with her now.
