“Let’s just say Iris is alive.”

“Okay,” Usya replied with a sigh, wondering why they were having this ridiculous conversation since they’d all seen Iris’s dead body.

“Would you allow her to marry a king or a royal family member?”

“Teacher!” Usya raised her voice because she was dumbfounded. “How can Iris ever marry a royal family member? Iris is a member of the Magic Tower. That’s your only adopted daughter! That can’t happen. Iris Elaine can’t marry a royal family member!” She was already dead, and she wasn’t in this world, but yet they were still talking about her.

Elaine’s anger was somewhat eased by Usya’s fierce opinion. Yes, this is what everyone thinks. Iris marrying a royal family member is unacceptable! Elaine stood up from his seat and stormed out of the room, looking back once as he got up to go to the Magic Tower ordinance.

Once upon a time, Iris would’ve been in her room where she often stayed up all night, as she worked on magic formulas, made tools, and wrote papers. She only talked about magic, which was her passion, and neither of them gossiped about other people nor the absurdity of the world, those things were an unnecessary conversation. Magic was enough for her and Elaine realized, with a heavy heart, that he’d never find such a compatible friend like her again.

“Yes, it cannot happen! Whether Iris is dead or alive,” Elaine spoke louder than before, as he recalled whose body Iris was in and his light, bright gray eyes, turned a dark stormy black.

She was, as always, his knight and his friend and there should never be such a thing as her becoming a king’s wife. Elaine clenched his fist, wanting to smash it through the wall in frustration. Ironically, there was a scene playing out on one side of the royal family, which would’ve justified Elaine’s frustrations, for if he knew what was going on, he would’ve grabbed Iris by the wrist and dragged her away, after punching Sidrain squarely on the jaw!

***

“Sleep together?” Iris asked, looking totally and utterly confused. Why? What the hell is wrong with you?

Iris’s eyes were a shade of blue that seemed to contain all the attractive blue’s that the sky could offer, and at that moment they looked to be as wide as two moons. Sidrain nodded, captivated by the beauty of them but unfortunately, Iris’s face was instantly distorted by his nod.

Iris had never slept with anyone in her life. She had stayed up all night with her teacher Elaine, but of course, they never slept together. Why would he sleep with her when she had her room and her comfortable bed to rest in? Even when she had been treated like a maidservant, and brutally beaten every day, there was an embankment on which her bed existed, albeit on a similar level as a beast’s shelter. So why would she sleep with someone else?

“My Queen, we’re married.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that?”

“So, therefore, we sleep together to make children,” Sidrain smiled softly and mumbled something that scared her.

How on earth is a child made? The women of the tower did not often bear children and they rarely got married or chose to give birth to a child, because the quality of their magic changed when a fetus developed, and most of them couldn’t regain their magic fully, after childbirth. Nevertheless, those who chose to have a child immediately left the tower. That’s why Iris had never seen a pregnant woman or a midwife. She only understood the birth of life magically, and not biologically at all. She knew that stones would give life, but she was ignorant of how people gave birth to people, and how animals gave birth to their offspring because it wasn’t magic.

Iris strolled across the room to her bed, inhaling deeply to speak, but finding no words to accurately express her thoughts vocally. If we sleep together, will we have children? Then why did you tell me to lick the back of your neck and spread my legs? Iris just couldn’t wrap her head around all of this.

“I’m not suggesting we have a baby right now,” Sidrain said as he touched her soft hair, after following her footsteps across the room. Then, quite casually, he climbed into her bed and Iris stepped back in a shambles.

“I just want you to get used to me. We’re going to sleep in the same bed together until then.”

“You mean just sleep?”

“Yes. I want you to become familiar with my breath, my touch, and my presence. I need you to get used to it unconsciously. You’ve been having a rough time since the Haran’s river. You need to get used to me quickly, okay?”

He had a valid point and Iris nodded in agreement, and before she knew it, Sidrain reached his strong arms out to her.

“Come here, my lady,” he said very gently.

Looking at Sidrain’s outstretched arms, she realized how much she didn’t want to move across to him, but she maneuvered her body until she was up against him.

It was a strange feeling to be held like this and she looked at the ceiling for a long time, biting her lip, as she couldn’t fall asleep. Finally, in frustration, she blurted, “I don’t think I can sleep at all!”

“Well, let’s talk about it together. You have to get used to this anyway. I’m already thirty and the people are very eager to see our children.”