CHAPTER 102
The announcement did not remain in the council chamber for long. By dawn the next day, it spilled from the palace gates into the streets like wildfire. Servants whispered it as they carried trays through shadowed corridors; stable hands repeated it between feeding the horses; guards shared it in low voices as they traded shifts.
And when the news finally reached the market square, it ignited like dry straw.
"The King's wife is expecting!" a herald bellowed from the palace steps, his words carrying across the morning air.
The crowd surged closer. Merchants abandoned their stalls, mothers lifted children onto their hips, and old men craned their necks, desperate to hear the full tidings.
"An heir will soon be born!" the herald declared again. "In a few months' time, the kingdom shall have its future secured. Long live the King, long live the heir!"
