According to what Hermi had read from the records in the Great Library, no Ferramonte queens had ever made it more than six months in this hazardous land. Most fell sick within the first one or two months, and became fully bedridden by the fifth month.
That simply meant none of the queens actually ever had a chance to give birth to an heir for the Ferramonte kings. They would not even have the strength for conception to happen, let alone live long enough to carry a child to term.
Across the other six kingdoms, the mystery of the Ferramonte succession was not merely a topic of open discussion. It was a source of ribald laughter that echoed from commoners' feasts to the high courtly tables.
If the queens were all so quick to fade away, it was whispered that only the kings' mistresses could play the part in producing the heirs. In truth, the whisper had become so widely spread that it had become a widely known 'fact' itself.
