Mikhail paced back and forth in the sitting room of the Copperstone mansion. Anya cooed sweetly at her daughter as she nursed her newborn child. The events immediately following Anya’s return to human form had been a blur. The filly was taken from Theia, turned human, and given to Anya, who was ushered away to get clothed while Mikahil dealt with Theia. Theia couldn’t just leave, given what had been agreed upon and the fact she was lactating. It just so happened that one of the Copperstone mares had just given birth but rejected her filly, so Mikhail quickly replaced Anya’s child with the rejected filly. He instructed Theia not to return to the riding school until he spoke with his sister. Theia, happy to be mothering and nursing a filly, didn’t protest. She was currently in one of the stalls kept for nursing mares.
“I am sorry,” Mikhail said, yet again. Anya looked up at him, eyes blazing.
“Stop saying that, brother,” she scolded. “Apologizing will not change what happened. You did what you could, which was to rectify the situation once you knew the full extent of it. Well, and help me get back to Sassy.”
“Sassy…” Mikhail’s mind raced as he tried to place the name. He had been told and seen so much tonight, he was struggling to keep up. “Ah! Prince Jasper?”
“Yes. Though right now he is a pregnant mare named Sassy,” Anya said. She switched which breast her daughter was feeding from. “I do not know how she came to be in that condition, but clearly it is of utmost importance that both she and her unborn foal are kept safe. If she carries a colt, that offspring is set to be the heir of the kingdom.” Mikhail broke into a cold sweat.
“You have made a mess of things, sister.”
“Perhaps. But I kept the future King safe and accidentally caused the conception of the future Crown Prince or Princess,” Anya said coldly. She sighed. “I had always hoped I would bear the future heir.” She smiled at her daughter. “Alas, her father is a scoundrel named Gelvin Warstone.” She stroked her daughter’s blonde hair. “Perhaps when things return to normal, I can give Aurora some royal siblings.” Mikhail winced. He felt conflicted by the name Anya had given her child, but knew better than to comment upon it.
“We will send word to the other members of the family that Gelvin Warstone enacted such disrespectful behavior upon you,” Mikhail said firmly. “He will be dragged before the Wind’s Grove High Court for what he has done.”
“He must take the second priority,” Anya said, just as firm. “Sassy is more pressing. We must bring her here so she can give birth, be returned to her true form, and her foal be turned human as well.” Anya carefully burped Aurora. “Naturally, I will take the role of wet nurse for the foal turned human.”
“What we will do once Sassy is here is fine enough to determine, but first, we must get her here,” Mikhail pointed out. “How do you propose doing so, sister?”