A new hope

King Gaius p.o.v

The infant girl was barely larger than our daughter Hilda had been clutching to her chest, and she couldn't have been older than a few weeks.

I reached into the cradle and lifted her up, taking care to keep her swaddled tightly in the blanket.

She blinked up at me in confusion, but didn't start crying.

It was peculiar, I decided, to be holding something so tiny yet so full of life.

Her vibrant blue eyes studied me before they closed and she cuddled into my embrace.

"Oh, look, it likes you," Harry said mockingly.

He leaned against the far wall.

His black eyes raked over the child in contempt.

I wasn't surprised;

Harry had never really cared for living things.

"Where did you get her?"

It wasn't important to me, but I recalled Harry saying a soldier had brought her to the castle.

I wondered where the man would have discovered such a young child that she didn't have anyone else to care for her.

"My men were raiding a known wolf pack and they found the human baby in the possession of two of the monsters. They defeated the beasts and took the child. The only problem is that none of them have wives who are willing to care for it, and I don't want it. I'll come up with an heir in my own time. She's yours, Gaius, if you want her. Otherwise she's going to stay here with the maids until she's old enough to become a servant herself."

I glanced from Harry down to the little girl in my arms.

I had known the second I picked her up that I was never going to be able to put her back down.

Her chubby cheeks, wisps of red hair -- which reminded me of Hilda's-- and the tiny little fingers that wrapped around my forefinger all drew me in.

"Thank you, Harry."

"Don't thank me. Just consider my debt repaid. A life for a life."

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"Hilda? Darling?" I called, clutching the squirming bundle close to my chest.

We had arrived back at the castle late in the night, spooking the night guards.

My men were skeptical of my plan, but they trusted me. Besides, they had taken one look at the new princess and they were smitten. All six men had taken turns holding her while they rode and feeding her the goat's milk they had purchased on the way out.

I especially enjoyed feeding the little bundle.

Even when she was wailing with a shocking amount of power out of such little lungs, which wasn't often, none of the men became annoyed by her.

I pushed open the door to my chambers quietly, looking towards the bed.

Hilda was asleep, bathed in the glow of the still crackling fire.

She had only just gone to sleep then.

I walked up to the side of the bed and knelt next to it.

I took a moment to relish in Hilda's relaxed face.

I was sure it was the only time she wasn't actively grieving for our lost daughter.

It always took her a few weeks to even leave her bed when we lost a baby. And I hadn't even been there for her this time.

I hoped that the infant in my arms would help my cause a bit.

"I have something for you, love," I whispered, stroking her loose hair.

"Gaius? Is that you?" she muttered groggily.

Her blue eyes blinked quickly and she smiled, before she remembered my absence.

"You bástard!"

"I know, I know. I didn't tell you I was leaving, but I didn't really know myself that I was going to leave until I did. But, I brought you something."

"Nothing you could have brought me will make me any less upset with you," she grumbled as she sat up in bed and stretched.

I lit a few candles and hugged my daughter to my chest quickly.

If things went my way, it wasn't likely that I would be able to hold my daughter for a few days.

I knelt beside her and placed the princess in her lap.

Hilda frowned and peeled back the corner of the cloth that was covering the baby's face.

Hilda gasped.

"Oh my God. Gaius, what-?"

"She's an orphan, love, with no one to care for her that truly wants her. I thought that we could say that she's ours. Tell the kingdom that you had twins and one passed away. Only a few know what truly happened and they won't tell; they are loyal to us."

"She's so beautiful," Hilda was mesmerized by the sleeping baby.

"Oh, Gaius. But what about Rosaline?"

So, Hilda had named our daughter.

I figured that she would, it was just that she might never tell me what she had named the baby.

"No one can replace Rosaline," I assured her.

"But this is a baby who needs a home and what better home than a castle, darling? We need an heir and we can keep trying for a boy, but I'm not sure that we're supposed to have a baby ourselves. What if we're supposed to take care of this little girl because she has no one else to care for her?"

"Oh my Goodness," Hilda breathed.

"She's beautiful."

I took a cautious breath.

"She's yours, Hilda, if you want her."

Hilda was silent for a moment and I tried to gauge her response from the look on her face.

Her features were carefully blank; she was purposefully hiding her thoughts from me.

I desperately wanted to keep the infant, but it was up to Hilda.

Her red tinted hair flowed down in soft waves, creating a slight barrier between the two of us.

She stared intently into the face of the tiny person, who chose that moment to blink sleepily awake.

Hilda smiled softly, but continued to stare into the face of the baby, mesmerised by her bright blue eyes.

I knew that they were sharing a moment, so I was careful to be quiet.

Hilda let out her breath slowly.

"What should we name her?"

I laughed and kissed my wife's hair.

I climbed onto the bed beside her and hugged her close.

Neither one of us cared that I was dirty and smelly from two weeks of travel.

"We can name her whatever you want love. I don't care."

"What have you been calling her? You have been with her for a few days. You must have been calling her something."

"I've just been calling her 'Princess'. But she needs a true name," I thought hard as I studied her round features.

The baby girl blinked her eyes and smiled at her new mother and father.

I was once again baffled by the brightness of her blue eyes.

"ISLA."

"What?" Hilda turned her head to give me a strange look.

"Isla, that's what we should call her. Look at her eyes; they're the color of the sky on a perfect day."

"Isla" Hilda said slowly, testing it on her tongue.

"I love it. What do you think, sweetie?"

The baby princess smiled once again, but whether it was gas or approval, I didn't care.

"I think she approves," I chuckled, touching one of her little hands.

She locked an iron grip around my thumb and stared intently at me.

I reached out a long finger and caressed a chubby cheek.

"Thank you, Gaius."

"I know she won't replace the babies we lost but-"

"But nothing. She's our baby now, a completely different one. She's just the one we get to keep. She isn't replacing anyone, just like none of the other babies were replacing the ones before them. She is her own girl. She's our girl."

"Welcome home, Princess Isla of Athena."

Tbc