Her husband, King Loran had been killed the previous year in the Choran War. And as was the practice of the day, King Loran's brother, Anton, had succeeded his brother to the throne. Also the custom of the land allowed King Anton to claim all that had been King Loran's as his own if he so desired. Queen Isadora, being the beautiful woman she was, remained The Queen of Ithus when King Anton took her as his wife.

In her previous marriage to King Loran, Isadora had borne a son, Prince Claid, who was the apple of her eye and now fifteen years old. Since King Anton had no descendants, Prince Claid was now next in line to the throne, but the King had made it unmistakably clear to Queen Isadora that he wanted a son to replace him on the throne at Lion's Keep if he should die. But even though they had diligently tried for a year, there had been no results of their lovemaking.

"It's been a year, Isadora and I am still without an heir," the King had told her. "I'll allow ye another four months to produce an heir for me, or I'll have to take another queen."

Queen Isadora knew what that could mean. If he took another queen, it could mean all sorts of dire consequences for her and Claid. The worst of which could even be beheading. But none of the options before her appealed to her.

But in her heart, she didn't think the problem was of her making. After all hadn't she borne King Loran a son? Wasn't Prince Claid the obvious proof of her fertility? She thought that the fact she hadn't produced King Anton an heir was his own lack of virility. He must have weak seeds.

Unlike Prince Claid, she thought, although only fifteen years of age, the young prince had already gotten two of the castle's handmaids in trouble. The Queen knew because she had been approached by the young damsels and had given them a small stipend to care for the prince's two, little bastards. So It seemed apparent to her that King Loran had passed his potency on to his son, Claid.

This fact brought a small smile to her lips even in her own troubled state of mind. The seed of the little lord's sword appeared to be as potent as his father's had been because both of the maidens had borne little boys. On top of this, the prince's manliness was obvious to every one when he wore form-fitting breeches. The size of his manhood was the talk of all the wenches in Lion's Keep.

If only, she halfheartedly thought, if only King Anton's seeds were as potent and powerful as her son's were, she wouldn't be in this predicament. Sitting in her keep, she absent-mindedly stared out onto the trees waving in the wind that was swirling through the courtyard.

How? What is the answer to my dilemma? How can I solve our problem? I can't risk being replaced in the King's court. Not only for my sake, but for Claid's, too.

I suppose I could take a lover, she thought to herself. But it would be oh, so dangerous. Dangerous for her and for her lover. And not many men would want to risk angering the king, knowing that if found out, they would in all likelihood be beheaded.

And then there was no way to be certain of her lover's virility unless she could find a married suitor with proven evidence of his seed. It was all too complicated. What else could she do?

Maybe she could explain her cause to Claid and have him bed one of the wenches. After she was with child, Isadora could whisk the maiden away into hiding and pretend that she herself was with child. Then, no, no, that wouldn't work either. The midwives would be expected to deliver the child and they would reveal her deception.

And then there was the matter of the child's appearance. She would have to choose someone with looks similar to the king and that would just add more difficulty to the problem. If Claid were a part of the answer, there would be no problem because he was her son and he would provide the needed characteristics to the child.

No matter what she considered, it seemed that Claid had to somehow be part of the answer to her problem. But how? ......(cont)