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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 3536629" data-attributes="member: 3448">Dame Brionna cleared her throat.  “What are we to do with the babe, your grace?  People will assume that he is an illegitimate son of yours.”“I think we’ll give him over to the care of Mommy Cupcakes.  He’ll be well taken care of that way, and we wouldn’t be able to place him with a family outside of the palace without it creating even more rumors.”Kit cursed.  “All the efforts to make sure that there are no actual illegitimate children, and we’ll still need to worry about succession issues.”“Not for a long time, I hope,” said Alistair.  “And by then, if things go according to plan, there will be a well-established legitimate heir to ensure there are no problems.  Although I suppose we could use him as an illegitimate heir if Lord Davion loses… do you think that succession would be smoother than the ones we have discussed?”“Your grace, we couldn’t,” said Dame Brionna determinedly.  “His father is a rapist, and possibly worse.  For all we know, he is half-demon.”Kit nodded.  “I hope the baby is fine, but it can’t be the Archduke.”“And we would need to have a regency for years; it’s hard to imagine that a regent could keep Brightspan, at least without a war.  And you are right.  Besides, at least if we follow our current plan, a true descendant of the House of Ashberry will be on the throne.  I owe my family at least that much.”  Alistair nodded.  “Very well.  Who should we claim the baby is?”Dame Brionna swallowed hard.  “Your grace… if you wish, we could claim that it was mine.  I would not wish the harm to my reputation, but if it protects the Archduchy, I will agree.”“Thank you, Dame Brionna, but that will not be necessary.”“I don’t think we could make the story stick, anyway,” added Kit.  “You would have had to give birth right around when you left the Archduchy to find Alistair.  Too many people know that you were not pregnant then.  And even if we also lied about the baby’s age, no one will believe that you were in the late stages of pregnancy and then gave birth while defending Alistair on his return to Canberry.  It would be recognized as a lie, and people would assume that Alistair was actually the father, with an unknown mother.”  She thought about it some more.  “What about one of your half-brothers?  We could claim that they were taking after your father, and that the baby is a nephew of yours.  That would be believable.”Alistair rubbed his chin.  “Or even make the baby another half-brother himself.  The timing would work; he could be the result of a fling of my father’s, shortly before his death.  And there would be no other household, not even one of my siblings’, to take the baby in.”“It could work, your grace.  There will still be rumors, but I fear there is nothing we could do to prevent that.”“I like it,” said Kit.  “It gives us just the right level of connection, while also keeping the baby safely far from the succession.”They quickly passed the baby off to Mommy Cupcakes, who was thrilled to learn that Alistair’s father had had another baby that she would need to care for.</blockquote>

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