The queen sat in her bed, sobbing softly as she held the limp form to her breast. "My little girl."

"Darling," the king whispered into her auburn hair. "You have to let her go."

"She's my baby, Hal," Queen Violet whispered as she looked into the pale face of their stillborn child.

"I know, love, but she's gone."

"She never got to see me. See us."

Hal said nothing. He knew there was nothing he could do to comfort his wife. He hated seeing her despair. He was the king; there had to be something that he could do. He had ushered the maidservants from his wife's bedside to allow her to grieve, but there was very little else he was able to do for her. This was the third baby they had lost; it wasn't looking as though his wife would ever bear a living child.

"How are we going to tell the kingdom?" Leave it to Violet, his thoughtful, loving wife to worry about the feelings of the people at a time like this. She knew how excited everyone was to greet the new prince or princess, and she had been even more excited and proud to be able to present the child to them. And now that child was gone, and Violet's arms were empty. What should have been the happiest day of their lives was now filled with mourning for their little daughter.

The kingdom had been waiting for this day since it had been announced that the queen was with child. He and his wife needed an heir for their kingdom of Trael, male or female, but once again, fate was playing against them.

"Don't you worry about that, love. Right now you need to rest."

"I'm not ready to give her up yet," Violet said, clutching their daughter tighter to her chest. Her tears dripped down her cheeks, dropping off to make tiny spots on the blanket that their baby was swaddled in.

"I know, I know. You hold on to her as long as you'd like," Hal smoothed Violet's hair back and kissed her forehead, swallowing the lump in his throat as quietly as he could. He glanced down at the pale face of the baby and nearly lost it. That was a face that was supposed to pink and scrunched up, wailing at the unfairness of life. Instead, his wife was clutching the pale, lifeless shell of what could have been. Hal couldn't take it anymore. "I'll be back soon, darling, but I need some air."

"Hal, don't be gone too long. I need you," Violet whimpered. He filled his gaze with as much affection as he could muster. Their marriage was unlike most arranged ones, as it was filled with love. Violet was his better half and he would do anything for her. Just as he was about to.

"I won't be gone long at all, Vi. I'll be back before you know it." He pecked her lips and swept out of the room. "You rest, okay? I love you."

He was gone for two weeks.

But, in those two weeks, he accomplished quite a bit. It started with his visit to a neighboring kingdom. His relations with King Draco were tense, but Draco owed him. Hal had gone on that journey with only a handful of his most trusted knights. They needed to move quickly and efficiently to be back before anything drastic was done in the wake of his daughter's death.

Hal and his men were ushered into the large, dreary throne room in Draco's castle. The throne room was nothing like his own, which was full of light and windows with a welcoming atmosphere. No, Draco's gave the impression that he wanted his guests out of there as quickly as humanly possible. Dark drapes closed part way over the windows, allowing only minimal light in, and the dark stone made everyone in the room feel as though they were trapped there. Naturally, that made people anxious to leave and therefore out of Draco's hair.

"Draco, old friend," Hal greeted him politely, quite aware of the fact that his fellow king held all the power in their situation.

"I'd hardly call you that, Harold. It isn't like you to visit without notice. What have you come for?"

So, they were wasting no time on niceties then? All the better for Hal, who was in a bit of a hurry. "I need to cash in that favor."

"Good lord. You get saved by a man once and he thinks he can show up whenever he damn well pleases and 'cash in that favor'? I don't have time for this!" Draco slammed the end of his scepter into the ground. The dark green dragon scales that adorned it and his green cape swinging behind him menacingly gave off a very intimidating and quite unnerving air. Hal showed no hesitation as he stared into the cold, black eyes, looking for any sign that Draco planned to kill them. It wouldn't go over well for Draco to kill his neighboring king, but Hal wouldn't put it past the unstable ruler. He was encouraged by what he saw and continued.

"My wife has birthed yet another dead child. I need an heir, and it isn't likely that I'm going to get one the old fashioned way."

Draco paused for a second and then burst into laughter. It was a strange barking laugh that sounded completely unnatural coming out of the thin mouth of the normally sulky king. "What do you think I'm going to be able to do for you, Harold? Impregnate your wife?"

Hal bit his tongue to keep back the response that was about to jump from it. He took a deep breath and said his next words with as much confidence as man who has failed is able. "No, Draco, I need you to give me a baby. An orphan that I can pass off as my own."

That truly stopped Draco in his tracks. He cocked his head slightly, as though he was looking as Hal in a whole new light. "You would lie to your people so that you could have an heir?"

"It would be better for them than to have my idiot brother take the throne because I had no children to take over."

Draco pondered this, tapping his pointed chin with long pale fingers. Hal glanced around to see who was around to witness this interaction between kings and was surprised to see only two guards, both of which looked too terrified to care about what they were saying. Hal knew his knights were loyal to him and would keep his secret, and the same went for his wife's ladies. The only threat to his plan would be the way Violet took it. It was possible that she would consider taking in another baby as a betrayal to their daughter, to the royal bloodline, but he needed Violet to be happy and this was the only way he could think of through his grief filled mind.

"Alright, Harold, I'll help you. But only because then you and I will be even. I hate owing people anything, especially someone with power such as yourself. Come with me."

Hal stepped forward, as did his men, but Draco held up his hand. "The king only, gentleman. I won't help him if he doesn't accompany me alone."

The knights glanced from king to king, but Hal gave them a look to stand down. They did, but reluctantly. "It's alright," Hal assured them. He followed the dark king as Draco left the the throne room. His castle was similar to his throne room; dark and unwelcoming. Hal guessed that Draco used his personality as a guide when decorating. Hal and Draco had known one another since they were children. Their fathers had been allies and good friends, but the sons had never been able to see eye to eye. They often argued over small things or threatened to beat one another to a pulp. Their adult lives weren't much different. Hal had saved Draco's life once during a battle against the dragons that had been threatening the two kingdoms for decades. Their fathers had decided to handle what they referred to as "the pest problem" once and for all; they were going to attack the nest. The princes had tagged along. Draco was engaging a rather large, nasty beast and would have been eaten had Hal not stabbed the creature in the heart before it had the chance. Hal had been waiting ten years for the perfect moment to cash in his favor and this seemed appropriate: a life for a life.

"Where are we going?" he wondered as they traveled deeper and deeper into the fortress.

"Someplace hidden. One of my soldiers decided to play the hero and I've been looking for a way out of the problem. You are the perfect solution, Harold."

He suddenly stopped in front of a stone wall and Hal shot passed him, not expecting the sudden change in speed. He spun around and caught back up to the other king as Draco pushed a stone into the wall. As the stone was pushed in, a part of the wall popped out.

"Fancy," Hal admired the secret passage.

"I'm sure there are secrets like this at your castle. You were just too much of a goodytwoshoes to find them," Draco scoffed and walked into the hidden room. Hal rolled his eyes and followed him into the surprisingly cozy space. It was filled with the soft glowing light of candles and a crackling fire in the fireplace. A large bear rug took up the center of the floor and a simple bed resided in the corner. What drew Hal's attention was the cradle beside the bed. The room was devoid of life except for the two kings and whatever was squawking in the cradle.

"This is one of the servant's rooms. There's usually someone here watching over the thing. I have no ideas where she is now." Hal walked over to the cradle and peered in, not knowing what to expect. He blinked in mild surprise at what he found. With the way Draco had been talking he had been expecting a monster, not a tiny baby.

The infant girl was barely larger than the daughter Violet had been clutching to her chest, and she couldn't have been older than a few weeks. Hal reached into the cradle and lifted her up, taking care to keep her swaddled tightly in the blanket. She blinked up at him in confusion, but didn't start crying. It was peculiar, he decided, to be holding something so tiny yet so full of life. Her vibrant blue eyes studied him before they closed and she cuddled into his embrace.

"Oh, look, it likes you," Draco said mockingly. He leaned against the far wall. His black eyes raked over the child in contempt. Hal wasn't surprised; Draco had never really cared for living things.

"Where did you get her?" It wasn't important to Hal, but he recalled Draco saying a soldier had brought her to the castle. He 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 dragon lair 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, Harold, if you want her. Otherwise she's going to stay here with the maids until she's old enough to become a servant herself."

Hal glanced from Draco down to the little girl in his arms. He had known the second he picked her up that he was never going to be able to put her back down. Her chubby cheeks, wisps of red hair -- which reminded him of Violet's-- and the tiny little fingers that wrapped around his forefinger all drew him in. "Thank you, Draco."

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

<><><><><><><>

"Violet? Darling?" Hal called, clutching the squirming bundle close to his chest. They had arrived back at the castle late in the night, spooking the night guards. Hal's men were skeptical of his plan, but they trusted him. 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. Hal 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.

Hal pushed open the door to their chambers quietly, looking towards the bed. Violet was asleep, bathed in the glow of the still crackling fire. She had only just gone to sleep then. He walked up to the side of the bed and knelt next to it. He took a moment to relish in Violet's relaxed face. He was sure it was the only time she wasn't actively grieving for their lost daughter. It always took her a few weeks to even leave her bed when they lost a baby. And Hal hadn't even been there for her this time. He hoped that the infant in his arms would help his cause a bit.

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

"Hal? Is that you?" she muttered groggily. Her blue eyes blinked quickly and she smiled, before she remembered his absence. "You bastard!"

"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. Hal lit a few candles and hugged his daughter to his chest quickly. If things went his way, it wasn't likely that he would be able to hold his daughter for a few days.

He knelt beside her and placed the princess in her lap. Violet frowned and peeled back the corner of the cloth that was covering the baby's face. Violet gasped. "Oh my God. Hal, 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," Violet was mesmerized by the sleeping baby. "Oh, Hal. But what about Rosaline?" So, Violet had named their daughter. He figured that she would, it was just that she might never tell him what she had named the baby.

"No one can replace Rosaline," Hal 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," Violet breathed. "She's beautiful."

Hal took a cautious breath. "She's yours, Vi, if you want her."

Violet was silent for a moment and Hal tried to gauge her response from the look on her face. Her features were carefully blank; she was purposefully hiding her thoughts from him. Hal desperately wanted to keep the infant, but it was up to Violet. Her red tinted hair flowed down in soft waves, creating a slight barrier between the two of them. She stared intently into the face of the tiny person, who chose that moment to blink sleepily awake. Violet smiled softly, but continued to stare into the face of the baby, mesmerised by her bright blue eyes. Hal knew that they were sharing a moment, so he was careful to be quiet.

Violet let out her breath slowly. "What should we name her?"

Hal laughed and kissed his wife's hair. He climbed onto the bed beside her and hugged her close. Neither one of them cared that he 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've 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," Hal thought hard as he studied her round features. The baby girl blinked her eyes and smiled at her new mother and father. He was once again baffled by the brightness of her blue eyes. "Skylar."

"What?" Violet turned her head to give him a strange look.

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

"Skylar," Violet 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, Hal didn't care.

"I think she approves," Hal chuckled, touching one of her little hands. She locked an iron grip around his thumb and stared intently at him. Violet reached out a long finger and caressed a chubby cheek. "Thank you, Hal."

"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 Skylar of Trael."