Battle Royale

The door to the royal bedchamber creaked slowly open in the late morning, revealing a beautiful yet exhausted woman adorned in the most comfortable attire she could find. Jasmine groaned while she closed the door behind her gently, not wanting anyone to notice her.

"Good morning Jasmine, have you just woken?" Queen Mother Sharn greeted from down the hallway.

So much for no one noticing her. Jasmine tried her best to smile and greet the mother of King Lief, but she knew that Sharn's sharp eyes would see through her act.

"No, I woke up quite a while ago, but I have been spending the majority of my morning sick in the garderobe. I had recently returned to my bedchamber to clean myself and change," Jasmine responded, knowing that lying to Sharn was futile.

Sharn immediately went to Jasmine and placed her hand on the younger woman's back, delicately trying to soothe her discomfort.

"Oh, poor dear," Sharn mumbled. "When I was with child, my sicknesses came during the evenings especially. It is such a horrible thing to endure."

It was already made apparent that Jasmine was pregnant due to the mass in her belly that was starting to bulge. Everyone in the whole kingdom of Deltora had rejoiced at the news of a new heir being born into the royal family, and Jasmine had been told many times by several people that the pain was worth it, but at this moment she was anything but grateful.

The two ladies walked beside each other to the palace kitchen, preferring it over the great dining hall.

"Jasmine, are you mad at Lief?" Sharn asked after a brief silence.

Jasmine was amazed at her impeccable perception.

"No, I am not!" she snapped. "Why would I be? He is only the most infuriating man on the face of the planet."

"Yes, my son can be like that sometimes," Sharn said with a knowing smile. "Honestly, Jasmine, you have been wearing the most terrifying of glares that even Doom could not match. What is the matter?"

Jasmine sighed and replied, "It is nothing."

Sharn said no more, knowing that Jasmine was as stubborn as her own son.

Not long after, they reached the palace kitchen.

"I hear from the chef that we have fresh walnuts in this morning. Would you like some, Jasmine?" Sharn asked kindly.

The black-haired woman gratefully accepted the offer, as she was incredibly famished. She in fact would not have minded at all if Sharn had not simply offered a few nuts, but a whole meal. Jasmine bit her tongue, though, and kept these thoughts to herself as she knew that everyone was very busy. She would simply wait for the midday meal to satisfy herself. Jasmine sat down as the queen mother left a bowl of walnuts, still in their shells, in front of her. She then said something about attending to some matters in the palace, and left shortly afterwards.

The cooks and servants running about in the palace kitchen had grown accustomed to seeing Jasmine and even other important figures lounging about there. It seemed that none of them preferred the company of royal dignitaries, officials, liaisons and ambassadors as much as their close friends.

King Lief strode into the kitchen with the suffering air of a strained leader, happily proving that very point.

"Oh, so His Royal Majesty finally decides to grace me with his presence," Jasmine bit out with a walnut in her hands.

"Oh, Jasmine!" Lief cried out with a big grin on his face. "I am so glad that you are here! Those ambassadors from the country to our south border are still here after eleven days! They are incredibly persistent and I cannot believe that they would not understand that I will not...is something the matter?" he asked at last in the middle of his rant, finally noticing the vicious glower he was receiving from Jasmine.

"No, nothing is wrong at all. But should you not be speaking of these matters to someone of more importance than I? I cannot do anything to solve your politics," Jasmine responded with her chin held high in scorn.

"But...Jasmine, I just wished to talk to you, that is all," Lief said with a softer voice, not unlike a child who had just committed a wrong.

"Talk to me?" Jasmine asked incredulously. "Talk to me? You have not spoken a word to me in two days! We sleep in the same bedchamber, but I barely see you!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. Jasmine clenched her fists tightly around the walnut she still held in her hands and cried out in anger.

And it was in that single moment that Her Royal Majesty Queen Jasmine of the kingdom of Deltora threw a walnut with the force of twenty palace guards, and hit the king squarely in the face.

"OW!" Lief howled in pain, clutching the side of his mouth with both hands. "That hurt!"

"Oh, you think that hurt?" Jasmine replied with a mocking laugh. "What hurts is to wake up every morning having to run to the garderobe feeling so nauseous that I stay there for at least two hours! And it is all your fault!"

Again, she threw another walnut, but this time Lief drew back and turned around in time so that the hard shelled nut hit him in the arm.

"I am sorry!" Lief exclaimed desperately, shielding his face with his hands. "I did not mean to-"

"Oh you meant it! How could you not mean to put me in such a state, you man?"

And again, she hit him with another walnut, and again, she managed to hit Lief directly.

"Well you certainly did nothing to protes-OW!"

Whether Jasmine's cheeks flushed red with anger or embarrassment, Lief did not know. He only knew that he did not dare throw anything back and retaliate. The wrath of his queen was unlike any other Deltora had faced.

Jasmine threw another walnut. Lief ducked just in time. Doom stepped in from the hallway.

"What is going-" he began, and stopped in mid-sentence when something hard hit him in the chest.

"Doom!" Lief exclaimed, his eyes widening.

"Oh, it is just you, Doom," Jasmine said with a bored tone. She reached into the bowl for another walnut and was about to shout something more, but the bowl was empty for she had thrown them all at Lief. "If I did not love you so much I would throw this porcelain bowl at that thick skull of yours!"

And with that said, Jasmine simply walked off, leaving behind a dumbfounded king and an exceedingly confused Doom.

Sometime later, Lief found himself walking beside his father-in-law towards the great hall, where a meeting was to be held with yet another dignitary from a foreign country, this time from across the ocean on their west. Doom had agreed to go with him, even though such matters were of no concern to the father of the queen.

"What happened?"

"Jasmine is mad at me."

"I had never guessed," Doom said dryly.

"What am I to do?"

"Apoligize."

"But I do not know what I am apologizing for," Lief responded, used to Doom's short and blunt answers.

"Oh, my!" Marilen exclaimed from the entrance of the library, which was on the way to the great hall. "What happened to your face, Lief?" she asked, not needing to use any titles with him for she was a close relative and friend.

Doom smirked.

"The queen decided to throw a walnut at his majesty."

"Oh be quiet."

"I...see," Marilen replied, and walked back into the library, knowing that when it came to the king and queen of their kingdom, not knowing was the wisest course of action. She then thought to herself that life in the palace was indeed very interesting with Jasmine as queen, and smiled.

"Perhaps it is because you have been neglecting her as of late," Doom finally said, feeling slightly sorry for the young king. They continued their long stroll across the palace.

"She did say something about not having spoken to me for two days...," Lief admitted. They were nearing the great hall. He then grinned. "At least she said she loves me."

Doom sighed exasperatedly and rolled his eyes.

The next morning, Jasmine awoke to the sun's bright, shining rays, glowing in the distance. She could feel a familiar sickness in her stomach, but it would not be very extreme for about another hour. Perhaps she could still sleep some more, for it was still during the early hours right after dawn.

From the corner of her eye, she caught the sight of a white, velvety petal. She turned her head. It was a jasmine flower propped up by a glass vase. No doubt an attempt by Lief to apologize. Jasmine frowned and rolled over in their large bed, knowing that she had it all for herself.

She was wrong.

Her body ran into another, and she knew without even seeing clearly that it was Lief. He groaned sleepily and brought a hand to rub his eyes. Slowly, he awoke, and at the sight of Jasmine he smiled.

"Good morning."

"What are you doing here? Are you not late for an important meeting?" Jasmine asked.

"I cancelled my meetings for today," Lief responded nonchalantly.

"But...why?"

"To spend my time with you, of course."

"...Why?"

"Jasmine, you are my wife, my queen. And you are with child; our child. How can I not spend time with my love?" Lief said, placing his hand gently on Jasmine's cheek. "I am sorry for ignoring you in these past days. I have realized that my kingly duties are not near as important as my devotion to you, and I promise never to shirk it again."

"You are forgiven, beloved," Jasmine replied sweetly, "and I am sorry for yelling at you."

There was a pause.

"What about the walnuts?"

"What about them?" Jasmine asked curiously.

"Oh...nothing, it is just...you throw quite hard."

"I know."

There was another pause.

"You are seriously more sorry for yelling at me than for throwing those accursed nuts at my face?"

"Yes."

The look on Lief's face was priceless.

Jasmine could no longer keep her face plain, and she burst out into a fit of laughter. Lief had not heard such a beautiful sound in a long while, it seemed, and in this moment his mouth turned into a great smile, which in turn turned into his own laughter joining Jasmine's.

"Lief...," Jasmine started after her mirth had died down. Lief's smiling face did not falter in the least, but his laughter stopped so he could hear his wife's words. "In a few months time, we will be mother and father."

Lief looked at Jasmine with all the love he could muster, and placed his hand on the back of her head and stroked her hair fondly. He closed his eyes and softly pressed his lips to Jasmine's. She returned his affection with her own, and in the days to come, many would comment on their queen's joyous disposition.

"Yes, we will."

1. Queen Mother is the title given to a widowed Queen Consort, whose eldest son or daughter is the reigning monarch.

2. Garderobe is essentially a medieval castle's washroom.

I based the palace and the titles very loosely on medieval monarchies, which is how I saw the palace in Del to be. I wanted Jasmine's fiery temper to be a bit more apparent in this one shot, as I've noticed that this aspect of her has been downplayed greatly when it comes to moments between her and Lief. I added both romance and humor into this, so I hope you all enjoyed it!

Please send some love and review. Thank you for taking the time to read.