The Grand Duchess stopped.
Her gaze hardened for an instant, then slowly shifted into something deeper older, more fragile. Something she rarely allowed to be seen.
"What do you mean by that question?" she asked softly.
Jay took a breath, as though the words to come might wound someone perhaps his mother, perhaps himself.
"Grandmother… or you," he said, "you both only had one child."
He looked at her, confusion rather than accusation in his eyes.
"That feels… strange."
The Grand Duchess was silent for a long time. It was not an empty silence, but one heavy with memories she had never spoken aloud.
"Zelthar births are rare," she said at last." And to be honest… deeply painful."
She turned her face away briefly, as if gathering the courage to continue.
"I experienced it myself."
Jay froze.
"After giving birth to you," she went on, her voice quieter now, "my womb was damaged."
She looked back at him this time without grandeur, without distance.
