"Such a shame ... it seems as if we will have to travel someplace cooler quite soon. Just to make sure that my heir is born without any complications." He murmured, "The same complications that must have plagued my own mother."

He looks up at her then, before he sit himself up. He leans down, gritting his teeth at the stretch to his hip, but it is worth it to take those lovely hands in his own. "I have many goals in my life, my lady wife. One of them is to be the opposite of my father in as many ways as I can. Sadly we share the same tactical mind -- but we do not share the same heart."

He looks down at her hands, one corner of his mouth twisting, "Beyond that ... any woman who would bear me a child would do me an honor I never thought possible. Those children would be ... beloved, precious, to me."