Expand the family

"John," she said once again, this time her gaze departed to stare at the sky full of stars for some instant as if the stars would help her to find the courage to say what she was going to say. She counted the stars mentally while she counted the seconds before finally giving voice to her preoccupations.

Roselyn cleared her voice before speaking. "I was thinking... it would be a good idea to give the realm a successor and consider the option to have children sooner or later." She forced a smile. 

John's eyes widened and he remained speechless for few minutes before his mind oriented in some plausible answer that would either drive her hopes up or disappoint her hurting her feelings. It was like he did know what to answer. Every answer he tried to come up with seemed too severe for Roselyn to manage to even be taken into consideration.