Perhaps after she has produced at least one legitimate heir, a bastard child may not be so terribly scandalous — well, for a given value of not terribly scandalous — but it truly is just as well that Eskel cannot get her pregnant.

"I have no interest in normal men," she promises with a breathless little laugh, arching up into him. She will have to marry one eventually, most likely a younger son of a neighboring kingdom, a prince with enough money in his coffers to buy food to feed her people and repair the damage wrought to their lands. In return, she will sell him a crown and her womb. Neither of them will probably want the marriage, but want has nothing to do with duty, and Éomer will always fulfill her duty.

Eskel is something entirely outside of that. Eskel is not for Éomer the queen, but for Éomer the woman. It will be enough.