Page 112 of Obsidian Throne
“What is it?” she asked hesitantly.
“Erm.” I cleared my throat. “Completely unrelated to everything you just said, how did you know when you were...with child.”
She went still. For several heartbeats, there was only the sound of our breaths.
“Well, my moon time was missing,” she began. “I had random headaches and couldn’t get through a day without napping. And then the vomiting started.”
I didn’t say anything, still trying to count backward, trying to remember if I had taken my herbs on time.
Those weeks were a blur, though, and I had no way of knowing for sure. I did, however, know that my moon time was also conspicuously absent, by at least a week, but I had none of those other symptoms.
Avani sometimes was weeks late for no reason at all, and I knew stress could play a role.
Something I’ve had an abundance of.
Still, my breaths came faster.
“Rowan,” she began. “Do you think you might be?”
“I’m not sure.” My tone was a quiet hush. “I don’t have headaches or queasiness, and I battled for hours this morning, so--”
“Row, time is not your friend today,” she said gently. “That was yesterday. You’ve been sleeping for more than a day.”
“Stars,” I muttered. “I need to go check on my men.”
I rolled out of bed with a groan, throwing on the dressing gown Taisiya had left near the bed.
“What you need is a bath.” Mila wrinkled her nose. “You’re covered in blood. Taras and--” She cut off. “Taras made sure they were taken care of. You can spare an hour to care for yourself.”
My stomach growled loudly at that exact moment.
“Fine,” I relented, heading toward the door to ask one of the guards to get Taisiya for me. “I’ll ask for breakfast and a bath first.”
“Erm…” Mila made an uncomfortable sound, and I turned slowly back toward her. “You should probably know that Evander won’t leave your hallway. It was all I could do to get him to not come in here.”
I heaved a long, slow sigh, but she moved to get out of bed instead.
“I’ll ask,” she insisted, much to my relief.
“Have I told you how much I love you lately?” I sighed.
When she stood, I got my first decent view of her protruding belly. It was perfect.
And in another life, one without war and bloodshed and husbands I couldn’t even bring myself to talk to, I would have been elated to be right there with her. We could have been like Mamá and Aunt Isla, having our babies only months apart and raising them to be close.
We could have given our children what I had with my cousins, a bond I wouldn’t trade for anything.
But this was not that world, and I hoped fervently that stress was the only thing causing…this.
Mila padded to the door, only a little less graceful than usual, and poked her head out while I hid behind my bed curtains like the adult that I was.
“Since you insist on standing out here, you may as well make yourself useful and send for a bath and breakfast.”
I nearly laughed out loud.No onetalked to Evander that way, but obviously Mila had gotten plenty comfortable with him.
Or had been plenty irritated.
“She’s awake?” Why did his voice have to be as perfect as the rest of him? Except for hisaaliopersonality and his penchant for acting like a caveman when the mood suited him. “Is she all right?”