Total pages in book: 362
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Two smaller…cubs.
I jerked upright so fast my stomach cramped. I started to stand, but the connection between my brain and limbs appeared to be severed as my thoughts raced, landing on one question.
When had I menstruated last?
I started to think back, week after week, before losing the ability to count joined my inability to move. All I knew was that it had been weeks. Like a lot of weeks. Enough that more than a month had passed. Enough for the on-again-off-again nausea to make sense—
Oh, gods.
“No,” I stated, my voice hoarse but loud. “I’m freaking out for no reason.”
And I was, because what I was thinking couldn’t be possible. For the very shaky timeline to add up—for me to even feel some of the telltale signs of a…pregnancy—it would mean that I conceived weeks ago. A month. Maybe even two. Perhaps even the first time Ash and I had sex. But that didn’t make sense. A child could not be born of a Primal and a mortal—
But had I ever really been mortal?
“Oh, fuck,” I whispered.
That was a damn good question because when exactly had those embers of life truly become a part of me, changing what I was on such a fundamental level that they couldn’t be removed? The night I’d recklessly bitten Ash’s thumb and tasted that tiny drop of blood? The very same night we’d first had sex? My heart started pounding. If that one drop of blood had irrevocably changed the biology of my body, making me a little bit more Primal than mortal, could that also mean that a child could be created?
Wait.
I’d seen more than one.
I’d seen two.
Twins.
I thought of the prophecy. A first daughter… And a second daughter. But that didn’t sound like twins—
“But I saw cubs,” I said out loud. “Cute, little, fluffy cave cats. I didn’t see two toddlers frolicking in the fucking weeds. I’m not…”
My throat tightened, and my legs suddenly worked again. Shooting to my feet, I raced into the bathing chamber. Not to vomit. My stomach was settled. Mostly. I went to the mirror and yanked up the bottom of my tunic. I held the royal blue material beneath my breasts and stared at my lower abdomen. My head cocked to the side.
It looked the same. Soft. Concave at the naval and then slightly rounded. I turned sideways, seeing nothing—
“What am I doing?” I asked, a shrill giggle parting my lips. Would I even see a difference in my body at this point?
I didn’t know a whole lot about pregnancy, but I’d been around enough pregnant maids at Wayfair. The answer was no. I wouldn’t. My fingers tightened around the soft material. But could I really be far enough along that I would…what had Odetta called it when we’d happened upon the young, rosy-cheeked Emmeline, one of the chambermaids in the hall, clasping a bucket as she heaved?
“Pay her no mind,” Odetta had warbled, urging me along when I stopped. “She’s just having a bit of the morning qualms.”
I hadn’t any idea what that meant. I couldn’t have been more than ten or so at the time. Curious child that I was, I’d asked. Odetta had said that she was with child, and as sure as the sun rose each morning in Lasania, roughly seven or so months later, she had given birth.
Emmeline hadn’t looked pregnant, but she had also been of a willowy frame. However, there had been others with body types similar to mine who hadn’t appeared as if they were with child for many months. So, that meant nothing.
Which wasn’t exactly a relief because, in this situation, nothing could mean everything.
I couldn’t be pregnant. Not after everything I’d gone through in Dalos. Not after being struck with eather, and the Fates only knew how many arrows. Not after the fight with Kolis. He’d broken bones. He’d tossed me around like I was that doll Jadis played with.
Not after what I’d done.
I stared down at my stomach, remembering how nearly every part of my body had been bruised…except for my lower abdomen, almost as if that part of me had been shielded. That sounded ridiculous.
“I can’t be.” I jerked my head to my reflection.
I didn’t really see myself. I saw those cubs. I saw them as clearly as I had during stasis, except they changed in my mind now, becoming two mahogany-haired little boys with golden-bronze skin, one silver-eyed and the other…with eyes of silvery-gold—
What in the fuck?
I sucked in a shallow breath that went nowhere. Why in all the realms was I seeing little boys? It was official. I was losing my mind. Either way, I needed to know if I was…if I was pregnant, and I needed to know now. Right this fucking second. Or I would definitely go insane, and Ash would have to put me into stasis. But how could I find out? In Lasania, there were people, usually older women in Croft’s Cross, to whom many went. Even the nobility. But I wasn’t exactly sure how they could tell anyone anything. Then again, many went there for the teas that ensured there wouldn’t be a fruitful union, too. Regardless, there was no way I was going to shadowstep my ass into Lasania.