"Better?" Layla asked. "Can you eat?"
She was still too befogged from sleep to think. "I don't know."
"You should try. It's afternoon. You've slept half the day away."
She was hungry, she realized with amazement. All trace of illness had vanished and she felt wonderfully well. It was as if that sickness of the morning had never been.
Morning sickness.
Mother of God.
"You're ill again," Layla sighed. "Do you need the basin?"
"No," she whispered. "I feel fine."
"You've turned pale." She frowned. "Talk to me or, by God, I swear I'll bathe your face again."
"I'm with child."
"What?"
Selene felt as stunned as Layla looked. "My flux is very late, and this sickness is like the one my sister went through during her early months."
"You're sure?"
She was sure. How strange and wonderful that she was this certain Kadar's child was growing within her. "I didn't want to believe it. I refused to think about it."
"You don't want this child?"
"Of course I want it." The answer came with an instant fierceness that surprised her.
Layla held up her hand. "Don't attack me. It's a reasonable question. You said you didn't want to believe it, and neither you nor your bastard would have an easy time of it in this world."
"I know that." But she didn't want to be reasonable. She was feeling soft and mellow as warm honey. She had never dreamed it would be like this. Where had all the fear and panic gone? A child was inconvenient, even a danger. None of that seemed to matter. "Do you think that I'd let my child be called a bastard?"
"How will you prevent it?"
"I'll wed Kadar." She sat up and swung her feet to the floor. "It's not as if he would not wed me to protect our child."
"And then?"
"I'll return to Montdhu as I intended." She went to the basin and rinsed out her mouth. Sweet Mary, it tasted foul. "Call Mario.
I need a bath and a meal before we start out."
"And where are we going?"
"To Rome. You're going to take me to Tarik's house."
"Am I?"
"Or I'll go looking for it myself." Selene looked at Layla over her shoulder. "I'll certainly not stay here, and I don't believe you'll let me go alone, if you think Tarik sent me to you."
"Very wise. I would not." She frowned. "Though things are not going as I would have hoped. I never counted on the child."
"Neither did I." But it was here, and the knowledge gave her a buoyant feeling she had never experienced before. The exuberance might not last, fear and depression might soon intrude, but now she would ride the crest. "We must make the best of it."
Layla smiled faintly as her gaze rested on Selene's radiant face. "Yes, we can try to do that." She turned away. "Very well, but we'll take Haroun and Antonio."
