“It’s exactly what I wanted. I just didn’t expect it to happen like this.” Silent flutters rippled through me. “I feel something stirring in me, like my magic, but different. I felt it in the Grove.”
“It’s your child’s magic.” A warm smile crept across her lips.
I couldn’t help but wonder how our child would fit into this world or what would happen when the High Court discovered the news. Would they accept our child? I wasn’t sure I wanted them to.
“Can you tell if the baby is human at all? Or is it only fae?” I held my stomach.
“It is too soon to know.” She spoke softly. “I will give Juniper some herbs for tea that may settle whatever sickness you’re experiencing. She can be discreet until you’re ready to tell your husband.”
I nodded. They may not work, either. “I plan to tell him soon. I just need a moment.”
“Take the time you need. He will be overjoyed to hear the news when you’re ready to share it.”
The whirl kept spinning inside me—tiny flutters of hope for the future—our future.
Lioran’s study door was propped open. The familiar scent greeted me. It was my favorite. He hovered over his desk, sifting through paperwork.
The firelight cast a glow that illuminated the stars in the ceiling.
“Lioran?” My voice was a hum in between the crackling fire.
He dropped everything and came straight to me. “I wanted you to take it easy. You need to rest.” His fingers intertwined with mine. “You could have sent for me.”
“I wanted to come find you myself. Are you in the middle of something?” I almost said I could wait, but I knew I couldn’t.
His eyes softened. “I would stop the entire world for a moment with you.” He leaned in and kissed me.
I held him for a moment, afraid to break the calm between us. “The stars gave us everything we wanted.”
His head tilted, taking me in, but his muscles clenched. “They certainly have. You are still here with me.”
“It’s not just me.” I grabbed his hand and slid it over my stomach. “You’re going to be a father.”
His eyes widened. “You’re sure?”
“Yes, Rowena confirmed it.”
His free hand cupped his mouth as if he was holding the rest back. “When did she confirm it?”
“Moments ago.” My voice cracked. I watched a single tear trail down his cheek. “You don’t look happy.”
“I thought…” His shoulder rounded forward. “We lost the baby.”
“Lost it? You knew?”
He nodded. “The night after we bonded, I sensed you stronger than before. Then I felt something new—different from your magic, different from you. It was pulsing inside of you. I felt the life we created.”
I hadn’t even known, hadn’t even recognized it, but Lioran had. Sorrow settled on his face.
“I deserved to know.”
“I was grateful you didn’t. You had sealed your fate withthe bargain. It took everything for me not to tell you. But I couldn’t let you worry about what we’d lose.”
“You never told me…even when I survived,” I said.
“I thought I lost you—and then you awoke completely new. When I tried to feel for the baby, I felt nothing.”
“It’s why you went to the tree without me. You planned to sacrifice yourself for us?” I braced myself against him.
