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All it earns me is a glare.
“Youaremy wife, and were you not on bedrest, I would show you just what that means.”
My cheeks flush and I squirm, wishing he could show me just what he means. “I guess you’ll have to give me a lesson tomorrow.”
He grimaces more than he grins. “Tomorrow.”
CHAPTER9
Cat and Zara come to me immediately after their return from the mortal realm. They settle in different parts of my room, Zara on the chaise overlooking the ocean and Cat on the bed beside me. Essos makes his excuses to give us some privacy.
I close the tome on my lap a little harder than I intend, wincing as the sound echoes in the room.
“My family is just peachy. They’re being tormented by the zombie apocalypse you failed to stop, but thanks for asking.” Zara follows her statement up with a glare before looking back out the window.
“I want to hear it all. I want to know what’s happening.”
“I talked to my family,” Cat says, and I jackknife up in bed.
“How didthatgo?” I ask.
“About as well as you’d expect. A lot of shock, a lot of tears. Xavier was surprisingly good with helping me explain it to them, but I don’t think anything could have prepared them for me saying I’m a goddess.”
“I’m glad I didn’t talk to mine,” Zara says softly. She gets off the chair and crosses to cuddle in bed with Cat and me. “It would have been too hard to leave them again. They seemed like they were moving on, and I don’t want to disrupt that. Well, moving on outside the all the drama of the end of the world.”
Helene saunters into the room, looking filthy and worse for wear.
“Where the hell was my invitation?” she demands, jumping onto the bed. I wince, not at the expectation of the impact, but at just how filthy she is. However, before she lands, she’s sparkly clean, the scent of sunscreen and a fresh ocean breeze wafting off her white workout clothes.
“We just got back ourselves and came to see why Daphne was lounging about in bed.” Cat directs this comment at me, waiting for an answer, but Helene beats her to it.
“She’s on bedrest for the next week. Apparently, the little one can’t handle all the transportation, and she had some light bleeding.”
“What?” I demand, the walls of the room shaking. My three friends look around nervously.
“You…didn’tknow?” Helene asks, her mouth staying open. There is a furious flash in her eyes.
Luckily, I don’t have to wait too long, because my helicopter husband steps into the room, looking for any threat that might have caused the walls to shake. “What happened?”
“You.” I can’t hide the hurt from my voice. “I was bleeding?”
Essos closes his beautiful blue eyes. “Can I have a moment alone with my wife?”
All three heads turn toward me, looking for confirmation that I’m okay with this. I give a small nod.
“You have one minute to explain yourself,” I tell him once they’ve left the room.
“I didn’t notice it until after I placed you on the bed and saw the blood on my arm, and I panicked. The healer told me that everything was fine, but bedrest and transporting should be severely limited over large distances, like to the mortal realm and back. You should be fine around the house.Shouldbeing the operative word.”
“Why didn’t you tellmethat? Enough with the secrets, Essos. You had an excuse to hide things from me during the Calling. During the Trials, it made sense that I didn’t have the full picture. But I think you’ve gotten so used to bearing the burden alone that you’ve forgotten that you need to share everything with me.Haveto share. It’s not optional. I am your partner. I am your wife.”
“You are my queen.”
“Then fucking act like it.” Essos flinches back at my angry tone and I’m immediately repentant. “I’m sorry. I’msorry. I’m just sofrustratedwith you right now. I’m frustrated with our circumstances. I want to be able to enjoy my pregnancy and not be afraid for my life.”
“I want that too. I want to be able to dote on you and give you foot massages and stroll the streets of Solarem and take you to visit your parents if you want. This is not how I envisioned any of this, but this is the hand we’ve been dealt. The healer assured me that there is nothing wrong and that the baby is healthy and strong. We’re going to take a break and focus on researching the Underworld.”
I clench my teeth, hating the tears that spring to my eyes.
