Chapter 12 #2
“You’re pregnant!” he cheered, his deep voice carrying down the hallway, and probably down to the plant nursery a quarter mile away.
Mia blushed and shushed him, looking up and down the hallway for anyone lingering nearby. “I’m not sure yet,” she whispered. “And you can’t tell Draven! Promise me! I will if it’s true, but I don’t want to get his hopes up if it’s not.”
Mesmer’s expression became instantly serious. “I would never share such a personal secret,” he said quietly. “But Draven knows I would never leave you right now and would grow suspicious if I did. Can I send someone else?”
Consort Mia gnawed on her bottom lip, thinking. “Could you send Indie? She can blink there and back quickly, right?”
Mesmer nodded, looking relieved. “Let me call her and see if she’s available.”
He stepped away from the door, and I could hear his deep voice rumble a bit, carrying part of his conversation to where I was sitting. He hung up after a few seconds. “She said she’ll pop into the local convenience store and grab a couple for you. She’ll be here in a minute.”
Consort Mia, Mesmer and I, all waited anxiously. I guessed that Mesmer’s mate could transport instantly to places? I wondered what kind of supernatural she was.
After only a few minutes, the pink haired woman popped into the hallway next to Mesmer, her pink wings fanning out behind her.
With her coloring, I was guessing she was some kind of cupid.
Either that, or she really liked the color pink.
I could tell she was excited for Mia as she handed her the bag of tests, and probably wanted to stick around, but Consort Mia shooed them away.
“Thank you, but go. You’re making me nervous. ”
“I’ll see you later,” Mesmer’s mate said before popping away again with a happy smile, while Mesmer just gave Mia an unbending expression and told her he’d be at the end of the hallway so he could still monitor her door.
Mia closed the door and weakly leaned against it.
“Are you sure you don’t have the flu? You seem pretty weak right now.”
She chuckled. “I’ve been puking all day, and I haven’t been able to keep anything down. The book did say that pregnancies between a vampire and non vampire are very difficult. If I am pregnant, I can expect to be sick the whole nine months.”
I winced. That sounded terrible. I hoped dragon/human babies were easier. I blushed when I realized where my thoughts had headed, then refocused on Mia again.
“Do you want me to leave to give you some privacy?”
She waved the offer away. “No, no, just stay there. I’ll be right back.
” She closed the bathroom door, and was out only a minute later.
I guess she didn’t mess around. From my position to the side of the bed, I could see a white stick test with a flat circle at one end resting face up on the bathroom counter. I also caught a glimpse of her shower.
“Your shower looks like it could propel itself to the moon,” I observed offhandedly.
She laughed. “Yeah, I definitely feel spoiled. When Draven and I married, I wanted to keep my room, so he moved in here with me. It has the best bathroom, after all.”
She waggled her eyebrows up and down, and I nodded sagely. Good bathrooms were important. Bad bathrooms sucked. I’d once had a bathroom so bad the whole thing was falling apart, and a bathroom so small, I could stand near the toilet and touch both the shower and the sink at the same time.
Mia looked at the clock next to her bed, then paced some more. It hadn’t quite been five minutes yet.
“Are you okay either way?” I asked her softly. It was a hard question, I knew. It was also deeply personal.
She stopped and stared down at the sand colored rug beneath her bare toes, then nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay either way.” She looked over at me with tears in her eyes. “But now that it’s a possibility...”
I understood perfectly what she meant. “You really want it.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I do.” She smiled softly. “Thanks for being here, Everly.” She laughed. “Even if my husband put you up to it.”
“I’m glad I could be here, and I’m happy to help.” I checked the clock. “It’s been five minutes.”
She drew in a big breath. “Okay, here goes.” She stepped into the bathroom, looked down at the test and swayed. I don’t know how I got to her so quickly, but I felt like I fairly flew into the bathroom to keep her from passing out on me.
“Consort Mia?” I peeked over her shoulder to see the results.
Positive.
Holy... Umm, Elandor, could you let Alaric know to let King Draven know that his wife needs him?
I kid you not, he was there within fifteen seconds. The door flew open and crashed against the opposite wall.
“Mia? Mia, love, where are you?”
“We’re in here!” I called, as Mia was still swaying and mute.
He was beside us in an instant, focused on his wife’s pale face at first, until he followed her line of sight and spotted the test on the counter, then the single word across the top.
“Mia?” His voice trembled as he gently swept her into his arms. Once I knew her husband would catch her if she fainted, I hustled to grab Alaric who had followed King Draven to the bedroom, and dragged him from the room, shutting the door firmly behind me.
They should have privacy for that moment and conversation.
I was starving again, so I started heading in the direction of the kitchen on the bottom floor. I would probably change back into a raven soon, and I wanted some pie a la mode. There had been a cherry pie option earlier, but I’d opted for the brownie. Now I was craving the pie.
“That’s good news,” Alaric said, his voice quietly reverent.
“Yeah, but it’s also big news, you know? Life changing. They deserved some privacy.”
“Do you want children?”
I didn’t even have to think about that. Sure, I’d never imagined having them, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want any. “Yes. I don’t think more than two, though.”
He smiled gently at me, lacing his fingers with mine. “Two I can manage,” he said with a business-like nod. Like I’d just assigned him a mission and it was his intent to fully carry it out.
I shook my head at him, pushing the door to the kitchen open. Even at this late hour, the kitchen was fairly busy. A woman in pristine chef whites came to the door to take our order, then asked us to sit in the dining area so she could bring it out to us.
Alaric chuckled at my order, and I grinned sheepishly as I sat down. “I really wanted pie a la mode.”
When our pie and ice cream came, I savored it, trying to keep my enthusiasm to myself. The cherry filling was sweet and tangy, and the crust was crumbly and buttery. The vanilla ice cream on top was sheer perfection.
When we’d finished and brought our dishes to the kitchen door to hand to the staff, we slowly made our way back to our wing.
At my door, I turned and gave Alaric a hug. “I’ll probably be a raven again soon. Thank you for today. Thank you for massaging the aches away this afternoon, and for the great conversation this evening. And thanks for being... patient with me.”
I gazed up into his glowing green eyes. Elandor was at the forefront again. I didn’t know how it was with other shifters, but even when Elandor was at the forefront, they seemed to share their consciousness equally. Their thoughts equally. Their senses equally.
It was fascinating.
Alaric tucked a bit of my dark hair behind my ear, and gently let his hand trail down my cheek. “I’ll always be patient with you, Everly,” he said softly.
I rose up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek, nearly tempted to kiss his lips instead, then I closed the door and leaned against it. I needed it to hold my legs steady. When my legs were less like jello, I moved to get ready for bed.
I already knew I’d be dreaming about a certain dragon shifter all night.