“I know you can,” I murmured, doing my best to keep my steps from bouncing her. “I can get you back to bed much faster. And besides, I owe you for being an asshole.”
“You’re always an asshole,” she murmured with a sickly smile.
“All the more reason you should give me a chance to make it up to you,” I muttered.
She laughed, but it turned into a cough and she still looked pale. When she rested her head against my shoulder I was thrilled—then fearful.
Was somethingmorewrong than just the pregnancy?
Frowning, I picked up my pace, keeping my strides as even as possible so she wouldn’t be jarred. The moment we made it out of the cave, I leaped into flight, not even stopping to strap her to me.
She protested again, but then just clung to my neck more tightly and buried her face under my jaw—which made me resolve to fly with her this way far more often.
It would usually be a twenty-minute flight to the balcony of my chambers, but I pushed hard enough that I was panting by the time I landed, fifteen minutes later
Diadre took a deep breath when I straightened on the balcony, and I felt a lot of the tension leave her.
Despite the weeks of travel and the funwe’d had in the air, making love during flight before we arrived in Ebonreach, my mate still found flying unnerving. When all this shit was over, and we actually had some time to ourselves, I’d have to give her more opportunities to enjoy herself with me in the air. I likednothingmore than to fly with her. But despite the heat that raised in my blood at the thought, that was a problem for another day.
I didn’t know how Caelan did it, but she always managed to know when I left the chambers. She was dozing on a cot in the corner of the sitting room when we strode in, and leaped up, her eyes wide when she saw me carrying Diadre.
“Is she hurt?”
“No, but the babe has made her sick. Run a bath while I get her undressed. Then as soon as that’s done, call for the midwife or whoever you’d recommend—”
“Teen,” Diadre whispered against my neck. I went still, but Caelan nodded.
“I know who she means. I’ll go get her myself.”
“Thank you. Now quickly with the bath please.”
Caelan dropped her chin once, then hurried into the bathing room. Something about that niggled, but I didn’t have time to analyze it. Instead, I hurried Diadre into our bedroom and set her in a chair, warning her not to move, as I rushed back out to the bathing room to get a wet cloth—only to have one fly through the air and slap me in the chest when I reached the doorway, because Caelan had already prepared one.
“Wipe her face, and give her a leaf to chew—it will help if she can’t taste it.”
I caught the damp cloth dumbly, and turned on my heel, picking a mint leaf from the plant under the window, before hurrying back to our room.
“Chew on this. It will help,” I said quietly, thumbing Diadre’s chin so she’d open her mouth, and placing the leaf on her tongue.
She chewed experimentally once, twice, then nodded and kept chewing while I tied up her hair with one of my leather ties, then wiped her face clean, and down her neck.
“Lean forward,” I murmured, placing a hand between her shoulders to press her forward. She did as I instructed.
As I unbuttoned her, I heard her sigh of relief and realized that the bodice she wore—a slave’s garment designed todisplay her assets—was uncomfortable on her.
“Did that hurt to wear?” I asked, surprised.
I knew she was going to be fine when she raised her head and sent me a scathing look over her shoulder. “Fucking men—you even have to ask?”
I frowned as I peeled the boned bodice off her. I’d need to find something else for her to wear, so that she was more comfortable.
Now, as she sat on the chair, naked, and let her head slump back, she closed her eyes. “I’m fine now. Thank you. I’ll just rest for a second then—”
“We’re getting you clean, then putting you to bed.”
“I feel much better now that my stomach is empty. I’m just tired.”
“Well, you’ll be tired andcleanin a moment. Then you’ll stay in bed in the morning, even when I leave. I can be contrary and refuse to bring my slave to lunch. You are, after all, such a chatterbox. Sometimes it’s just easier to leave you at home.”
