“No more of this foolishness, Peyton. You haven’t been feeling well for days.”
She tried to squirm out of his arms as he swept her into the corridor. “I am fine, Alec. Put me down!”
He ignored her, instead, taking her to their chamber. Once inside, he set her carefully on her feet. “Get into bed. I am going to send Ali for the physic this instant.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him, planting her bottom on the edge of the bed. She was fully preparing to stubbornly refute his assessment of the situation, but instead, she shrugged faintly. “I am not sick.”
He rested his hands on his hips. “I beg to differ, madam. I have ignored your symptoms until this day, but I will not disregard them any longer. You will see a physic this day.”
Peyton opened her mouth to argue. Suddenly, their bower door opened with a groan and Jubil stood in the archway, appearing somewhat stronger since her bout with the monkshade, but pale nonetheless. Alec frowned at the woman.
“Jubil, you will not enter our chamber without knocking.”
Jubil stepped into the room. “I heard voices and knew that you and Peyton were not compromised. You do not usually talk through your lovemaking,” she looked to her niece. “The child is announcing himself, is he not? You are ashen, sweetheart.”
Peyton’s eyes widened and Alec suddenly looked as if he’d been struck. The color drained from his cheeks and he looked to his wife, remembering Jubil’s strange words not two weeks earlier.Your seed has taken root.Nearly choking on his tongue, he began to weave and his wife reached out a hand to guide him to the bed.
“Sit down, Alec, before you fall,” she said, eyeing him anxiously. “Are you well, darling?”
He could only stare at her. “Me? Christ, Peyton, is Jubil speaking the truth?”
Guiltily, she eyed her aunt. “I…. I believe so. My menses are overdue.”
“Two and a half weeks overdue!” Jubil announced. “I told you when we arrived at St. Cloven that your seed had found its mark, my lord. Did you not believe me?”
Alec was pallid, his sky-blue eyes like saucers. “I must confess, I did not. But…. Christ, Peyton, is this why you have not been feeling well?”
She sighed heavily, leaning against his arm as if her strength had suddenly fled. She should have been thrilled, but she was frankly too weary to muster the energy. “Aye. There’s simply no other explanation.”
Alec touched her head reverently, still reeling with the news. He was torn between berating her for failing to tell him the moment she suspected and complete, utter elation. The elation won over.
“A son?” he put his hands on her face, forcing her to look at him. “I am to have a son?”
She smiled wanly at his excitement. “Come late spring or early summer.”
He couldn’t speak. Lacking the words to express his surprise and joy, he clutched her against him with such powerful tenderness that Peyton’s throat constricted with sobs. As tired and miserable as she was feeling in recent days, they were always close to the surface.
But Alec’s unspoken demonstration of joy undid her. As she sobbed softly in his arms, Jubil continued to stand beside the bed and observe the touching scene.
“She carries the next Summerlin heir,” she said softly. “Her safety is more important now than ever.”
Alec glanced at the aged aunt. “What do you mean? She is in no danger.”
Jubil looked particularly pale and drawn, and she pulled her shawl about her tightly. “There is a storm approaching. I can smell it.”
She had spoken the same words a few days earlier when she had come forth from her trance. His expression was impassive. “So you have said, but you have failed to clarify yourself. Be more specific and I shall consider your advice.”
Jubil seemed to falter a moment. She averted her gaze, moving to sit beside her weeping niece. Alec’s eyes watched the woman intently. When she finally spoke, it was in a strangely quiet voice.
“I can smell a betrayal, murmurs of treachery upon the fall winds. An enemy where you least expect it.”
“Who would do this? And, more importantly, why?”
“Why does one man betray another? For money, lands, revenge. All of these things are powerful motivators,” Jubil touched Peyton’s back comfortingly as her niece quieted. “All I can tell you is that this betrayal, this danger, will threaten your soul far more than your brother’s death did. You must be alert, or you could lose your wife as well as your unborn son.”
Alec unconsciously tensed as Peyton’s weeping ceased. “Warrington?”
Jubil shook her head faintly. “I wish I knew. I can only tell you what I taste, or hear, or what the shades of the winds tell me. I cannot foretell the future as an exacting art, Alec. I can only warn you of what approaches.”
