Now, I just had to figure out what came next. The one thing I wouldn't do was complain. My child was healthy, they'd said. He was doing well, so I hadn't upset God. I hadn't caused punishment to fall on either of us. I had done my duty as both a wife and a woman, and now it was my turn.
I simply didn't know what it was my turn for. The one thing I was hoping was that Ayla would help me figure it out. She would let me stay - she had to. She'd made it clear she would always be on my side, so all I had to do was make it to her place.
But when I turned the corner for the stairwell, the door opened in my hands. I yelped, jerking back, and pain consumed me. A hand grabbed my arm. Another braced my shoulders while I struggled to pant through the agony my quick movement had caused.
"Meri?" The voice belonged to Drozel.
I lifted tear-filled eyes to find him stabilizing me. "I moved too fast," I mumbled.
He nodded slowly. "Why are you out of bed?"
My lower lip jutted out like it had a mind of its own and my throat tensed up. My already damp eyes filled even more until the first tear spilled down my cheek. I didn't mean to cry, but I also couldn't stop it.
"I don't want to live with the baby," I managed to squeak out. "I'm going to be okay, and I don't want to take a bed someone needs, and I can't live with Jeera and Brielle, so I need to ask Ayla for help, and it's so far there, but I - "
The behemoth of a man scooped me into his arms and cradled me against his chest. "Shh," he breathed, shifting my skirt over his hand somehow. "Let's get you back into your room, okay?"
"But I did it, and I'm done here, and..." My voice picked that moment to break completely. All I could do was shake my head.
"Okay," he said, curling me closer to him. "So you don't want to stay here?"
Again, I shook my head.
That was all he needed. Drozel used his tail to yank open the door, then headed into the stairwell and down. He carried me like I weighed nothing at all, but every step jarred my still-healing belly. It was enough to make me cling to his neck.
"Okay," he said gently. "I got you, Meri. You took care of my tail, so I'm going to pay you back for that, and it sounds like this is my chance, right?"
"I don't know what you mean," I blubbered.
He chuckled softly, but not in a cruel way. "It means you deserve to be pampered, little sparrow. It means you have pregnancy hormones on overdrive, and you should be resting. It means, Meri, that if you won't stay here, and you don't want to stay with Jeera, then I know a very good place for you."
"Lessa doesn't have room," I reminded him.
"No, but Omden and I do."
He tilted his head, pressing his cheek against my hair as he opened the door that let us out of the hospital. And there, under the wild evening sky, he set off at a pace I wouldn't have been able to match even if I'd been whole.
Overhead, the clouds were the brightest pink I'd ever seen, edged in a color that was both orange and gold. Behind that, three stars were visible, but no more. Over Drozel's shoulder, the sky was some color that was part lilac and part the darkest blue I could imagine.
"Drozel?" I asked, wiping at my face in an attempt to regain my composure.
"Hm?" he asked.
"I don't know what to do now."
"You," he told me, "are going to be a proper guest, Meri. You're going to bemyguest, and that means I'll be offended if you refuse. I'm going to give you a room where you can sleep, and recover, and heal all the way up, and to pull your fair share of this..." He looked at me and smiled. "You can tell Omden and me how to keep a proper house, okay?"
"But I don't want to tell you what to do!"
He simply chuckled again. "Too bad. Meri, Lessa says I'm horrible at housekeeping, so this means we need your help. I figure it's a fair trade, right? You help me, I help you, and then you don't need to live with Jeera anymore."
"I like Jeera."
He paused. "Do you want me to take you there?"
"I gave her the baby."
His arms tightened around my back, almost like the softest, gentlest hug I could imagine. "Then I'm taking you to my place."
