I hadn’t noticed until he’d spoken that the muscles in my face were all screwed up into a deep frown of anxiety and concentration.
“Oh,” I said. “I’m just thinking about the Madame, and if I managed to heal her properly or not.”
“The scar’s all gone, isn’t it?”
“Mostly.” I sighed. “But it’s what’s beneath the surface that I’m not sure about.”
Ramsay shrugged. “No way of knowin’, right? Not until she either gets pregnant or doesn’t.”
“Yeah.” I sat up, too restless to lay down any longer, and brought my knees up to my chest. “It just sucks. I can see it in her eyes, and hear it when she speaks--how badly she wants a baby of her own. Her whole demeanor changes.”
Ramsay sat up with me and held my hand.
“I can’t imagine going through that,” I murmured. “I mean, when I knew for a fact I wanted to be pregnant, it was all I could think about. Even now, everything I do is for our baby.”
“Mhm.” Ramsay gently stroked my belly as I spoke. The warmth of his hands soothed me.
“It’s ironic that our situations were reversed, me and the Madame,” I pointed out with a sigh. “My whole life, pregnancy was off the table because I thought I was a beta. But thenthisall happened, and now here I am--pregnant with you, and Eric and Colton. And I’m so, so happy.”
Ramsay’s smile faded at the corners. “But the Madame…”
“She lost that opportunity.” I hugged my knees tighter. “And it wasn’t by choice. So if I can fix that…”
“I’m sure you made her happy, no matter what the outcome,” Ramsay promised.
I knew he was trying to let me down gently in case my magic hadn’t worked on her organs, but the thought of getting her hopes up only for them to crash and burn when it hadn’t worked terrified me. I imagined myself in the same situation and realized how hopeless and depressed I would feel.
Throwing my legs over the edge, I shot up out of bed.
“Where’re you going?” Ramsay asked.
“I’m going to try one last session before we leave,” I told him. “I want to try--no, I want to make sure it works.”
Ramsay sighed, but he was grinning. “Fine. Off you go. Just be back in time to get some sleep, okay? We don’t wanna travel on groggy legs.”
“I will.”
I gave him a quick kiss--which delved into a minute-long make-out session--then scurried off to find the Madame in her room. She stood by the window, her back to me.
“Hello?” I called.
“Matheson,” she said without turning. “Come in.”
I joined her and noticed her gaze was fixed on the looming mountains. Her gaze was stoic, as it usually was when she was thinking about something other than babies.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
Her eyes were steely and hard as she gazed towards the mountains. “I’ve been thinking.”
I paused, suddenly a bit anxious at her serious tone.
“I cannot trust Neil. That much is clear,” she continued. “But as things stand, I cannot trust the winged beasts either. I’m worried that if my people don’t enact Neil’s scheme, he will turn on us.”
My heart fluttered in fear and my hands flew to my belly where my child was. “You’re not going to send me up there, are you?”
She turned, her eyes wide. “No, that’s ridiculous. Of course not.” She put a hand on my shoulder and I let out a sigh of relief. “What I’m suggesting is an alliance between the wolf packs and the human settlement.”
“Oh,” I said.
