“Thank God,” Kate said, reaching out to touch her friend’s shoulder.The wrist on her bruise had faded into a yellow that was hardly noticeable.It had been a little over a week since the marketplace incident and consequently, a little over a week since she’d last seen Keriva.She’d just returned from another outpost the previous day and they’d made plans to start on a formal dress for the Lunar Celebration.
Kate had mixed feelings about it.For one, the Lunar Celebration would take place the day after the Trials that Vaxa had told her about.So, the Lunar Celebration would either be filled with a relieved happiness…or an unimaginable grief.
She’d told Vaxa that she trusted him to win, however, so she’d agreed to Keriva’s suggestion that they get started crafting her outfit.
Keriva’s face softened when she saw her.“You are well and recovered?Truly?If you had not made me promise to stay at the outpost, I would have come straight back when I heard about what happened.”
Kate smiled and led her inside the house.As part of a compromise with Vaxa, she only worked at the archives every other day now and today was her day off.Truth be told, Kate was glad that Vaxa had been so insistent.Her bodydidneed the rest and she felt infinitely more refreshed.
“Yes,” Kate said, her hands grazing her stomach.“It was a little scary for a while and Vaxa has hardly left me alone for more than an hour at a time, but I am perfectly fine and so is the baby.”
Privanax made her come to the labs every single day now, to check-up on the child and monitor Kate’s health.He had also created some sort of tonic that he claimed would help her body gestate the baby with greater ease, which she drank every morning with her breakfast.Kate didn’t care for the taste whatsoever and had almost thrown up the first time she’d taken it, but she would do whatever the doctor ordered.She’d stay at the labs for the rest of her pregnancy if it meant that her baby was safe and healthy.
Besides the impending knowledge of the Trials—which were less than a week away—the only other dampener on Kate’s mood was that Vaxa had seemed to put an all-out ban on sex.They hadn’t been intimate since the night before the marketplace.Nothing.Nada.Zilch.Even though Privanax had given them the okay for sex after the scare they’d had, Vaxa hadn’t so much as touched her.
To say that it was frustrating was an understatement.Every night they went to bed, Kate had tried to initiate something.And every night, Vaxa stopped it before they got a little too hot and heavy.They both fell asleep unsatisfied and aching, judging by the size of the erection Vaxa usually sported.
He was afraid that he would hurt her and possibly cause her to bleed, she understood that.But after Privanax’s thorough exams, she thought he’d be okay with it by now.
Once they were inside the house, Keriva set down the roll of the midnight blue material that the vendor at the marketplace had given Kate as a gift.It was just as beautiful as she remembered and it would make a wonderful dress.She hoped and prayed that she would get a chance to wear it.
Kate watched as Keriva set up her supplies and they chatted about her time at the outpost.It was calledKrorataxand it was the outpost that Lihvan oversaw, situated towards the southern lands.Keriva told her that it was only a couple hours away by hovercraft, but it still boggled her mind that Lihvan lived there and that he had to commute almost every day into the Golden City.It made Kate’s forty-five minute commute back in Chicago—which she’d moaned about to Beks often—seem trivial.
Once Keriva grilled her about what had happened when she’d started bleeding last week and once she seemed satisfied with the answers and Kate had recited Privanax’s assurances that it wouldn’t happen again with careful observation and plenty of rest, they finally began.Kate assumed her position, one she knew well after Keriva had made over a dozen dresses for her, and her friend began the draping process, asking Kate for her input every now and again on where she’d like the folds of the dress to fall.Keriva set up a full-length mirror in front of them so Kate could see the progress and she took the time to study herself, cataloguing the changes in her body while her friend concentrated on her work.
She was nearing the two-month pregnancy mark.While most human women wouldn’t even be showing at this point, Kate looked like she was well into her second trimester.Her stomach had grown exponentially in just the past week.She guessed that her baby was already the size of a grapefruit and growing fast.While she might not give birth at exactly three months, like Luxirian women used to, she would definitely be ready by four and certainly no more than five.
It was crazy to think that in a short time, she would be a mother.Vaxa would be a father and they would be adding to their small, strange little family.
Only if Vaxa succeeds…she thought.
Her throat burned as the Trials once again entered her mind.She couldn’t escape them, it seemed.
Softly, she asked Keriva, “Is there anything in particular I need to wear…when Vaxa finally meets his challengers?”
It was a way to bring up the Trials—and hopefully pick Keriva’s brain about them—without directly asking.
Keriva’s hand paused at her back where she was diligently pinning.
“In truth, I was not certain whether you would be attending or not,” Keriva said, just as softly, although her tone held a hint of nonchalance, as if these things were nothing out of the ordinary.As if her mate wasn’t fighting five Luxirian warriors in one night and could possiblydie.
“How could I not go?” Kate questioned, staring at her reflection in the mirror.That was where Keriva met her eyes for a brief moment before looking away.“I would go crazy if I just stayed here and waited.I’d rather be there for him.”
“Has he brought it up to you?” Keriva questioned.“About whether or not you will be in attendance?”
“This is my choice,” she said.“I want to be there whether he wins or loses.”
“The Prime Leader is strong, Kat,” Keriva said.“You do not need to worry over this.It is not good for the offspring.As for what you will wear, the bronze dress I crafted for you will be an appropriate choice for the Trials.”
Keriva said nothing more about it.Kate had even tried questioning Bruxilia about these Trials, but the older woman had remained uncharacteristically tight-lipped about the whole thing, as if she knew it would upset her.
And she didn’t know why she said it—maybe it was frustration or she just needed to fill the empty air with words or she needed a distraction—but she murmured, quite unexpectedly, “Vaxa mentioned that you had feelings for him when you two were younger.”
Keriva stopped pinning.
Kate looked at her in the mirror.“I know that we’ve never talked about it.But I do consider you a good friend, one of my only friends here actually.And if it’s weird for you or awkward to talk about him, then just let me know and I’ll shut up.”
Silence cut through the living room like a knife.Keriva seemed stunned, processing her words, trying to gauge Kate’s reaction, while Kate was trying to gauge Keriva’s.
