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“Sorry. Didn’t mean to.” She shifted, then grimaced around a stifled cry of pain.

The sound stabbed into Merrik’s chest, but he kept his smile plastered into place, his tone as soothing as he could make it. “Dacha will be back with the healer soon.”

“Good.” Adry hissed a breath between her teeth. She shifted again, pressing a hand to her middle. Her other hand tightened on his. “Please stay.”

“I am not going anywhere.” Merrik wrapped both of his hands over hers. If only there were something he could do to take her pain. If they were married and shared a heart bond like his parents did—and her parents did—then he could have at least shared her pain. He wouldn’t have been this helpless.

“I don’t mean just now. Tonight.” This time when she blinked her eyes open, they were wide and liquid with her growing pain. “I don’t want to wake up alone.”

“That would be highly improper.” Merrik raised his eyebrows.

“Your dacha will be here the whole time. We will not be unchaperoned or whatever you are worried about.” She grimaced back.

“He is not here now.” Merrik wasn’t sure why he was arguing. It wasn’t like she was asking for anything truly improper. And he hadn’t planned to go far.

“Because he is fetching the healer.” She rolled her eyes before fisting her fingers in the blanket over her middle. “Besides, anyone who thinks anything improper will happen has clearly never been gut shot.”

He couldn’t really argue with either of those points. And Merrik would be a perfect gentleman even without his dacha’s presence and no matter what state Adry was in. That was, after all, the bare minimum of decency, and he aspired to be a far better man than merely decent.

“I will stay.” Merrik pointed toward the couch along the wall, which faced the bed. “Though you do not mind if I lie down over there instead of slump over in this chair, do you?”

“No.” She gave a laugh, then groaned. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”

“Sorry.” He traced his thumb over her knuckles. “I will only say very grim and gloomy things from now on.”

That earned him another eyeroll.

Dacha and the healer arrived then, and Merrik vacated the seat to allow the healer room to work. By the time the healer left, Adry had slipped into a deep sleep once again.

With his dacha settled in the chair, Merrik retreated to the couch, took off his resting leg, and lay down. He could comfortably stretch out his right leg all the way, but his left leg—the one with the foot he couldn’t remove—was too long for the couch. He finally settled on crooking his knee and tucking his foot against the armrest.

Despite that, the couch was comfortable, and Merrik found himself drifting off far sooner than he would have expected.

He lay, blinking, in the gloom, a light glowing out of his line of sight. His left leg ached from the uncomfortable position, but he didn’t think that was what had woken him.

“Merrik?”

Adry. He rolled off the couch, nearly falling before he remembered that he only had one leg attached at the moment.

Across the bed, Dacha straightened from where he had slumped over in the chair.

But Adry’s head was tilted toward Merrik, her gaze on him.

With that pleading look trained on him, he didn’t waste the time fumbling with his resting leg or prosthetic. Instead, he used his staff to hop the couple of feet of space and sat on the edge of the bed, reaching for her hand as he did. “I am here.”

She gave him an expression that might have been a smile, if her jaw hadn’t been locked so tightly.

He gripped her hand. It was all he could do as Dacha hurried from the room and Adry’s breathing grew more ragged as her pain increased, the healing magic wearing off.

After a moment, Adry cracked her eyes open. “You need to talk to distract me.”

Talk. That was usually Adry’s or Fieran’s thing while Merrik was the silent one. He cleared his throat, wracking his brain for something to say. “Have I told you about the time Fieran talked the squadron into penguin-sliding on our mattresses down the stairs at Dar Goranth?”

“Yes.” A faint smile broke through the tense lines of pain on her face. “But tell me again.”

He launched into the story again, the memory warming him even as it kept the smile on Adry’s face. The war had been terrible, but he had experiences with his squadron that he wouldn’t change for anything.

By the time he finished the story, the healer had arrived and Adry was well on her way back to sleep.