Ire Taverness's Arc

Chapter 15 of 19

The first night, Kael carried her upstairs and did not let her worry about anything. The second night, she came to him. By the end of the week, they had a rhythm. She closed the tavern at the same hour every night. He waited at the top of the stairs. They did not talk about it during the day. The first month passed. Her blood came. She did not cry in front of him, but he found her sitting on the cellar steps that afternoon with her hands in her lap. He sat down beside her and did not say anything for a long time. "It's one month," he said. "I know." "We keep going." "I know." He took her hand. She let him. The second month, her blood came again. This time she was ready for it. She told him at the bar before the doors opened. He nodded once and poured her a cup of tea instead of ale. The second cook pretended not to hear. The floor girl carried plates past them without looking up. "You're tired," Kael said. "I'm working." "You're tired." His voice went clipped. He set the cup in her hand and closed her fingers around it. "Drink. Then sit. The boy can open." She drank. She sat. She watched him move behind her bar like he had been born there, and something in her chest loosened. The third month, she was late. She counted the days twice on the slate in the cellar and then rubbed the marks out with her thumb. She did not tell him. She waited another week. She waited another. Her tail would not stay still against her skirt. The second cook asked twice if she was well. She said she was. On the morning of the fortieth day, she was pouring ale for a caravan driver and the smell turned her stomach. She set the pitcher down on the bar and put her hand flat against the wood to steady herself. Kael saw it from across the room. He crossed to her in four strides. "Sit," he said. "Not here." He took the pitcher from her hand and gave it to the floor girl without looking. He walked Ire through the kitchen and out the back door into the yard. The morning was cold. She breathed it in. "Baby, how long," he said. "Forty days." His ears twitched forward. His hand went to her stomach and stayed there. He smiled the way she thought he would. He closed his eyes. "You're sure." "I'm sure." He pulled her against his chest. She felt his heart going fast against her cheek. His arm tightened around her shoulders and did not loosen. When she pulled back to look at him, his eyes were wet. "We start now," he said. "Everything else changes." She pressed her forehead to his and nodded. Her tail curled around his leg. The tavern was full inside, and she had a child to carry.