Jim Gem's Arc

Chapter 19 of 23

The empty rooms did not stay empty long. Jim and Lena spent the next weeks filling the castle by the waterfall with what a home needed. But this morning Lena went pale on the stairs. Her hand shot to the rail. She swayed, and Jim caught her before her knees gave. "I'm fine," she said. Her voice came out thin. "Just tired. Let go." Jim did not let go. "You almost fell." "I flip off a tower for strangers. I don't fall." She tried a grin. It slipped fast. "My feet went funny. That's all." He slid one arm behind her back and the other under her knees. He lifted her against his chest. She stiffened, then went still, the same quiet she got when she watched him shift. "Put me down," she said. "People carry brides through doors, not up stairs." "You're not a bride today." He climbed slow, one careful step at a time. "You're my wife, and you're carrying our kid, and you nearly went down on stone." Her mouth opened to fire something back. Nothing came. Her head dropped against his shoulder. That scared him more than the sway had. Lena always had a word ready. He carried her down the hall to their chambers. The bed took up half the room, a wide frame he had hauled up piece by piece in dragon form. Water ran past the round window and threw pale light across the blanket. He laid her down soft and pulled the cover to her waist. The scale on his chest gave a small pulse. His heart wanted to race. His arms wanted to change. He had a reason to stay this shape, so he breathed slow and stayed a man. "You watch the cliff now," Lena said. She said it quiet, not sharp. "Like I was scared you would." Jim sat on the edge of the bed. He looked at the swell under the blanket. "I'm watching you. There's a difference." He rested his hand flat on her belly. It was warm and firm. He felt the shape of it under his palm. Lena's eyes went wet. She did not joke this time. She let his hand stay. Jim leaned down. He pressed his lips to her belly, once, careful. "I'm here," he said against it. "Both of us are here. Neither of us is running." Her hand found his hair. She stroked it the way she used to when she pulled him back from a shift. Only now he was already himself, and she was the one who needed holding.