My Kidnapper Compares Me To Bottom Feeders

(33) Blair

"I'm never getting pregnant again," I muttered weakly as Danny typed away on his laptop, undisturbed by my coming death. I groaned and tried to focus on keeping my breakfast down but it just wasn't happening. This is what I got for having eggs this morning.

I rushed into the bathroom, a familiar response to my ever-growing appetite. I couldn't eat fish for every meal, it was getting too expensive, but I couldn't keep anything else down. Quite the Catch-22 if you're a fan of literary analogies.

I think I had desensitized Danny to anything vaguely disgusting. He was here every day for "art lessons" that usually consisted of him blogging about me in some distant corner of the internet. Honestly, who knew what he was up to.

"Hmm," Danny murmured, his typing paused. I felt his gaze shift to me as I entered my bedroom, patting down my freshly washed face with a towel.

"What is it?" I questioned, flopping on the bed as easily as I could with a watermelon as a stomach.

"Never mind," he answered after a beat, resuming typing.

"Oh, no," I shook my head and flicked his knee. "That was your scheming face. What are you up to?"

"Scheming face?" he scoffed and shook his head. "I have no such thing."

"Okay, lie to me. I see how it is." I shook my head and settled more comfortably in the cocoon of blankets and pillows I had previously been occupying. I reached for the remote and turned on the TV, uncaring of what was on.

The little apartment Danny had set up for me was a lot more modest than the one I had called home for years, but that was alright. It had everything I needed, even if it felt like being packed into a sardine can when all of the mermen were in the living rooms at once. That problem had been solved a few weeks ago when Faultier found a suitable settlement up the river. Nowadays it was usually just Faultier or Vollieri who dropped in.

Vollieri claimed that he came by because Faultier wanted to make sure I was safe, but I didn't know why he had to put up this farce when I could clearly hear what he and Danny got up to in the other bedroom.

A fluttering in my stomach made a smile creep onto my features. I sighed happily and relished in the feeling. The baby was an active one, moving around more and more as my stomach swelled quickly. I was beginning to feel like an overinflated balloon as my stomach kept growing and growing, but Faultier assured me I was healthy. Apparently, he would be able to smell if something was wrong.

"Is she kicking again?" Danny asked.

"Yeah," I said with a grin. Danny kept referring to the baby as a girl, and I think it was because he had already bought a closet full of baby clothes and everything I'd need to raise a newborn to a toddler. He really wanted a baby around to buy things for, I reckoned.

I positioned Danny's hand on my stomach where he could feel the little jabs of tiny legs and his expression warmed.

I had come to terms with what would happen after the birth. Faultier had clarified that he wouldn't dream of leaving me right away if I had a girl, and if I had a boy, he wouldn't instantly be taken from me to live in the ocean. Of course, the exact amount of time for either of those wasn't discussed, but I guess this is what happened when you let a merman seduce you (albeit I was the one who ultimately took Faultier to bed, I guess).

"I think I've come up with a plan."

I arched an eyebrow. "Oh, so you were scheming." I snorted at his glare. "A plan for what exactly?"

"A plan-" he jumped when he heard the door open. I gave him a weird look as Vollieri came into the doorway.

Danny gave me a conflicted look before he turned to pout at Vollieri. "I haven't seen you in days," he groused.