Map of Ember and Moonlight

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

They took as long as they could to get back to the city, making sure to take the lengthiest route through the forests and hills of Escarral. Lyv didn't know when she would stop smiling, getting to spend the days talking and training with Amory and then spending nights under the stars. She couldn't get enough of him.

She was getting to know a different side of him, too. Sure, they had been friends and he started opening up to her before, but she didn't have to question him endlessly.

Now, he was telling her stories about growing up in Dalcaine, some of the many adventures he and Gideon had been on through the years, and how he'd been forced to take dance lessons by his mother. She'd suspected as much with how well he'd danced at the wedding reception. She wasn't going to let it go either. He knew it by her smiled, too. So, he'd pulled her to her feet, held her closer, and they laughed and danced with no music but the crickets and wind rustling the leaves above them.

On the sixth day of their journey, however, she woke up with a sharp pain low in her abdomen. Amory, still sound asleep, didn't wake when she got up, pulled on her tunic, and went to relieve herself, only to find that her cycle had started. She couldn't help but groan when she saw and went for her bag to grab what she needed to clean herself.

No fair. Her cycle had been inconsistent ever since it began when she was twelve, coming only every four or so months. The time between this cycle and the last was even longer than normal. She'd been so caught up she hadn't realized twice as much time went by.

But why did it have to come now?

Amory woke just as she was downing the contents of a small medicine vial of her own making. It helped to relieve the cramps since her healing magic never seemed to want to work for them.

"Have you picked up morning drinking now?" he asked, putting his hands behind his head as he looked over at her.

She grimaced, walking back over to lay beside him. The heat coming off his body and pressed against her stomach helped ease the cramping. "Just be prepared for me to be a little more grumpy than usual over the next five or so days."

"What do you...?"

He pulled back after leaning forward to kiss her neck, finally noticing the slight change in her scent. She gave him a pointed look, only to wince, the tonic still not quite taking effect yet.

"Lady problems," she told him. "It's been inconsistent ever since it started and it waited to come now. I'm not happy about it."

She couldn't help but see the slightly relieved look on his face...and she understood why. Neither one of them had been taking any kind of birth control tonic and he hadn't prevented pregnancy in the other way he could either. Of course, she'd wanted children someday. And now that she knew it would be Amory she would share them with, she couldn't wait for that day to come.

She still wanted a few years with him before they came, though. She had nieces and nephews who could fill those places for now. But with her cycles being inconsistent, she knew it would be hard to conceive. So, if the Mother wanted to bless her with a child soon, then she would cherish every moment.

"No babies yet," she told him in a whisper, leaning over to kiss him.

***

For the next five days, they took the roads even slower since riding was so uncomfortable for her. It gave them plenty of time to train, though, and the exercise helped with her pains. And at night, they just held each other, talking and laughing, dreaming up a future they were looking forward to. And when her cycle ended, she couldn't help but throw her hands up in thanks.