My mouth falls open before I snap it closed. “Why would you do such a thing?”
He shrugs. “It’s easier than becoming entangled.”
The truth hits me, the reality I hadn’t seen before now. “Who was she?”
Clouds immerse his eyes as he turns away and walks to the window.
“Did you love her?” I ask softly.
The muscles tighten in his back as he props his hands against the window frame and doesn’t answer.
“You must have. She is the reason you will not touch me.” Pressing Gabriel will not get me what I want. I bite the inside of my lip and decide to change the subject. “Did you see Praxis’ son?”
Gabriel shifts enough to glance at me. “He has a son?”
“Yes. I helped with his birth.”
Creases appear across Gabriel’s brow. “Is the child healthy?”
“As healthy as any newborn I have ever seen.”
Surprise flickers in Gabriel’s eyes. “Briley has lost three babies. They were all born sleeping.”
“Oh.” Tiny prickles of apprehension settle against my skin. Maybe there are some truths to what Praxis said about their magic returning. “I didn’t know.”
“You couldn’t have.”
I pick at a loose thread in my bedcover. “The baby has a mark just like mine…”
My husband’s gaze jerks to the closed door. “Are you certain?”
“Yes.” Unconsciously, I run my fingers against my cursed mark. “Praxis thinks magic has returned to your people.”
From the table, Gabriel yanks up his surcoat and pulls it back on. “Stay here.”
“Wait.” I rise to sitting. “Don’t leave.”
“I’ll be back later.” Without waiting for my reply, Gabriel leaves the bedchamber.
I exhale and frown at the door. There’s something he’s not saying. There has to be.
But what?
I roll my wrist, staring down at the mark. Gabriel married me because of this. It burned when I healed Praxis.
Now this, a child born with the same serpent on his arm.
What am I missing?
I lift my hands, rubbing my aching temples. Maybe I would have all the pieces if Gabriel told me everything. He said people can heal in Astarobane, yet Praxis said, I am the first.
Gabriel is intentionally keeping things from me. Vital things.
I must discover them.
The moon rises high in the night sky before Gabriel joins me in the room. The mattress dips beneath his weight as he settles on his side of the bed. I wait for the warmth that accompanied me the last time he was beside me. It never comes.
It takes everything in me to not roll over and check if he lies at the edge of the mattress. He probably does.
