Surprise rocks through me as I lower my hand to my abdomen. “Is this why I’m already showing?”
“Yes. How far do you think you are?”
“Nearly four months. I think,” I say as I try to remember all those days before I left Karra. Especially, the days before I started drinking the tea to keep me from conceiving. It must have happened before. It had to happen before.
“It makes sense that for you, the passage of time is different because you were in the past.”
I rub my stomach as I consider her words. “If I hadn’t gone back in time, I would be a lot further along.”
She nods.
“What if….” Icy dread finds a place deep in my chest, “…what if Hector doesn’t believe that I’m carrying his child?”
“Children.” She folds her hands on the table in front of her. “He will not doubt your faithfulness, Sol.”
“B-but...” I stammer.
Torchlight fractures around her as she leans closer and taps my left wrist—right where that binding tattoo sits. “Your bond with him makes you crave only him.”
“And he only craves me,” I say with a smile.
The bracelets on Tersah’s arm clank together as she waves a hand at us. “That sounds dreadful.”
“Admit it, Tersah,” the Seer says softly. “There is only one man you want, and since you cannot have him, you fly from bee to bee, seeking satisfaction, but you do not find it.”
“Men are bees?” Tersah laughs.
The Seer gives her sister a long, serious look—the kind of look that makes me wiggle in my chair, and she’s not even staring at me.
Tersah rolls her eyes. “I do not want him, Phillipa, so you can stop staring at me.”
“You do, and when you decide to stop being stubborn, you will speak to your husband.”
“Formerhusband,” Tersah says as she purses her lips together, as if just talking about him makes her mouth sour.
Who is Tersah’s husband?
Is he Bloodstone?
The Seer leans closer to me. “You will need to be strong for their birth, and for more war. This battle between the Hematites and the Bloodstone is just the beginning.”
My heart sinks at the thought of more war, more death, more suffering.
“You must mend things with Hector,” she says, her words firm.
I’m working on it.
Tersah stands and points toward the tent entrance. “I will take you to him.”
“Right now?” My pulse quickens at the thought of seeing him again. Last night seems like months ago.
“He wants to talk to you.” Tersah moves to the opening. “Come.”
I take a deep breath and stand up, following Tersah out of the tent and into the humid morning air. The sounds of horses neighing and armor clinking fill my ears as we walk through the camp. Warriors watch us as we pass by, their voices trailing behind us.
The ever-present crows follow us, soaring through the air and landing on the top of tents.
Sunlight shimmers off Mildred’s silver hair as she shuffles by, scolding Annaleigh as she walks. “I told you to stay next to me. Why do you always try to run away? No, no child…” She makes a shooing motion, “…I said this way.”
