Gentle hands touched her face, smoothed away her hair. “The pain will pass. And you will still be here. With us. You’re wanted.” It was Qalae.
Addie heard her but couldn't understand her words. She wanted the pain to stop. She wanted to die, but the faint, tickling flutter in her belly wouldn’t let her.
Her hand went to her stomach as the tears flowed harder from under Addie’s closed eyelids. She had no choice but to stay strong. She had no choice but to go on living, to keep fighting for this tiny, still not fully formed little being that was fully dependent on her for his or her very survival. She couldn't justquit.
Addie struggled to a sitting position as men approached her. She recognized Shur’s boots with their distinct furring around the tops. Yellow robes followed.
“Rise, Addie-woman.”
A strong hand - Shur’s - reached for her and pulled her up by the elbow. Qalae rose next to her.
“Tell us about the marauders.”
A part of reality returned to Addie’s befuddled brain. “There were five of them. Right away, Zoark killed one with a spear.”
The High Counselor looked highly skeptical. The chief next to him blinked in surprise.
“He did. And then my Yuux distracted the marauders, and he pushed another one to the ground and got his club.”
“And you’re spinning tales,” Chemmusaayl said snidely. “You mate should punish you for lying.”
Addie broke down. “Shur is not my mate!” she screeched into the High Counselor’s face. “If I have a mate, it’s Zoark! I am carrying his baby!”
A hush fell over the tribe. She felt Shur stiffening at her side. She felt Qalae go rigid with surprise at her public revelation. Then she raised her arms up.
“Rejoice, good people! Our tribe is rebounding! A new baby is coming - Mother Nature has been kind to us.”
“But he was a cripple,” Chemmusaayl sputtered, flabbergasted, and his use of past tense referring to Zoark cut Addie anew. “He had no mating rights!”
Qalae turned to him and squared her shoulders, an impressive female specimen. She almost dwarfed the High Counselor - not because she was taller than him but because she was so very regal.
“He was strong enough to sire a child. And now that it happened, High Counselor, I will see to Addie’s needs. A pregnant woman is the queen’s responsibility.”
“Some queen you are! Not once pregnant yourself.”
“Careful, High Counselor,” the chief’s interfering voice had a wealth of warning.
Chemmusaayl threw an apologetic glance toward the chief before glaring at Addie with malice. “Who knows what offspring this strange woman will bring forth.”
“You allowed Shur to mate her,” Qalae pointed out. “We should all be grateful for the young life this woman is going to share with our people.”
The High Counselor looked far from grateful and ready to argue with the Queen, but she would have none of it.
“Addie,” the queen addressed her, turning away from Chemmusaayl, “you may make a choice of accepting this warrior who will care and provide for you and your baby, and will give you more children.” She paused meaningfully. “Or you can choose to refuse this mating.” Her voice dropped. “Choose wisely, Addie-woman. You have more than yourself to think about.”
What the queen meant was that Zoark was gone.
Gone.
He would never again creep up on her, knowing just much he startled her. She’d never again jump from fright only to plunge into a feeling of absolute pleasure at realizing it was him.
Her pain was too fresh, her emotions too heightened, and she found she had no words to express all that she thought, all that she felt.
She raised beseeching eyes to Qalae.
A warning whistle rent the air, followed by a sentry’s shout.
Oh’na returned with the Timpho grass, but never quite reached Addie’s side, arrested by the view with the stalks hanging limply from her hand.
