Brynn grimaced.She didn’t have the heart to tell them that Gistrid’s pregnancy was already over.A pregnant woman’s body glowed withkaand while Gistrid’s body was still full of it, there was too much focused in her abdomen.That was the sign of a body trying to save itself.
“Can you help her?”Lena asked.
From the way the other girls watched with large eyes, they hoped she could.It seemed odd that Tolvir had requested help, not Ovrek.That was one more thing about this situation that made her scalp prickle.Brynn was already going behind Sifma’s back by doing this.Was she defying Ovrek in some way as well?
The woman with the greyed hair kept speaking.
“If she is able to bear a son for the king, it would be a great service,” the translator added.
Brynn’s chest tightened a little more.“How long has she been like this?”
Lena repeated the question and one of the other handmaidens answered.“Three days, lady.Her women have been doing what they can.”
Brynn hesitated.Had they been hiding her illness, or perhaps its severity, from Ovrek?
“It came upon her quickly,” Lena interpreted.“Sudden pains and…tiredness?”
“Has anyone else fallen ill like her?”Brynn tried to hide her unease.
“No, lady,” Lena answered after translating the question for the others.
That did not sound like disease, but Brynn would still try to be careful.“How far along is she?”Ovrek had mentioned winter, but clearly there were things Ovrek did not know.
“Almost three months, lady,” Lena replied.
“Her first?”
“Yes,” Lena confirmed.
Brynn fought to keep her outward reaction neutral.Gistrid’s belly was unusually large for so early in pregnancy, especially for a first.
One of the handmaidens added something, gesturing for Lena to explain.
“Her belly began swelling two days ago,” Lena translated.
“I see.”This was bad.Brynn held out a hand to the concubine.“May I touch you?”
Lena translated and Gistrid nodded, closing her eyes once again.She appeared only partially aware of what was happening.
Brynn grasped Gistrid’s hand to find it cold.She crouched beside the other woman, focusing her power.
Kneeling, Brynn closed her eyes.She could feel the other woman’skamore clearly with contact.It confirmed her suspicion that this wasn’t disease.The damage was focused low in Gistrid’s belly.At first, she thought it was Gistrid’s womb, but no.
Brynn bowed, focusing.She wasn’t sure, but she thought the swollen, enlarged thing in Gistrid’s abdomen was her liver.Fissures ran through it, countless tiny cracks.Combined with the suddenness of this ailment…
There was also damage to Gistrid’s heart and her labored breathing warned of difficulty with her lungs.The liver was vital to balancing the blood, so that made sense.
Brynn felt other smaller pools ofkascattered over Gistrid’s body, mostly on her skin.“I am going to check your arm.”Brynn waited a moment, giving Lena time to translate.
When Gistrid didn’t respond, Brynn pushed up Gistrid’s sleeve, exposing a bruise on the younger woman’s wrist.At least twenty others peppered her body from what Brynn could sense.
“What happened here?”Brynn asked, looking to the nearest handmaiden.Gistrid was Ovrek’s concubine.Had he…?
It took a long set of heartbeats while Lena translated Brynn’s question and the other woman’s response.
“They don’t know,” Lena said.“This just happened.”
Brynn carefully pulled Gistrid’s sleeve back down, thinking.A damaged liver, swollen abdomen, strained heart and lungs, and bruising that had happened suddenly.
