Leena's Story - The Complete Novellas (A Dance of Dragons Book 4) by Kaitlyn Davis

Author:Kaitlyn Davis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-12-07T23:00:00+00:00

THREE

For the thirteenth morning in a row, Leena woke with the unmistakable urge to vomit. Taking a deep breath, she readied herself for the morning routine. Counting wooden slabs, dreaming of getting off this godforsaken ship.

And then she opened her eyes.

Blinked.

Remembered.

Shaking her head ever so slightly, Leena stared at the silk canopy overhead, the wooden four poster bed so different than the golden metal frame of the one she slept on at home. She looked to the window, to the blue sky floating over grassy fields. Glancing to the other side, she saw a wardrobe, and then a little farther an open door leading to a sitting room. White stone walls and not wooden slabs surrounded her.

What?

Leena sat up, confused. Surely seasickness would dissipate when one was no longer on the sea. Why on earth was she still nauseous?

But moving was the wrong way to go, and immediately her stomach flipped, recoiling, regurgitating, and Leena jumped from the soft mattress in search of a chamber pot. There. On a table beside her bed. She grabbed it with just enough time to get settled before the vomiting began in earnest. When it was over, she stood on wobbly feet, feeling far greener than the normal olive tone of her skin, and sat beside the window, drinking in fresh air.

And then the truth hit.

Leena gasped, widening her eyes, snapping her head up as the world faded away and all she could see before her eyes were numbers. Days and weeks, counting back. And she realized something—something that had been lost on her through all the mourning and the endless hours planning her escape.

She had not had her monthlies for quite some time.

More numbers.

More counting.

The last night she and Mikza had been together was the eve of her sister’s wedding, the night before they tried to escape. Weeks ago.

Slumping back against the cushions, Leena’s hands found her belly. Was it swollen? Was there a baby resting there, safe and warm, a little piece of Mikza she hadn’t lost? Tears came to her eyes, slipping free before she could stop them. But for the first time since she could remember, they were not tears of sorrow, but tears of joy. And a smile spread slowly across her cheeks, wobbly from the sheer force of her emotions.

Leena eased off the window seat, standing before the mirror in her nightgown, and pressed the fabric to her skin. Nothing looked different, but the awareness was there, a motherly affection rooted in hope and possibility, and she was certain beyond a doubt that she was with child. With Mikza’s child.

Movement caught the corner of her eye, and she glanced up only to find a shadow in the mirror, a phantom in the shape of a man, a figure just over her shoulder.

Gasping, Leena spun. But the room was empty.

She blinked. Shaking her head, dispelling the image. But at that exact moment, a gust of wind roared through the window, flinging the glass wide, sweeping over her things, and rustling the curtains.

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