A Beast's Tale

Chapter 88

Outside the library windows, pale green buds were appearing on the seasonal rose bushes and vines, filling in the gaps between the year-round blooms. Water droplets fell from icicles down to the melting snow banks below. All the signs of spring were here.

Inside the window, seated on an extra cushion in the alcove, was Ivetta, staring outside. A few sheets of parchment lay forgotten on a large book that served as her makeshift lap desk. She was due any day now. Her hips were in constant pain, which she was quick to reassure me was normal at this stage. I wondered if the level of pain she felt was truly normal, but that wasn't a question worth asking. She'd never been pregnant before she was tortured, so she had nothing for comparison. This was her first time being pregnant. Maybe her only time.

And yet, I still felt a measure of relief after talking to her at the start of winter, even though nothing changed. She could still die in labor, and there was still nothing I could do about it. All I could do was enjoy the time I knew I had with her.

"What are you doing, little dove?" I asked, combing my fingers through her glossy black hair as she looked up at me with a bright smile.

"I was just finishing my letter to Belle," she replied, looking down at the lines of script on the parchment. She had nestled a quill and inkpot in a crack between the seat cushion and the window, with a rag tucked around the inkpot as a precaution. "A lot has happened since the last time I wrote to her, and I'm trying to make sure I'm not missing anything, but I keep getting distracted."

Distracted. She couldn't get comfortable, and she kept having to get up and go to the bathroom, more likely. I scanned the page to see what she had so far. Sariel and Sarah featured after her opening greeting. They eloped after Sarah found out she was pregnant, and Sariel was having a harder time smoothing things over with her father than he ever did with any of the nobility.

"Next page."

Ivetta turned it without question. Jin and Theresa came next. Theresa was pregnant and due to give birth in the fall, at the same time Belle was due. Jin was deliriously happy. He'd never been shy about expressing physical affection toward Theresa in public, but now he was kissing her stomach at random times and talking to it, and she wasn't even showing yet. Even she was embarrassed.

"Nokto and Lydia," I said simply.

"Oh, you're right. How could I forget?" Ivetta muttered, picking up her quill again.

Nokto bought a ring a week after meeting Lydia, but he was waiting to propose until after the baby was born. I had known for two months, ever since I found him walking around the snowy gardens without a coat. Lydia was making him wait until they were married. It was an interesting twist to have him coming to me for advice on how to cope while he respected her wishes, when the only advice he ever gave me was unsolicited and entirely opposed to Ivetta's wishes. I found it all rather amusing - until he approached Ivetta last week and told her to hurry up and have the baby so he could propose.

"There," Ivetta said, finishing the last sentence and signing her name. "That's done." She set the quill in the inkpot and took my proffered hand to help her to her feet. It was getting more difficult for her to get up every day.

"I am ready for this to be over," she proclaimed, dropping the book on the seat as I collected her quill and inkpot. "This child is definitely yours. He is violent."

I chuckled as I led her across the library. "Kicking?"

"And punching, I'm sure of it. I'd rather not spend our wedding anniversary getting beat up. It's bad enough we can't go to the chateau or do anything worthwhile."

Our wedding anniversary. We would either celebrate it together with a new baby, or I would mourn it alone.

"Would you like to go later this spring?" I asked, holding the door open for her to exit into the hallway.