Page 56 of Invidia

I made a noise of sympathy. “Tea it is. And a heat pack.”

She opened one eye hopefully. “It’s not too much trouble? The fire isn’t lit—”

“That won’t take long,” I assured her. Also, it gave me a convenient excuse to avoid truth or dare a little longer.

I headed for the kitchen downstairs, fantasizing about living in the cottage, which was all on one level. It had a beautiful fireplace in the kitchen, with a tile surround that I’d love to have gotten a better look at, but it needed a good scrub first.

It was only once I had the kindling burning in the grate, a log in my hand ready to feed the flames, that Meera’s words truly sunk in.

My uterus is trying to kill me.

A cold sweat broke out on my forehead, despite my proximity to the fire.

When was the last time my uterus had tried to kill me?

I scrambled to figure out how long it had been since my last period, drawing a blank. But I had to be misremembering, right? I had a copper IUD. It couldn’t be… that.

Ash spilled out of the fireplace as I clumsily shoved the log in. I glanced down, noticing not for the first time that my dresses weren’t fitting well around the bust. Almost like my boobs had suddenly decided to grow after being reliably the same size for at least a decade. I swallowed thickly. There was probably a totally rational explanation for that, too.

And the brief, but intense mood swings I’d noticed recently. Definitely an easily explainable reason for those.

Right?

Right.

I went through the motions of making tea for Meera, pouring some of the boiling water from the kettle into the teapot, before tipping the rest into an earthenware warmer and screwing the lid tightly on top. There was a selection of sweets that had undoubtedly been brought over from the palace, and I arranged some of them on a plate before setting everything on a tray to carry upstairs. It wasn’t until I was outside Meera’s door that I registered that I’d even left the kitchen.

“You’re amazing,” Meera sighed, wincing as she sat up and wriggled up to sit back against the headboard. “Seriously, I owe you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

She glanced at me sharply. “Are you okay? What’s happened?”

I set the tray down carefully next to her, taking a step back from the bed.

“Nothing.” I shook my head slightly. “I’m just in a weird mood. It’s fine.”

Meera patted the other side of the mattress, giving me a pointed look. And even though I didn’t usually like imposing my problems on other people, the idea of going downstairs and acting fine at that moment made me want to weep. I rounded the bed, climbing under the blankets in the same curled up position Meera had been in earlier.

“What’s going on, Tallulah?”

“My period is late.”

She paused, cup halfway to her mouth. “How late?”

“A lot late.”

“Okay.” She took a sip of her tea. “How are you feeling about that?”

“Terrified.”

“That’s reasonable.”

“I want kids,” I clarified. “I always have. But Evrin and I have never talked about it. And we’re finally in a good place, but it’s brand-new and it’s fragile. What if this ruins everything?”

“Don’t spiral until you’ve had a chance to speak to him, Tallulah,” Meera said firmly.

That was good advice. I mean, maybe he’d be happy? That was always an option. Even if the timing was terrible.

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