Page 20 of Demonchild

“I didn’t,” Malissa said, slightly perplexed.

“Hm. A miscommunication, perhaps. I saw Droanna downstairs. She mentioned that you had sustained an injury on your back?”

Well,damn.

An hour ago, Malissa had taken a hot bath in the room adjacent to her bedchamber. She had missed her regularly scheduled bath the day before, and she was feeling especially dirty following Beliath’s three “kisses.” The scrapes she had sustained two nights ago in the forest had already disappeared—she’d always been an unusually quick healer. However, Droanna had noticed some light bruises on her upper back.

Malissa had told the maid she had sustained the bruises when she fell off her horse the day before. Admittedly, it was not thebest excuse, but it was better than explaining how she’d really gotten them—by falling when she had fled the darkstone ring.

It was annoying that Droanna had told Dr. Jaeger about the bruises, but the handmaid was only trying to be helpful, Malissa supposed. It was her own fault for not doing a better job of reassuring the poor woman.

“Oh, the bruises,” she said now to Jaeger. “They’re nothing, really. Just a little bump, that’s all.”

“Would you mind if I inspect them?” Jaeger said.

“Now?”

Jaeger nodded. “You are pregnant with Wulfgang’s child. The king would want me to inspect any injury, no matter how minor.”

Malissa was not keen on being inspected. She’d already had to endure an unpleasantly thorough examination at the doctor’s hands on the night of her wedding, before Wulfgang had taken her to bed for the very first time. However, she did not wish to arouse suspicion now by refusing the man. Malissa may have been the queen of this land, but everyone knew Jaeger was in charge of the castle during the king’s absence. She could not refuse him.

“Very well,” she said.

Jaeger gestured toward the window. “The light is stronger over here, Your Highness.”

Malissa crossed to the window, doing her best to hide her displeasure. She wasn’t merely unhappy about the maninspecting her body. She was nervous he might question her story about how she had received the bruises.

How much had Droanna told him, exactly?

Malissa was wearing a crimson gown, laced in the back. Dr. Jaeger moved around behind her and unfastened the bodice with his long, nimble fingers. Malissa let the top of the gown slide down her shoulders, exposing her upper back. She held on to the front, to keep it from falling down and exposing her breasts too. She shivered as Jaeger’s spindly fingers caressed the bare skin of her back. The man hummed thoughtfully as he probed and prodded.

“Does it hurt?” he asked at last.

“Only a little. I didn’t even notice it until Droanna pointed it out during my bath.”

“She tells me you were thrown from your horse?”

“Oh, not thrown,” Malissa said, trying to keep her voice light. “It was my own clumsy fault. My foot slipped from the stirrup while I was dismounting, and I took a little tumble, that’s all. Really, it’s nothing.”

“It may seem like nothing,” Jaeger said, “but you are pregnant now. You must be extra careful. No more riding until after the baby comes, alright?”

“Fine,” Malissa said.

She hoped that would conclude the doctor’s inspection. She worked the fabric of her gown back up over her shoulders, but the man did not lace it for her as she had expected. Instead, hejust stood behind her silently. Malissa could feel his eyes moving over her body.

“Dr. Jaeger?”

“You know,” he said. “By three months, a woman is usually beginning to show the first signs of pregnancy. A discernible abdominal mound. A slight enlargement of the breasts…”

“Not always,” Malissa said. “And it hasn’t quite been three months yet.”

“I suppose that’s true. I’m merely saying, Your Highness, if you werenotactually pregnant—”

“I am,” she said. “I assure you. I have not received my blood since the king’s departure.”

“If you were not pregnant,” Jaeger continued. “I would be willing tohelpyou.”

Malissa tensed.

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