Page 107 of Bound to the Shadow Prince

Nemeth chuckles. “Shadow shit? What do you mean?”

I tweak his nipple, because he knows exactly what I mean. “That moving through the shadows thing that you do. Don’t think you’re going to leave me behind by just poofing away. If you do that, I swear I won’t take a single potion until you come back.” I rub my lips against his sweaty muscles, loving the tasteof him. “Promise me you won’t try to be noble and leave me behind.”

“I promise.” He strokes my hair from my flushed face. “It doesn’t work that way, anyhow.”

“Exactly how does it work?” I tilt my head back and gaze up at him. “Can you move anywhere? Any length?” I clench around him in surprise, because if that’s the case, what’s stopping him from just flitting over to Castle Lios and getting my potion? Would the goddess even notice he was gone…?

But Nemeth shakes his head. “I can only gather the shadows about me for short distances. There must be enough darkness to cover all of me, and I must be able to see where I am going…or I must know the exact layout of the room I am appearing in. If I flow through the darkness into an object, it will stop my heart instantly. One small thing out of place—one piece of furniture askew—could mean my death. Most Fellians won’t even risk it. That’s why we don’t flow through shadows for very long distances.”

His words terrify me. If a single thing is out of place and he slides into it, he dies instantly? It sounds far too dangerous to even try. “I don’t think I want you doing that at all.”

Nemeth huffs, amused. “Like I said, most Fellians won’t risk it. It’s useful in combat, perhaps, but you have to know where your opponent’s sword will be at all times. I would rather use my wings to fly than flow through shadows and simply hope for the best.”

I hold him tighter, thinking of the time he flowed through shadows with me in his arms. Was he risking his life even then? “Great. Now you know I’m going to panic every time you do that shadow thing now.”

He laughs, and I feel it all through my cunt, where we’re still joined. “It’s called ‘flowing through shadows’ and if it will make you feel better, I won’t do it.” He rocks against me, remindingme that he’s yet hard and his knot hasn’t gone down. “I’m far more interested in other ways to exert myself.”

“Pervert,” I say, breathless. But I’m relieved, because he’smypervert, and he’s not risking his neck. I’ll happily be perverted with him.

Chapter

Fifty-Six

That night, Nemeth gives me my potion, and I feel the effects immediately. My pounding head stops swimming, a cold sweat breaks out over my skin, and I want to throw up…but it goes away quickly, followed by a relief so profound that I fight back tears. I laugh instead, wiping the sweat off my skin with my chemise and stripping it off as I lie in bed naked. “This is my new favorite time of day.”

Nemeth chuckles, and instead of joining me in bed, he moves to the table stacked high with his books. “How is your stomach?”

“A little queasy, but it always is after my potion.”

“No aches or pains? No stabbing sensations on your side?” He picks up one book—one that I know is a medical tome he brought with him in case he needed to treat himself, and he begins to turn pages. “Any tingling?”

I run my hands over my stomach. Is it truly harder-feeling like he says? “I’m fine.”

He flicks a page, frowning down at the book. “I haven’t been able to find anything about a hard belly unless it’s a sick organ.”

“I think I’d feel that, wouldn’t I? Or something would hurt to press on?” I experimentally push my fingers into the soft rolls of my belly, but nothing feels unusual or painful.

“Mmm.” He sits down with the book, reading. “There must be something here.”

“I think you’re just panicking,” I tell him. “You’re stressed and now you’re seeing problems where there are none.”

“Possibly.” But he doesn’t sound convinced.

I cup my breasts, wondering if I should distract him with some sex before bed…and then pause. They feel surprisingly tender, even moreso than when I have my period. That’s…odd.

Out of nowhere, I remember a conversation my sister had with Nurse when she first got pregnant. She’d been unsure if she’d truly been pregnant.

“Are you ill in the mornings?” Nurse had asked her. “Tits sore? Does your belly feel different?”

Belly…different? Like hard?

I squeeze my breasts again and wince at the pain. They’re extremely tender, all right. But Nemeth could have been too vigorous with them earlier in our lovemaking. That doesn’t mean anything. Once he sucked on my nipple so hard that he left a mark for days and that made it extremely sore. I’d teased him relentlessly about it, too.

But I’ve also been sick in the mornings. I’ve rolled out of bed and vomited until I was weak every single morning for the last two weeks. I thought it was because we’d been doling out my potion every other day. That it was affecting my stomach like it affects all aspects of my physical person. What if it’s not that, though? What if it’s a baby?

That’s impossible. I’m not supposed to get pregnant. I’ve got cursed blood.

I must be wrong. I got my period recently. It was…

---