Page 98 of Ties of Starlight

All because four months ago, approximately a week after she’d told Nyrunn she was pregnant, he’d had the idea she should make an official account of her own. Tell the full story of her lives that had never been told before. At the very least organize it all so one day they could give it to their children so they knew her story, and their story.

Finally, after months of it being the only thing he would talk about at dinner and when she was trying to fall asleep, she’d given in to his reasoning. If it mattered that much to him, she’d do it.

Idonea dropped her earring and leaned back in her seat. She looked down at her little bump. “You’re responsible for this.”

But her baby didn’t answer her. It was still too early for her to feel any movement yet, although Nyrunn still kepthoping each time he pressed his palm to her stomach he’d feel something.

She looked over at the sun setting. She had a ball to get ready for.

Frode and Asa’s engagement ball. It had taken another year for the two of them to come to their senses, and they’d courted for almost as long before Frode finally proposed.

So Idonea abandoned the pages once more and moved for her wardrobe. She was torn between two different dresses when the door opened and Nyrunn stepped inside their room. She looked over her shoulder, letting go of the dresses as he shut the door.

She reached him, pulling him down for a slow, soft kiss before releasing him with a grin as he placed a hand over her stomach.

“Good evening, love. I’ve missed you,” Nyrunn said, pressing another kiss to her temple.

She laughed. “You saw me a few hours ago when we woke up.”

“And I’ve missed you during those incredibly long and grueling hours.” Nyrunn pulled back. “Are you saying you didn’t miss me?”

“Maybe I would have if that wasn’t your fault,” Idonea said, gesturing to the empty pages on her desk.

“Still no progress?”

“Not a word.”

“You have time, love. Take as long as you need.”

Idonea huffed. “I can’t take too long. I’m not coming back next time.”

Nyrunn laughed. “You might be old in your mind, but you’re still young in physical years. You’ve got a whole lifetime ahead of you.”

“Let’s just be grateful Asa and Frode got their acttogether instead of wasting each other’s time and ours dancing around the subject anymore. Although, considering Asa has already been talking my ear off about how excited she is for our future children to grow up together and maybe even fall in love, I’m not sure I’m all that grateful,” Idonea said as she turned back to her two options. One would hide her bump and the other certainly wouldn’t. They’d yet to make an official announcement, but the rumors had been flying since the day they’d first returned to Novum. According to the gossip, Idonea was always pregnant. While it was easier for elves who had human blood to get pregnant than full-blooded elves, it wasn’t that easy.

Idonea was loathe to prove the current rumors right, but they were hardly right when they were always blind guessing. According to them, she was pregnant no matter what she wore or did.

She wouldn’t be able to hide it forever.

Nyrunn brushed his fingers over the dress that would hide the bump and said, “As much as I would love to upstage Frode at his own engagement party to pay him back for proposing during our anniversary, I wouldn’t do that to Lady Asa. We’ll announce it soon, just not tonight.”

Idonea nodded, moving to return the other dress to the wardrobe. Nyrunn’s hands brushed over her shoulders as he asked, “Now, we have a little bit of time, love. What do you think is stopping you from writing?”

She leaned back into him and he wrapped his arms around her, both of them watching their reflection as he rested his head on top of hers. “I’m not sure. It just… It feels almost wrong? I’ve been so busy and so happy ever since the comet, this life has been so new and different and it’s terrifying some days but better than anything I could have imagined. I feel… new. Like I don’t have any right to write about the past and all those women I was anymore.”

“But you wouldn’t be the woman you are today if you hadn’t been all those women before,” Nyrunn said, running his hand up and down the bump. “How could it be wrong for you to finally do yourself justice? To set the record straight about it all? If not for the world, but for our legacy.”

Logically, Idonea agreed, but there was still something she couldn’t quite get past.

Nyrunn hummed, face screwing up.

“What?”

“I suppose you’ll be more upset if I don’t tell you. Speaking of justice, I did receive a report just an hour ago…” Nyrunn sighed, pulling his arms back as Idonea turned to face him. “About Olaug.”

Idonea hadn’t thought about him in months, not in the present sense of him anyway. Not since she’d realized she was pregnant.

Really the only time she thought of him was when she was trying to find a way to write about her past, simply because he was such a central piece of it. For so long, without him, there’d been no her.

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