Page 23 of Frost and Death
“Let me get some help,” she says, rocking on her heels to stand.
“Wait!” I try to blurt after her, but my voice runs dry.
Caution prickles up my spine as seconds pass before the sound of footsteps fills my chambers again. And somehow, I know in my bones it is Niko.
The man I have feelings for—but try tonothave feelings for—fills in the doorway, watching me clutch a chamber pot for dear life.
Real smooth, Tove.
Betina hovers beside Niko, apologetically grimacing. “He heard me holler your name.”
He glares at her before surveying me, and it takes everything to make it appear like the floor is where I’m meant to be.
When I peer up at Niko, he isn’t even looking at me.
He is looking at my chest.
My eyes widen in mortification as the slip I wear is thin and sheer. Agony explodes in my lower stomach when I try to cover myself even more.
Betina squeezes through the opening, kneeling and stroking hair from my face. “Oh, dear, the pain must be bad this time around.”
“What do you mean? What is wrong with her?” Niko asks.
It is not any of his business to know the details of my cycle, so I ignore his question.
I grip onto Betina, keeping her deepened umber eyes fixed on me, trying to convey I don’t want him to know anything. Especially with last night still hanging over me.
But worry lines Betina’s features, and my heart tugs.
I garner my strength to reassure her, struggling to form a cohesive sentence.
Trembling through each word, I tell her, “I just need food and medicine. I’ll be fine, Betina.”
She combs through my hair, the soothing touch dulling the pain. I close my eyes in gratitude as she wipes the sweat from my brow. Deities, what would I do without her?
Her lips meet my forehead as she whispers, “I’ll fetch you some medicine with honey to pair with the food I brought up.”
Betina’s warmth leaves me, taking the brief relief with her. I contort in pain, not from my monthly bleeding but from my lady-in-waiting leaving me alone withhim.
Niko leans against the doorframe. “Is this because you had wine last night?”
I want to protect my heart right now andnotthink about last night. But anger rolls through me as he crosses his arms, and I can’t even mask away my embarrassment as a twist of my insides sends me reeling.
I hiss, “It’s not that. It’s my cycle.”
“Oh,” he says into the quiet.
I blink slowly through my breath evening as Niko’s eyebrows shoot up. “Oh.”
Spouting a laugh, I agree, “Yeah,OH.”
I flinch as the gnawing in my ovaries grows from an aching sensation to a punching one. I shrink into myself more, wishing it is enough of a dismissal to Niko.
Instead, his baritone voice comes out in a tender whisper. “What can I do?”
I want to let go of last night, and the damn contractions of my muscles have me admitting more than I would like to. Playing tough, I fight against my heart for wanting to let him off easy.
“Don’t worry about it. I can manage,” I grit out.
