Twilight's Dawn

lazily, and so thoroughly he made her feel things she hadn’t ever dreamed were possible.

SIX

    F our days after her night with Daemon, Surreal caught the Gray Wind and headed for Amdarh, intending to spend a few days at the family’s town house. She had barely reached the town beyond Halaway when she felt a pain in her abdomen—a pain more severe than the worst moontime cramps she’d ever experienced. A pain so severe she almost tumbled from the Gray Web.
    Shaken, she dropped from the Winds and waited for the pain to subside. Then she continued on to Amdarh, riding the Green Winds.
    A day after that, just wearing her Gray Jewels caused her the same kind of pain as trying to use her Gray power during her moontime, and even wearing her Birthright Green made her queasy.
    A day after that, she used Craft without thinking and threw up on the sitting room rug—and became so weak and dizzy, Helton found her lying in her own vomit a few minutes later.
    Helton panicked, along with the rest of the town house’s staff, and Healers converged on the SaDiablo residence, including Lady Zhara’s personal Healer.
    She answered all their questions truthfully, except one.
    Despite her protests that it couldn’t have happened, every single Healer assured her that it had.
    So she stayed in bed resting for a day, putting up with Helton’s fussing to make up for scaring the man so badly.
    For herself, she was excited—and she was scared.
    And she was terrified of what would happen when she told Sadi.

SEVEN

    S urreal walked into the Hall early the next morning and gave Beale a bright smile. “Good morning, Beale.”
    The flash of alarm on Beale’s face before he regained control confirmed that her mirror hadn’t lied—she looked as washed-out and sickly as she felt, and she was becoming more fragile with every hour that passed. That was why she had to act before she lost the reason to act.
    “I need to see Sadi,” she said, tipping her head toward the study door at the back of the great hall. “Is he there?”
    “Yes.” Beale hesitated. “Should I send for the village Healer? Or your personal Healer in Amdarh?”
    “Saw my Healer yesterday. Today I need to talk to Sadi.” Now it was her turn to hesitate, but she had to consider the tempers she would be dealing with today. “Prince Yaslana is supposed to see me this morning. I left a message at my house that I would be here. You know how early he can arrive, and I didn’t want him getting snarly if he didn’t find me at home, so . . .”
    “I’ll be certain to let him know your whereabouts the moment he arrives,” Beale said.
    Maybe he meant to sound reassuring, but as she walked to Sadi’s study, she thought Beale’s words sounded more like a threat.
    Daemon didn’t look up when she entered the room, but he said, “Good morning. Beale said you were here. I don’t think there is anything today that requires my second-in-command’s attention, but you can check with Holt if you like. Let me finish this up, and then I can join you for a quick meal in the breakfast—”
    He looked up at that moment. He dropped the pen back in its holder and pushed away from the desk.
    “I need to talk to you.” She hated feeling so fragile—and hated even more how much that fragility scared her, because all the Healers had warned her that it would take so little right now to destroy the life beginning to grow inside her.
    “What’s wrong?” He moved toward her with a speed that had her backing up against the door. “Are you ill? Have you seen a Healer?”
    “No, I’m not ill. Yes, I’ve seen a Healer. Sadi, I’m—”
    “Come over here and sit down. You’re—”
    “—pregnant.”
    He jerked to a stop, then took a step back.
    Not Daemon anymore , she thought as she watched his eyes change. May the Darkness have mercy on me, whatever he is right now is more—and worse—than the Sadist.
    “Pregnant.” His voice was cold and viciously gentle. He took another step back and slipped his hands in his trousers pockets.
    “I don’t expect anything from you,” she said quickly. “That’s not why I’m here. I just wanted you to know that I won’t deny that you’re the baby’s father. When it’s time for the Birthright Ceremony, I won’t deny paternity. You have my word, Sadi. I won’t do that to you.”
    “You’re not leaving with my child,” he said too softly.
    “Well, it’s a little small to be staying here without me,” she