Pregnant Friends on Tuesday

The rest was prolonged all the way to the next day because Katherine felt unwell. In front of Ethan, she claimed that she had to get used to traveling again and couldn't stand the road for the whole day yet. Despite this, she noticed his suspicious gaze following her throughout camp until she finally entered her tent prematurely.

"I'm so tired, Ella," Katherine complained, sprawled out on her thin mattress. "Traveling with him is like a nightmare, I just want it to be over... um, you know that you don't need to do this, right? I already feel indebted to you as it is."

Ella, who had massaged Katherine's shoulders, now went over to her legs and smiled. "As if I could leave my pregnant friend to her pain when she can't even use her magic. No, no, just lay back and relax. You would do the same for me if I was in your condition."

Katherine giggled. "Yeah, right. As if I knew how to massage someone. Did you forget I'm a spoilt princess, an only child? In the past, I could just... use my magic for such things."

Her last sentence was split by a yawn, and she rubbed her eyes. "I feel so tired already. My belly is flat like a bord, but it's sucking my energy like crazy... I hope the baby grows up well."

"It surely will." Ella ended her massage and helped the tired Katherine to turn over. When she laid on her back, Katherine's hand instinctively rested on her belly with a certain protectiveness.

"Can you believe it, Ella? I don't even know where my husband is right now, not to speak of a place to call my home. Should I just raise my child alone on the road?" She chuckled, but the knit between her brows spoke of pain. "I'll be a bad mom. I never learned all the things a mom needs to know. How do you raise a child?"

"Really, Kate." Ella raked a hand through her long hair, exasperated. She didn't even notice that she used the nickname by which she'd called her silly friend in her head all the time. "The most important part of being a good mom is simply wanting to be a good one, and the willingness to learn. That's what Lady Lerche taught me. You remember Lady Lerche and her five kids from the General's party?"

The picture of a middle-aged Lady berating her tipsy thirteen-year-old son entered Katherine's mind and her lips quirked upward. However, the amusement didn't last long. "She is so far away now... and even if we went back soon enough, how would I ask her? I don't even know her well..."

"Oh, don't worry." Ella reassuringly patted her hand. "Actually, I'm the godmother of her godchild's child - oh, you met them as well, it's Lady Sherley and her boy - anyway, it will be easy for me to make the request. I'm sure Lady Lerche will gladly impart her knowledge if you ask her. And about the distance: What do you think letters are there for? As soon as the worst here is over, you will be free to send as much as you like.

For immediate help, I learned some tricks from my friends as well, though I was never blessed with a child myself. Gods, did I ever tell you the story of how Lady Sherley suddenly gave birth when we were locked in a cave by an earthquake?"

Katherine had barely time to shake her head before Ella began to recount everything eagerly. "There was nobody else to help her but me, and it's a miracle she and her child survived. Her husband nearly passed out when he found us and saw all the blood. In the end, that's why they choose me as a godmother, though I completely panicked back then. Actually, Lady Sherley was the one who kept calm and told me step by step what to do..."

While Ella started the story, Katherine's eyelids began to droop. Soon, she was fast asleep. A smile crossed Lady Brandon's lips when she reached out to pull the blanket over Katherine. "You can't make it worse than Lady Sherley, alright? Don't exhaust yourself too much just because you are afraid to let your condition be known. I'm sure your husband will be back to fuss over you soon enough. He will prevent any mishap."

Just when Lady Bandon stood up to leave, a hand caught the rim of her dress.

"Afraid," Katherine mumbled with a voice so low that Lady Brandon wondered if she was talking in her sleep. "Stay with me."

A chuckle left Lady Brandon's lips, but she complied willingly. "Obviously, kidnappings aren't the only things that happen to me every second Monday. I will write 'pregnant friends in predicament' on the list. Wait, it's Tuesday, isn't it? Let's just hope that the week won't get full too soon."

In the middle of the night, when Lady Brandon was long asleep, Katherine began to stir. A low moan slipped past her lips, then she rolled on her side and raised an arm to throw the blanket off her upper body.

Her lips were parted, breathlessly taking in air and exhaling in small sighs. The rosy color on her cheeks was hidden by the night. So were the two small peaks that pressed against the fabric of her nightgown.

Yet, she didn't seem satisfied by that new position as well, and her legs soon moved to push the blanket down completely. With a tremble that wasn't from the cold, her thighs rubbed against each other. Her ragged breath filled the tent.

It also filled the ears of someone else.

In front of the tent crouched a person, his face pressed against the closed entrance, the hands widening the gaps between the lashes to peek inside.

He sat completely still, his breathing shallow. If anyone were awake in the tent right now, they wouldn't notice anything. They would look around and maybe wonder why the tent's entrance seemed crumpled. Only when they came closer to fix it would they notice the gleaming eye between the lashes. But when the entrance was pulled open, it would already be too late. The person would be gone.

Right now though, the eye raked over Katherine's exposed body unnoticed, taking in even the smallest tremble or movement of her chest. The ears, meanwhile, hungrily devoured her moans and sighs. Oh, how she had changed in these few months of their parting. Not only her body had grown, but she developed sides and emotions he didn't know. The little kitten had matured. It made him curious, ecstatic even. He wanted to find out everything about her again, get familiar with all the little thoughts and reactions of the one he owned.

Yet, because of some reason, she didn't want to show him all of her anymore. It was different when they were younger. She was so easily handled then, exploded or got soothed with little afford. Now, she was hiding her innermost self.

Possessiveness reared up at the pure thought of it. How could his pet hide things from him? How dare it be closer to this other woman in the tent than to the man who fed it and watched it grow? A few months shouldn't change something like that.

Another shudder raked through Katherine's body, her hands searching for someone beside her, but didn't seem satisfied with the shoulder of her friend. The person outside furrowed his brows. Did her body unconsciously call for him, feeling his presence? Maybe it was only her mind that wouldn't allow him near her during the daytime, or something insignificant like guilt or moral.

They had slept next to each other for many years when they were small, and even later, sometimes... though she wouldn't remember this, as he had sneaked into her room quietly when his insomnia stole his sleep.

Seeing her searching hands, Ethan was about to open the lashes and soothe her to sleep again, regardless of the other woman in the tent. That was when he heard her mumbling voice. "...aniel? Nathaniel?"

Ethan's hands clawed into the fabric, the knuckles white like the moonlight shining from above.