Page 48 of Arthur

“Don’t get too comfortable,” Arthur told me. “Here, you need to drink this,” he said as he held out a mug of quite familiar tea. I took it, my hands a bit steadier now than they were just moments ago, but they still weren’t strong enough that I would trust myself to carry a newborn baby.

“Is it the one that will make me sleep?”

“Not as of yet. If you keep having sickness, we might have to resort to that. This is the one that will calm your stomach. It’s all you have ever required, but each pregnancy is different, and I’m simply trying to remain open to things changing drastically.”

He wasn’t wrong. With every pregnancy, I’d had at least some sickness. But the tea had always been more than enough to keep my stomach under control. I hoped that would remain the case because I was too busy to have to take the one that made omegas and carriers sleep all of the time. I didn’t have time for that.

I took a sip of the tea, closing my eyes and sighing as the warm brew coated my tongue and then my throat as I swallowed. It helped soothe the burning sensation from having just retched, and I was thankful for the change in not only sensation but taste in the back of my mouth.

I drank several more sips before I laid my head on Arthur’s shoulder and closed my eyes. “I’m pregnant, Arthur.”

I felt Arthur chuckling. I would try to glare at him if I had the energy, but I simply didn’t have it at the moment.

“Yes. That can be a result of a carrier spending a fertile period with a sire. That is how we’ve gotten our four other children.”

That comment earned him a very weak and playful tap on the middle of his chest. “I’m aware of that. But Edric is eight. I’ve not gotten pregnant since I gave birth to him.”

“True. But we’re an older couple. It’s not unheard of for couples our ages to either not have more children or to have them quite spaced apart.”

I nodded and then took another drink. “True.” I thought about it a moment. “Five is a good number,” I said. It was how many Edison and Wallace had.

“It is. I’ve always said we would have as many as you wanted and we were blessed with. If you wish to have five more, I’ll be there to support you in all ways and make sure it happens.”

Another reason to love this man. He had never had a negative thought toward me. When he found me in Zürich all those centuries ago, I was incredibly young, could only do very basic magic, and had been incredibly inexperienced in not only sexual relations but life in general. Arthur hadn’t thought less of me for it. In fact, he’d simply loved me, helped me explore myself sexually, and we’d immediately started working on my magical abilities.

“I love you,” I said quietly. I knew he heard me though. His arms tightened around me. I smiled, took another drink of tea,and then rested my head again. “Do you think it will stay? The pregnancy, I mean.”

“I’m not going to even entertain anything otherwise. You have never lost a pregnancy; I don’t believe you will this time. In a little over four months, we will welcome another bundle of happiness into our lives, and we’ll love him as much as we love all of our children.”

My smile grew. He was correct, of course. “It makes so much sense,” I said.

“What does?”

“Sorry, I’m still tired.” I glanced down at the tea and wondered if he’d mixed them up by accident.

“The tea isn’t the sleepy one. Your body is still recovering, not only from your fertile period but also the fact that you were just sick. That takes a lot of energy from you.”

It was my turn to chuckle. “That’s what I was meaning before. It now made sense as to why I haven’t recovered from my last fertile period. I’m pregnant, and my body is sending energy elsewhere.”

“Yes. You will need to eat snacks. Many, like you did when you were pregnant with Edric.”

I nodded but groaned at the same time. For the first month when I was pregnant with Edric, I’d been incredibly tired and had to eat often. I’d felt as if that was all I did, and it made me feel stuffed all of the time. But it was only for a few weeks’ time, and if that was what I had to do in order to give Arthur another son, I would.

“Fruit is always good,” I said.

“Yes, but perhaps some cheese and crackers. Maybe some small bites of meats as well.”

I grinned. “I’m always down for a good charcuterie board, and you know that.”

Arthur chuckled again. “Would you like to start now?”

“What time is it?”

“Around eleven. It’s not yet quite lunchtime. If you’d like something smaller, I could get you some toast or perhaps a bagel?”

I sat up, feeling better now that I’d drank the majority of my tea and had rested on Arthur’s lap.

“Maybe some toast and jam? I’d like to try and have lunch with you and see how things go. Perhaps I got sick because I didn’t eat anything yet this morning. Or maybe I’m going to have to do as you suggested. It’s not my favorite thing, but when it comes to being pregnant, we’re not always given much of a choice.”