Kicking my heavy door open, he crossed my bedchambers in four long steps and laid me gently down on the softness of my bed. Pacing back to my window, his boots clicking on the stone floor, he looked outside.
"I don’t see the old woman," he muttered impatiently, pacing back. Sitting on the edge of my bed next to me, he grasped my hand.
"How do you feel?" He was so anxious.
I had to smile. Lucan was perfectly at home on the battlefield, but one sign of sickness or tears and he fell to pieces, at least when it came to me. He had always been that way. I reached up and brushed his dark hair away from his forehead and he leaned into my hand.
"I’m much better now, my love," I answered softly. "I’m happy to be with you."
He grinned a cocky grin, one that was still laced with concern. "Heleyne, there are better ways than this to spend time with me, I assure you."
I laughed and he laughed with me, his voice husky and rich. I felt like I could take a bath in the sound.
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A soft knock resounded on my open door and I glanced up. An old medicine woman creeped into the room, her back hunched and her face concealed by a heavy black hood. She trudged across the room, my mother following on her heels.
With one arm, she motioned Lucan to move away from me. He stood, but I could feel his reluctance as he lingered close by.
"Move," she hissed to him. "I do not want you here."
Lucan’s head jerked up and he glared at her. "Old woman, I would like to see you make me leave," he thundered. "This woman will be my wife. I will know what ails her."
The old woman turned to him, her fragile back humped grotesquely. "And you shall. You shall know when I tell you. But you will wait in the hall. Go."
The look on Lucan’s face was priceless because for once, he was speechless. The woman, who could barely be four feet tall, certainly knew no fear. I spoke up.
"My love, I will be fine. We’ll send for you when she is finished. Trust me, I feel better already."
He glared once more at the old woman before bending to brush a kiss on my forehead.
"I’ll be waiting," he assured me. I nodded and watched him stride across the room and disappear into the hall.
After he left, the old woman slowly turned to me and I gasped.
She was the same woman who had brought Cleopatra and I the deadly snakes in ancient Alexandria. Was nothing ever what it appeared? What kind of tricks were the Fates playing? Was everything simply a game to them? I turned to my mother and found the same startled look. She recognized the woman, too.
The old woman’s face was ancient, thick wrinkles lining it. She was the oldest living person that I’d ever seen. Her curled fingernails rasped against my clothing as she began to undo my buttons.
"What are you doing?" I asked, pushing her hands away. "I feel much better now. I can keep my clothing on."
"Heleyne," my mother interrupted. "Let her examine you. You really don’t look well."
I glared at my mother for a moment before allowing the old woman to continue her examination. Nausea threatened to overwhelm me with every breath that I took.
There was definitely something wrong with me.
The old crone took several minutes unbuttoning my gown and then she shoved it out of her way as she felt along my back, her calloused fingers trailing along my skin.
Goosebumps formed wherever she touched. Her fingers drifted along my spine, up to my neck, back down to my sides.
"Lie back," she instructed gruffly.
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"Your bedside manner could use some work," I grumbled as I complied with her request. My head rested in my pillows and I tried to imagine that I was anywhere other than here as the old woman’s probing hands explored every inch and orifice of my body. I kept my eyes glued to the stone ceiling as she pushed my legs apart, my thoughts firmly with Lucan.
Finally, she raised her head and stood upright.
"You will be fine," she announced matter-of-factly. "You are with child."
"With child?" My jaw dropped open. "You must be joking. You’re mistaken- that’s impossible."
I could feel my mother’s eyes frozen on me as I stared at the old woman. She nodded once again, her leathery face impassive.
"I do not make mistakes," she confirmed. "You are with child. I am certain."
She drew a handful of sage from her robes and laid it on my nightstand.
"Burn this in your rooms," she instructed. "It will ward away evil spirits. Some spirits try to take the unborn."
She turned and trudged toward the doorway. I was in too much shock to reply. My hands automatically flew to my stomach, which was still completely flat. In wonder, I flattened my hand out, gripping at my belly. Could it be true?
"I don’t know," my mother answered my silent question, crossing to sit next to me.
"I don’t see how."
"I’ve always thought that I was barren," I continued, still palming my belly. "The Fates always told me that Keepers couldn’t have children. But obviously, I’m not a Keeper, so… "
"So, maybe it is true," Guinevere acknowledged. "The Fates cannot control you as a goddess. They could only control your mortal form."
"But I’m in mortal form now," I replied in confusion. "So I don’t understand how it could be."
My mother was already shaking her head. "Your body here is mortal, but you’ve already been awakened as a goddess. As long as you are aware of it, you are a goddess no matter what body you are in."
"But how can this body be pregnant?" I wondered, still completely in awe at the idea. I would be a mother?
My mother chewed at her lip. "If I had to guess, I would say that you brought the pregnancy with you. It makes sense. You and Cadmus were together in the Spiritlands, were you not?"
My cheeks flared as I nodded. This simply wasn’t something that anyone wanted to discuss with her mother. But she was right. We had been together in the Spiritlands… beginning in Eris’ bathroom and then again in Zeus’ palace. It truly did make a pregnancy possible.
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"Then, I do think that you brought the pregnancy with you," she concluded. "Your mortal body isn’t pregnant, your true body is. Once you leave this place, Heleyne will no longer be pregnant. You will take it with you to the Spiritlands."