Fenric's arms were around me before my head even hit the pillows. He tucked me against his chest, his large hands acting like a solid anchor while the rest of the world felt like it was spinning down a whirlpool.
Tell me this isn't happening.
"Fifty days?" Noah's voice rose, his tail performing a frantic, anxious twitch. "That's less than two months! I haven't even finished the nursery expansion!"
"And I haven't even started the security detail for the water-access points," Fenric added, his red eyes wide with a rare flash of genuine panic.
I stared at the ceiling, my fingers digging into the furs. Thirty-three days. I had thirty-three days until whatever was currently demanding sea-berries decided to make its grand entrance. My mind raced through a mental blueprint of the palace—we needed a specialized birthing pool, we needed healers who understood aquatic physiology, and I definitely needed a lot more of those translucent blue berries.
