[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]
Thom reached out a hand to her and Marin exhaled, standing up and coming to sit with him on the bed. He wrapped both arms around her and held her for a few seconds. She felt her heart calm, her breathing evening out a little. She reached up with one hand to wipe her eyes even as the fingers of the other tangled in his sleeve.
“Are you okay?” he whispered, burying his nose in her hair.
Marin nodded, almost convulsively. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just—wow. It’s jarring, that’s all. I mean, they probably don’t even know yet.” Even as she said it, now that she actually thought about it—actual thought as the shock was starting to wear off—she realized it was absurd to think that Hecate didn’t have any kind of inkling. She was a midwife, had been trained for it since birth, regardless of what had happened to her after Olympium had come and stolen her away from her home and murdered her family.
Thom drew back, studying her, brow furrowing as if he’d sensed her thoughts. Perhaps she’d stiffened slightly or shifted her posture in another way. Either way, he was shooting her a familiarly quizzical look. “Something tells me that you just reconsidered that.”
“I did,” she said softly, squeezing his arm gently. “Hecate would know. She would know if she was pregnant. She knows what to look for.”
“There’s been a lot going on,” Thom murmured, leaning toward her again. “It’s possible she hasn’t thought about it.”
“Maybe,” Marin agreed, then sighed, straightening slightly. “Let me take my shoes off.”
“Going to stay a little while?” Thom asked.
She nodded, running her hand gently up and down his arm. “Yeah. I don’t think anyone really needs me right now—except for you and Lin, and he’s asleep.”
She felt him smile against her neck. “I always need you.”
“Right back at you,” she said softly, then kissed his temple before she leaned down to start taking off her shoes.
