His Human Vessel (Zandian Masters 5)

“Enough,” Daneth snapped. “I will not endanger the health of the young—”

“How many pregnancies have you attended?” Her chest and chin lifted in challenge.

Daneth drew back slightly. “Only this one,” he admitted.

She pointed at her own chest. “One hundred and forty-three. I may not be a doctor, but I do know babies.”

“Get her the wine,” Zander snapped, and Leora immediately left the lab for it. “What else?” he asked Bayla.

“You need to get her out of that position,” she said, indicating Lamira’s dead beetle configuration. “Get the baby’s head off her cervix. Can you bring her to your sleepdisk where she can get comfortable?”

Zander immediately scooped up his mate, causing Daneth to jerk his instruments away before they were knocked to the ground.

Bayla stood back to let them pass. She twisted her fingers, watching Daneth grimly pack his equipment into a bag. “Forgive me, Master.”

He gave a quick shake of his head. “No. I appreciate your input. You are right. My experience is limited.” He slid a hand around her waist to guide her out of the lab. “Let’s hope your primitive methods work.”

She breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t angry with her. It was short-lived, though, because a new worry planted itself in her mind.

What if Lamira had drunk the parsley tea?

Her stomach flip flopped like a sea animal out of water. Fear seized her, making her muscles so tight she wondered how she managed to move. Her world tunneled into the smallest sphere. All she knew was that she had to stop this preterm labor. She had to stop it or she’d never be able to live with herself. Of course, living wouldn’t be an option if the prince found out she’d caused this.

They entered the prince’s chamber. “What position?” he snapped the moment she walked in.

“Knees and forearms, to tip the baby down toward your ribs.” She spoke to Lamira, who nodded and climbed into the described position.

Leora entered, followed by a servant who carried a pouch of wine with a straw. “Here’s the wine,” Leora said, taking it from the servant and bringing it to her daughter. She placed the tube in Lamira’s mouth, and Lamira sipped.

“What else?” Prince Zander was looking at her, not Daneth.

“There’s an herb.” Her heart thundered and she worked hard to draw slower breaths. “Nettle leaf? Do you have that here?”

“I’ll find out,” Lily said, and exited.

“It’s a matter of plenty of fluids and relaxation.” She climbed up beside Lamira and traced the pattern on her back again. When she found Zander glowering, she backed off. “You can do this—light figure eights on her back. Or a light stroking of her ears. It calms the system.”

Zander nodded, moving in with the determination of a man who’d trained his entire life for the task.

What else? She fought down her terror to remember what she’d learned. “Imagine there’s a dial that controls how strong the contractions are,” she instructed Lamira. “You’re going to use your mind to turn that dial down. Later, when it’s time for the baby to come, you can use it to hurry labor along, if you need. Understand?”

Lamira panted through another contraction. “I...don’t know how,” she gasped.

“Yes you do. Your mind has so much more control that you know. Simply tell your body to slow the contractions until they stop.”

Lamira grunted and panted, but her body relaxed sooner than it had the last time. She drank several swallows of the wine.

“How long must I stay like this?”

“It’s enough if you’re tired. Rest.”

The princess dropped to her side. Zander curled his much larger body around hers, cradling her from behind.

Fear still threatened to burst her chest. She wanted to ask Lamira about the tea. If she’d had some, she needed to tell Daneth so he might prepare some kind of cure. If there were any. But how did she ask without revealing her terrible secret?

Lamira lifted weary eyes to her. “Thank you,” she said. “I think it’s working.”

Bayla tried to swallow around the tight band closing her throat. “Good,” she whispered. “I’m sorry to say you must stay in bed for the rest of the pregnancy. Bed rest will reduce the chances of early labor continuing or returning.”