Page 116 of Bonded Chaos

I staggered toward the edge of the training grounds as I clutched my stomach. I only just made it to the shade of the nearby trees before I doubled over, retching violently.

Riordan followed behind, and his concern quickly turned to laughter.

“Please tell me Cadence finally poisoned you,” he teased.

I glared up at him through watery eyes as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

“Fuck off, Riordan.”

This only made him laugh harder.

“Seriously though, what’s wrong? Did you eat something questionable at breakfast?”

The thought of food made me groan as nausea churned my gut. I sank to the ground and closed my eyes as I rested against the tree. Sweat coated my brow, and I had to focus on my breathing to dispel the bile threatening to come up.

“Do you want me to fetch a healer?”

“I’m fine,” I muttered, not at all sure that I was.

“You don’t look fine,” said Eamon, joining the conversation.

“Should I get Cadence?” Malesh asked.

Cadence.

An odd sensation flared inside me at the mention of my mate, and the nausea began to fade. It wasn’t gone completely, but it was as if I was experiencing it second-hand.

I cracked open one eye and then the other.

The bond surged again, and I realized with a start that the nauseous feeling was not coming from me.

I could feel Cadence through the bond.

“It’s not me,” I murmured.

“What?” Riordan asked.

“It’s not me,” I repeated. “It’s Cadence. She’s sick, and I can feel it through the bond.”

“She didn’t seem sick this morning,” Riordan mused.

“Fae rarely get sick,” Eamon added.

“Not unless she’s pregnant,” Malesh muttered to himself.

The word jolted through me, setting me ablaze from the inside.

Could she be?

I couldn’t stop the slow grin spreading across my face.

“Ryker,” Riordan growled. “What the fuck did you do?”

Chapter Forty-Seven

Cadence

Once I’d finished dispelling my breakfast, I dragged myself back to bed. I performed a cursory evaluation of my body and was relieved when I detected no poison in my system. I stilldidn’t understand why I was feeling so unwell, but I figured I could make a proper assessment after my nap.

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