Page 11 of I Dated the Lost Song

“You should let Klauz pick. He’s really good and very nice.”

“He’s busy. I am a repeating annoyance.”

They reached the lab level, and Zera was waiting for them. “Cadence. How are you feeling?”

“Fine.”

Arcady said, “She threw up yesterday’s meal. She always had a nervous stomach around secrets.”

Cadence snorted. “You are right. That hasn’t changed.”

Zera took her hand, blinked, and slowly let it go. “Let’s go get the tests done. There will be bloodwork, a weigh-in, and an internal ultrasound.”

“Delightful.”

They went to the exam room, and Dr. Amber was there, administering the tests and sending the blood vial off with Arcady. The internal ultrasound was done, and the peppercorn speck of the embryo was starting.

Cadence sat up as soon as the wand was out. “Only thirty-nine weeks to go.”

Dr. Amber looked at some of the reports. “You are eating?”

“I set a timer for lunch and dinner.”

“Nothing else?”

Cadence sighed. “I forget. It isn’t important when I get up. I have trouble getting started in the morning without a ton of caffeine, but in the contract, it said I had to abstain. I am really trying, but I can’t think, and it’s like walking underwater half the time. My head hurts, and I am nauseated.”

Dr. Amber frowned in concern. “Fruit juice. Start the morning with fruit juice. Fresh if you can get it.”

“Hah. Not fucking likely. I have been given the easiest setup imaginable, and I am still screwing it up.” Cadence snorted. “Feeding myself has always been a battle. Feeding my passenger is going to be difficult.”

Arcady asked, “What?”

“I can’t eat when I am stressed, and this situation stresses me out more than I thought when I signed the contract. I have no idea who I am growing.”

Dr. Amber took the test results and smiled. “Your levels are climbing well. Give it another week, and if other arrangements need to be made, they will be. But that said, congratulations, you are pregnant.”

She smiled weakly. “Oh. Good.”

Dr. Amber put her hand on Cadence’s knee. “You are carrying the child of a very good man. He saved millions of lives over his career. Aksalla promised him the one thing he couldn’t find: a partner. Their seers had determined that if he remained here, a partner would present herself. He volunteered to be put into stasis until she showed up. He had been promised an heir. Aksalla’s promise was an heir for him.”

“I thought his girlfriend had lost two pregnancies.”

“Two prior attempts have been made. The sperm shredded right through the egg in one and exploded another.”

“They were industrious bastards.”

Dr. Amber nodded. “If you have spare time, learn Toulan. You might enjoy a new project.”

Kritz looked at Dr. Amber in surprise.

“Um. Thanks. I need things to distract me now that my schedule is gone.”

The doctor looked at her kindly. “Walk me through your day.”

“I wake up, go to the gym, shower, go for lunch, come back, write music for four hours, my alarm tells me when it’s time to go for dinner. I come back and write more music until I am tired and need to sleep.”

Dr. Amber smiled and touched her cheek. “I think we need to get you someone to help you hang on by that thread.”

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