Page 8 of Dark Destiny: The Turning Of The Loom

Yaaf was quiet for a long moment. "Would it be so terrible?"

She sighed. "I would love to have a child with you one day, just not right now. I haven't started to live yet, you know? I want to experience new things, and I want to become immortal, and I don't know if I can. I need to talk to a doctor." She rubbed the achy spot. "I've been having this pain on my left side. But Bridget is on maternity leave, and Julian and the nurses are busy."

The worry in Yaaf's eyes made her regret telling him. "It's probably nothing," she said. "Just stress because I'm not transitioning."

He shook his head. "You need to see Merlin. He's a fertility expert, but he's also a regular doctor, so he can check whether you're pregnant and what's wrong with your belly. Maybe something else is interfering with the transition. He can give you a thorough checkup and find out."

She didn't like what Yaaf was implying, but he was right. The nurse had said that the body needed to be healthy to survive the transition, and it made more sense that something was wrong just with her rather than with all the enclosure women.

Until this morning, she had feared for all of them, the god's hateful teachings undermining her confidence in their ability to transition at all, but there had been comfort in it being a group problem, not just her own.

If none of them could be turned, then it wasn't her failing. She wasn't responsible for what they were.

But the pain that came and went was hers alone. Something was wrong with her body, and it was holding the door shut on the transition from the inside.

Sullha couldn't decide which frightened her more, that Merlin would find something or that he would find nothing, leading her to believe she was made from inferior stock.

But she had to find out. Hiding from the answers was not an option, especially if she was pregnant.

"All right," she said before she could talk herself out of it. "I'll go see Merlin."

Yaaf looked relieved. "I think you are supposed to make an appointment. Do you want me to make it for you?"

"I can do it myself." She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the contacts until she reached Merlin's. "I'll leave him a message."

4

KHIANN

Khiann held the teacup with both hands and tried to keep his expression composed, hiding the panic threatening to pull him under.

He had complimented everything he had seen so far, including Annani's home, even though it looked completely alien to him. Nothing was familiar, and he could not tell whether that was because he did not remember what houses looked like during his short lifetime or because this place, or rather this era, was so very different from whatever he had forgotten.

The walls were smooth and pale. The windows were enormous sheets of glass, letting sunlight in, but because they were coated with a special material, he did not need eye protection indoors. He knew what glass was, but it was supposed to be small and precious and never clear, while here it was a whole wall, and it felt as if there was no separation between the house and the garden.

The furniture was less intimidating, and he wondered whether it was because not much had changed in how couches, chairs, and tables were made.

The tea was warm, the cup felt solid in his hands, and yet he could not shake the feeling that if he blinked, all of it would dissipate like a dreamscape.

Nothing felt real except for Annani.

She sat across from him, holding her teacup, and her glow was as soft as the smile on her face. When he looked at her, he felt anchored in place. She was the one solid thing he could hold on to, and he did not dare take his eyes off her for more than a few seconds.

"Is the tea to your liking?" she asked.

"It smells very good." He had not tasted it because he did not trust his hands not to shake.

"It tastes even better. You should drink it."

He nodded, and as he lifted the cup to his lips, his arm shook.

It was a small tremor, but the tea sloshed against the rim, and the cup rattled on the saucer as he lowered it back down.

Every move was a struggle.

Today marked the start of his new life, and so far, it had gone very well, but he had reached the end of what he could do, and there was no hospital bed to collapse into.

His depletion did not escape Annani's notice.