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"Thank you." I gesture to the counter, not trusting myself to walk over. "Just set them there."
Kai pauses, her head tilting as her gaze sweeps over me. At forty-something, she wears her silver-streaked dark hair in a long braid, and her brown eyes miss nothing. Those eyes narrow now as she studies me.
"You're sick," she says simply, setting down her bundles and crossing to me in three quick strides. Her cool hand presses against my forehead. "No fever, but you're clammy. How long?"
"It's nothing," I insist, stepping back from her touch. "A passing thing."
"Five days isn't passing." The voice comes from the doorway where Tomas, the carpenter's son, stands with sawdust still clinging to his clothes. He's one of my only friends—though his disapproval of Araton has started to drive a wedge between us. "She's been green around the gills since last week. Been watching her rush outside to heave when she thinks nobody's looking."
I glare at him. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Just came for nails," Tomas says, unbothered by my anger. "And maybe to make sure you don't collapse on your customers."
Kai's expression grows more concerned. "Five days of vomiting? Any other symptoms?"
"I'm fine." I move to straighten a display of lantern oil, hoping physical activity will distract them. "Just something I ate disagreeing with me."
"For five days?" Kai follows me, undeterred. "Exhaustion? Dizziness?"
I sigh, recognizing the healer's tenacity. "Maybe a little."
"She nearly fainted yesterday bringing in a crate," adds Eloise, our elderly seamstress, who apparently entered while I was distracted by my misery. "Had to sit with her head between her knees for ten minutes."
"Thank you for the privacy," I mutter, mortified as more customers filter in, all suddenly experts on my health.
"Let me examine you," Kai says, her voice dropping to a level only I can hear. "Whatever it is, it's not improving on its own."
"I can't close the shop," I protest weakly.
"I'll mind it," offers Eloise. "Done it before when you traveled for supplies."
Trapped by their concern, I finally nod. Kai guides me to the small storeroom at the back of the shop, her arm steady around my waist. The irony isn't lost on me—I've spent a lifetime avoiding dependence on others, yet here I am, too weak to argue.
"Sit," she commands, closing the door behind us. The small space is crowded with crates and barrels, but there's a stool in the corner where I sometimes rest between restocking shelves.
I perch on it, feeling oddly vulnerable as Kai kneels before me, her experienced hands checking my pulse at the wrist.
"When did this start exactly?" she asks, fingers moving to press gently beneath my jaw, checking for swollen glands.
"About a week ago. Just woke up queasy." I swallow hard as another wave of nausea rolls through me. "Thought it would pass."
Kai's hands move to my abdomen, pressing gently. "Any pain here?"
"No. Just the nausea and dizziness." I close my eyes as she continues her examination. "And exhaustion. I can barely keep my eyes open past sundown."
"Hmm." Her fingers press more deliberately now, moving lower on my abdomen. "And when was your last bleeding?"
The question catches me off guard. I open my mouth to answer, then close it. I try to remember, counting backwards through the weeks. A cold realization washes over me.
"I... I'm not sure," I admit, my voice barely audible even to my own ears. "With the trade disruptions and extra inventory work, I haven't been keeping track."
Kai says nothing, but her eyes meet mine with a look that sends ice through my veins.
"It can't be that," I whisper, panic rising. "It's impossible."
Even as I say the words, I know they're a lie. Nothing is impossible, especially not with a xaphan who visits monthly like clockwork—whose heat I welcomed into my body without precaution, believing that we couldn't…right? Their magic surely wouldn't be suited for a human body.
"Let me finish examining you before we jump to conclusions," Kai says, her voice calm and professional. But I can see it in her eyes—the same suspicion that's now screaming in my mind.