She looked a little pissed, a little dazed.

“It’s done,” he said gently.

“What’s done?”

He rested a hand on her belly.

She stared up at him. “Done? But . . . how? When?”

He laughed. “When you were watching the ground come up to meet us.”

“Who said I was watching?” She blew out a breath and finally began to relax. “Well, that was a unique experience.”

He watched the tension build in her and worried about the grim expression that settled over her face.

“Lucivar,” she said, staring at the ceiling. “When I asked Uncle Saetan to arrange this, I wasn’t thinking about . . . I wasn’t thinking. But it’s not my fertile time. I swear it’s not.”

“It’s all right. I’ve been drinking a contraceptive brew for a few weeks now.” He’d never had to think about it when he’d lived in Terreille, never had to wonder if the bitches who had used him could get a child out of him. He’d known that he’d somehow made himself infertile in a way the witches who had wanted him for stud couldn’t undo. Just as he’d known within a week of Marian’s coming to live in his eyrie that he’d turned the key in that lock so that he could flood her with ripe seed. He wanted a child with her, but not without a bond, not without commitment.

“Why are you drinking a contraceptive brew?” Karla asked. Her eyes widened. “You have a lover, don’t you?”

“No.”

She moved fast, surprising him enough that he ended up on his back with her on top of him.

“Who is it?” Her mouth curved in a wicked smile. “It’s the hearth witch, isn’t it? The one you made the garden for.”

Just the thought of Marian primed him. He shoved Karla off him and slipped out of bed while he still could. “Let’s get cleaned up.”

“Cleaned—” Karla flipped the sheet back. “Oh.”

When she turned pale, he grabbed her arm and dragged her out of bed and into the bathroom.

“There’s no need to get snarly about it,” Karla said.

He turned on the shower faucets, waited until there was a hint of hot water, picked her up, and planted her under the spray.

She let out one breathless squeal and tried to punch him when he stepped in behind her.

He soaped one cloth and shoved it into her hands. “Wash.” Soaping up another one, he spun her around and started on her back.

“If you’ve been drinking the contraceptive brew for weeks now, you’re safe,” Karla said as she washed her breasts and belly. “So why aren’t you lovers yet? You want her, don’t you?”

“What I want doesn’t matter,” he growled.

Swiping the hair out of her eyes, she turned to face him. “Does she want you?”