“Ebba,” he whispered as if he were tasting the name, like it was fresh water after not drinking for an entire day. “Ebba, you’re awake.”

There was more ruckus downstairs as multiple other people began climbing into the loft. My mother’s voice, loud, demanding, and totally in charge, ordered everyone to give me room as a group of people huddled around my bedside. My father, my mother, the town healer, Soren, and a man that I didn’t know but had the strange feeling I should. He also, like me, took after our father with his dark skin and curly hair, and he might’ve been a few years older. Did I have a brother?

The healer bent down, feeling my forehead with the back of her hand. “You gave us quite the scare, child.”

“I— What— What’s going on?” This was too much. Too much information trying to cram itself into my head and my head wouldn’t let it. It was too different, wrong, yet also so, so familiar and so, so right.

“Do you not remember?” My mother fussed over me. My mother never fussed over me. We had a cordial relationship, but there’d always been distance. Whether it was because I was meant to be a boy or because I was meant to be given to the Permafrost when I reached my majority, I’d never know. Not in this world, at least. I didn’t blame her. Living with the knowledge your child was going to be ripped from your grasp for years probably meant some unintentional emotional boundaries. “You fainted, caught a fever. You’ve been asleep for two weeks.”

Two weeks? Asleep? I blinked again, trying to clear the gunk from my gummy eyes. “I—what?”

The healer held up her hand. “It’s possible her brain needs a chance to recover. The fever was strong and likely affected her memory and thinking capabilities. She’ll be back to normal soon.”

“Magda,” the human Soren said, “what about…?” He trailed off, anxiety written plainly on his face in a way it never would have in the Permafrost.

Magda pressed her hand on my lower belly; there was a small but noticeable bump between my hips. “If the child survived the fever without miscarriage, then it should be fine.”

Child? I was with child? My hand went down to press against the small bump. It was more solid than the rest of me, definitely not distended gas or from eating too much. The moment my hand brushed against it, a fierceness flooded through me, stronger than I’d ever known before. A child. With Soren?