He rested his cheek on the top of her head and held her so tightly that she could scarcely breathe. He trembled against her, and it awed her that this fierce warrior had been afraid. For her. That he shook with it. It shamed her that she’d thought even for a moment that he didn’t want their child, even if it was a logical conclusion at the time.

Now she wanted confirmation. She wanted to hear it from his own lips that he was joyous over her pregnancy.

“So you’re happy about the babe?”

Her question was muffled by his chest, but he went still and then slowly drew her away so that he looked down into her eyes.

“Happy? I think happy is too mundane a word. There are many words that accurately describe my reaction. Wonder. Aye, wonder. ’Tis not something I’ve contemplated until recently, and even then I spoke as a man boasting to be boasting. It didn’t really settle with me that I would become a father until Sarah bore the news to me in the hallway. The image hit me with force enough to stagger me. I had to quit the keep and go out alone lest I completely unman myself in front of others.”

His fingers touched her cheek and grazed along her jaw.

“Fear. I was immediately filled with such fear like I’ve never felt. Fear that I wouldn’t be able to protect our child from men like Duncan Cameron. That if we had a daughter she would be as Mairin had been for most of her life. Always hiding, always living in fear of discovery. Wary of being used by a man for what she could bring through the birth of a child.”

She reached up to palm his cheek and he turned into her hand, brushing a kiss across her flesh.

“And joy, Rionna. ’Tis God’s truth I experienced a burst of joy that is indescribable. I imagined a daughter with your beauty and strength and a son with your spirit and stubbornness.”

She laughed. “And you, husband? What think you that our children will inherit from you?”

“I care not as long as they are healthy and that you deliver them free of complication.”

She hugged him again. “I’m sorry I worried you. ’Tis the truth I didn’t know I was with child, I swear it. I would have taken more care in our training.”

He clutched her shoulders and pulled her away from him, his expression one of utmost seriousness. “You’ll not lay hands on a sword again. ’Tis done with, this foolish idea of yours.”

“But, Caelen, now that we know, we can fashion our sparring so that no harm is done to our child. ’Tis important I am able to protect myself and our child.”