*Briella*
I paced the length of my chamber, each step echoing loudly off the walls. I could barely hear it over the thundering of my heart. Outside, the sky rumbled with discontent.
“Believe me, I feel it too,” I mumbled to myself.
Thunder cracked sharply, a whip in the heavens that made me flinch. I was a week overdue, my belly swollen and heavy, and every peal of thunder seemed to mock my growing unease.
"Please, just sit down," Kai pleaded from where he sat by the fire, his concern etched into the fine lines around his eyes. "You're only going to tire yourself out more."
"I can't help it," I said, stopping to rub my lower back. My hands, once accustomed to the weight of a sword, now served to soothe the persistent ache that had taken up residence in my spine. "The waiting, the silence between the thunder… It's all too much."
