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"Pregnant?" Eltanin snapped his head towards Tania so hard that the bones cracked. Blood drained from his face as his mouth fell into the shape of 'O'. Every thought vanished from his mind and it became numb. The king of Draka froze in his place. "T-Tania?" he sputtered.
Tania too was shocked to hear it from Tabit and Fafnir. "What do you mean that I am pregnant? How do you know?"
Tabit stared at Tania with a raised eyebrow and then slowly turned her face to look at Fafnir, who was equally flabbergasted. He looked so scared that he didn't know what to say. This was the third time in the past few hours that words left him. Dumbstruck, he shook his head, hoping that Tabit helped him.
"Tabit?" Tania called her rather loudly. "Explain yourself!"
Ever since Tabit had entered the room, she was smelling a sweet almond smell mixed with Tania's citrusy scent. It was the typical smell of a pregnant woman, one that she had smelled when Meissa was also pregnant. However, over the few months, Meissa's scent changed more. This was the scent emitted by the pregnant women during the time when they just conceived. Wasn't it evident to anyone else? Why were they so surprised? Or were they keeping it a secret?
"You smell like sweet almonds, Tania," she replied slowly, carefully.
"Yes, that is the scent even I can smell," Fafnir added.
"What are you going to do, Elty?" she asked him. She doubted that her husband was going to come up with something really silly.
And silly he came up with. Half an hour later, he took a soft blanket and wrapped it around her belly. He took another one and wrapped it around her chest and then one around her legs. "What the hell are you doing?" Tania chided him.
He scooped her in his arms and said, "I am making sure that you don't get affected by all the bounces on the road. The road is bumpy and I don't want you to get any jerks!" Saying that he carried her to the carriage as everyone around them looked at their king wondering if he had gone insane.
Tabit and Fafnir watched Eltanin taking Tania like that. Tabit wanted to stop Eltanin from doing all that but the king was too stubborn. He wouldn't listen to a word from anyone else when it came to protecting his wife, and now his wife was expecting. Even God won't be able to sway his decision.
On his way to the carriage, he said to Fafnir, "If Tabit's information is correct, then I am giving you a double raise."
Fafnir's heart somersaulted. More money for his mate. He bowed to his king with a smile and crossed his fingers, praying to the deities that Tania be pregnant.
As the carriage started, the soldiers saw even something stranger. General Fafnir who was never ever seen with a woman was now riding with a girl in front of him and apparently that girl was no one else, but Princess Tabit.
Fafnir grabbed his mate's waist tightly, very tightly, even though they were accompanying a very slow carriage. The king had ordered everyone to go at a snail pace. Excruciatingly slow pace, it was.
"You don't have to hold me so tightly," Tabit murmured, feeling awkward.