Chapter 156: New Anatomy

Chapter 156: Chapter 156: New Anatomy

Roberta’s office occupied the quieter end of the private medical wing, far enough from the main examination suites that Sebastian could almost forget he had been carried there in Nero’s arms while half the household watched. The room was bright with late-afternoon light and deliberately less clinical than the examination room next door, with pale wood cabinets, two upholstered chairs, a broad desk, and a wall display currently showing a scan Sebastian would have preferred not to recognize as part of himself.

He sat on the edge of the examination bed with his shirt untucked, one hand still resting low over his abdomen where the ache had settled into something dull and manageable.

Nero stood directly beside him.

He had not moved more than a meter away since the pain started.

The plum shirt he had been wearing earlier had wrinkled badly where Sebastian had grabbed him in the corridor, and several pale strands had escaped the loose knot at the back of his head. He looked less like the Crown Prince of Saha now and more like a man who had been told something might be wrong with the person he loved and had immediately forgotten everything else in the world.

Roberta enlarged one section of the scan.

"Well," she said, "congratulations."

Sebastian looked at her.

"What are you congratulating me for?"

"You have a uterus."

He stared.

Nero stared at the screen.

Roberta continued scrolling through the images with the complete calm of someone who had spent months watching impossible anatomy become increasingly possible.

Sebastian glanced toward Nero.

"Nero."

"I heard her."

"You look like you stopped understanding language."

"I’m processing." Nero tilted his head back and let out a long sigh. "Never do that again, Roberta. I thought Sebastian was pregnant because of you."

Sebastian turned his head slowly.

"You thought I was pregnant?"

"For approximately three seconds."

"With what?"

Nero looked at him as though the answer should have been obvious.

"Our child."

Sebastian’s mouth twitched.

Roberta did not even look away from the scan.

"That would be medically impressive, considering I have been telling you for months that his reproductive system is not functional yet."

"You are a physician looking at a scan of my fiancé’s reproductive organs who opened with congratulations." Nero gestured toward the display. "I thought I had somehow failed to suppress my fertility."

That got Sebastian.

He laughed, immediately regretted it when the muscles low in his abdomen tightened, and pressed his palm harder against the ache.

Nero’s expression changed at once.

"Don’t laugh."

Sebastian breathed through the cramp. "You thought you accidentally got me pregnant and somehow made it my problem."

"I thought something medically impossible had happened to the man whose body is currently doing medically impossible things."

Roberta finally looked away from the screen.

"That is annoyingly reasonable."

"Thank you."

"It does not make you pregnant," she told Sebastian.

"I had gathered that."

"And his suppression is working perfectly well."

Nero glanced at her. "Good."

Roberta’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Since we are discussing it, keep it that way."

Sebastian already knew where this was going.

Nero apparently did too.

"Roberta."

"Keep your swimmers to yourself for a while longer."

Sebastian started laughing again, more carefully this time.

Nero closed his eyes.

"I was worried about him."

"I know."

"I was not trying to impregnate him."

"I know that too. I’m taking advantage of having your full attention."

Sebastian leaned back on one hand, still grinning despite the lingering ache.

"She has a point."

Nero looked at him with wounded dignity.

"You are supposed to be on my side."

"I am. That does not make this less funny."

Nero crossed his arms over his large chest, the purple silk pulling around his arms.

"We have a wedding in a few days."

Roberta nodded. "Which is why I’m going to plan for this instead of pretending it won’t happen again."

Sebastian’s amusement faded enough for him to pay attention.

Roberta opened a drawer beside her desk and removed a small medication case.

"The contractions may disappear completely for several weeks, or you may have another episode tomorrow. Right now there is no reliable pattern." She placed the case beside Sebastian. "On the wedding morning, I want you to take the antispasmodic with breakfast whether you are hurting or not."

Sebastian glanced at the packet.

"Preventive dose?"

"Exactly. It should reduce the chance of the muscle contracting strongly enough to interfere with the ceremony, and it will not make you drowsy."

Nero was already reaching for it.

Roberta slapped his hand away.

"It is for Sebastian."

"I can carry it."

"He has pockets."

Sebastian picked up the case before the argument developed further.

"What if the pain breaks through anyway?"

"I’ll prepare a second medication for faster relief. Duncan will carry it during the ceremony, since I assume your security detail will be close enough to breathe on you."

"He will," Sebastian said.

Nero looked satisfied with that arrangement.

Roberta pulled up the wedding schedule on her tablet. "Eat properly that morning, stay hydrated, and no training the day before. I also want you sleeping more than four hours, regardless of whatever royal catastrophe Nero believes requires your attention at midnight."

Nero frowned. "Why is that directed at me?"

"Experience."

Sebastian laughed quietly.

"And if I cramp during the vows?"

Roberta considered him. "Unless you are determined to suffer for aesthetics, you stop for a few minutes."

Sebastian imagined the international audience, cameras, two royal families and enough diplomats to populate a small country.

"I would rather not."

"I assumed as much. Take the medication early, and chances are you won’t need to."

That was acceptable.

By the time they left Roberta’s office, the ache had diminished to little more than a heavy awareness low in Sebastian’s abdomen.

The corridor outside was considerably less empty than he expected.

Luke sat on one of the upholstered benches with Hale beside the wall and Duncan several steps away, tablet in hand.

Niva lay directly in front of the medical-room doors.

Her head came up the instant Sebastian appeared.

The tiger stood before anyone spoke and crossed straight toward him, pushing her broad head carefully against his thigh.

Sebastian looked down.

"She waited here?"

"The entire time," Luke said. "I attempted bribery. She was unimpressed."

Roberta stopped beside Sebastian and watched Niva sniff along his side before settling close against his leg.

"She knew you were hurting."

Nero looked at her. "How?"

"My cat does the same thing when I’m sick." Roberta nodded toward the tiger. "Animals notice changes in scent, posture, breathing. With Sebastian’s pheromones changing too, she probably realized something was wrong before the rest of you did."

Sebastian ran his hand over Niva’s head.

Her purple eyes half closed.

Luke looked toward Nero.

"So the tiger is already more medically useful than you."

Nero slipped an arm around Sebastian’s waist.

"I carried him here."

Niva pressed against Sebastian’s other side.

Sebastian sighed.

Apparently, he now required an enigma on one side and a tiger on the other just to walk through his own palace.