The water was warm, but it didn't help.
Leona wrung the cloth with slow, steady hands, wiping the last of his seed from her collarbone. The smell clung to her with a musky, primal and heavy scent. She didn't look at herself in the mirror. She didn't speak. Just washed until her knuckles turned pale and the water ran cloudy.
'It's so thick... No wonder they are all pregnant.'
Her uniform was stained. She folded it carefully and set it aside, slipping into a fresh one from the hall closet. Not a trace of hesitation. It wasn't the first time she'd soiled her uniform doing her duty. Just the first time that it wasn't blood.
She returned to the infirmary to find Seraphina gone. The room was dim, quiet — Nikolai's breathing was low and deep on the cleaned couch. With bandages and medicine rubbed across his chest.
Leona stepped close, checking his pulse with two fingers. Steady.
Her eyes flicked to his face.
