We have officially entered part two of Sculpted Shadows! Enjoy! This chapter is short, but it's a kicker. Enjoy and please review!

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(Jace Beleren)

The past two months have passed without major incident. We wake up, I do "Jace things" according to Lili, we eat, we sleep. I still can't get enough of her. I would ravish her daily if she'd let me. I roll out of our bed, getting ready for a council meeting.

Liliana looks so innocent when she sleeps. She curls into the fetal position, and puts her back to my stomach. It's an early morning meeting so I hope to be home by lunch. Lili mentioned that she and Chandra are going somewhere today.

As I pull off my sleep pants, Lili stirs. Her face is blood-red and she doesn't address me, she just sprints out of the room. I hear gagging and retching, and I run in there to her. I pull her hair out of her way, but it's too late. I pull it over her shoulder and softly caress her back.

"Oh, love. I'm sorry you don't feel well."

I wet a washcloth and press it to her forehead, she slumps against me.

"I feel terrible."

"I'm calling off the meeting. I'm staying home."

"No, Jace. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."

"Yes, Liliana. I'm going to take care of you whether you want me to or not."

I just begin to run a tub of water while she continues to retch. There's not much on her stomach so it's all coming up as dry-heave.

"I want you in that tub of water and I'm going to make you some tea. No more lip. I'm staying with you until you feel better, besides, it was just going to be Ral and Gideon, Ral thinks he has a lead on something. If you feel better, they can come later on during the day."

I wash the vomit from her long, black hair. She's not talking, her face is still flushed and I can tell she's just not feeling well at all. She stands, I run a towel through her hair, and then she hitches it up under her underarms. I pull my sleep pants back on as she's pulling a new cotton nightgown. Her body is shaking, so I wrap her in a blanket and then in my arms, and she falls asleep almost instantly.

When I wake up again, Liliana is still asleep, so I don't wake her. Instead, I go to the kitchen and paw around. While I'm in council meeting, Lili goes to market and keeps the house well stocked with food, and I'm not disappointed when I open the cabinet. I lived on Veldalken takeout for the year that she wasn't here, and before that, Kal cooked. I can't boil water without burning it. But, seeing as how my love is sick and she needs to get something on her stomach, I am going to try. I throw some chicken broth in a pot and chop up some carrots and potatoes and put those in as well. When I walk up to the room to check on her, she's dry-heaving into the bucket I put next to our bed.

"Still not feeling well, my love?"

"No, just feeling tired and nauseated, and I have no idea as to why. The muscles in my back are sore from throwing up. I just feel bad."

I head back downstairs to find that the vegetable soup has cooked without burning, and bring her a bowl upstairs. She has a look on her face that shows some emotion I can't quite pick out, but it's short lived. She takes the bowl from me and smiles.

"Don't start cooking now, I might get used to it."

"I brought you wine, too…"

"I hate to be picky, Jace, but can I have water?"

"Sure, but I thought this might settle your stomach."

I sit the glass to the side and head downstairs, coming back up with a glass of water. I sit on the edge of the bed while she sips the soup. I lean over and plant a kiss on her forehead, when we are interrupted by a knock on the door.

I TOLD them not to come by today. Idiots.

"I called them, Jace. Go do what you need to do with the council meeting."

I swear this woman will be the death of me.

I go open the door, and Gideon, Chandra, and Ral are in my doorway. I roll my eyes and let them pass, Gideon has flowers, lilies, he thinks he's being clever. Ral has the same look on his face that I do. Maybe we are cut from the same cloth. Lili comes downstairs wrapped in her robe, looking pale. I give her a pointed look and then point at the chair. She rolls her eyes at me, but sits all the same.

We gather around the table, and Ral speaks first.

"We found a Dimir agent, just lurking around the SunHome. We questioned him, but no avail. Niv wants to see if you can dip into his mind and figure out what's going on. He needs you there tomorrow, no excuses. Not that you're an excuse, Liliana, but you understand what I mean."

She nods, amused at Ral trying to cover his ass. Gideon and Chandra sip their mead, Chandra giving Lili a curious look.

"Of course, do you have any clue as to why he was prowling around?"

"He was mumbling about finding 'them', but no clue who 'they' are."

"I'll see what I can find out, we need to put a stop to them before they get a hold on anything," I pause, taking a sip of wine. Lili gets up from the table, obviously sick again. I make to get up, but Chandra tells me to sit and continue discussing the Dimir."

She takes the stairs two at a time.

"Anything else, Ral? Gideon?"

"Yes, the other guilds are still questioning your ability to lead; they think it looks bad on the city that the leader is living with someone out of wedlock."

"We didn't want to say anything in front of Liliana, and obviously we can't force you to do anything, but you have the information."

"They will always question my ability to lead, regardless. But as for the other thing, I was planning on it anyways. I'm looking for a ring right now."

"Really, Jace?"

"Yes. I was planning on talking to Niv about it and then asking."

"Are you sure?"

"About her? Absolutely. Never been more sure of anything else in my life."

"About marriage, Jace."

"I'm sure. The ball is totally in her court. We've talked about my intentions before."

"How does she feel about it?"

"I'm not sure, I've stopped reading her mind unless we're.. Nevermind. I stopped reading her mind, I'm giving her privacy."

"Noble, Jace."

"I don't think she'd hide anything from me."

"Really?"

"Really." I say in a very final way.

(Liliana Vess)

Chandra is holding my hair whilst the contents of my stomach make their appearance. We've been friends for a few months now, plus she's a woman. I can go to her about these types of things.

She's rubbing my back and giving me this quizzical look.

"You drank water instead of wine, you're sick at your stomach. You've been sleeping more the past month than you have in years. Jace says you haven't really been eating all that much. Is there something you know that I don't?"

I rub my temples, slowly. My head is pounding. I don't want to go where she's thinking. There's no possible way, anyways. Chandra's loud voice pierces the air again when I don't answer.

"Liliana, are you pregnant?"