*Runze's POV*
The pain doesn't start as an ache. It starts as a sudden, hard twist low in my belly that tears me straight out of sleep.
I gasp, my eyes snapping open in the dark, my hands instinctively reaching down to clutch the underside of my bump. The breath locks tight in my throat as another sharp contraction ripples across my abdomen, radiating straight into the base of my spine.
Beside me, Bael is awake before I even manage to exhale.
The mattress shifts heavily under his weight, and then his hands are on me, one resting flat and firm over my knuckles where I'm clutching my stomach, the other coming behind my neck to support me as I instinctively try to curl around the pain.
"Runze." His voice is rough with sleep, but his grip is completely steady. "Breathe. Look at me."
I open my eyes, finding his dark outline in the dim nightlight. "It's… *ah*—it's sharp, Bael—"
"Lean into me," he says, his voice low and tight. "Slow down. Just breathe for me."
