The months passed gently at first.
Aria's body changed slowly, the way Cress had once told her bodies were supposed to change, before the chair had ever entered into the question. She grew tired earlier in the evenings. She found herself craving the tart apples from the western orchard at strange hours. Kael took to bringing them to her without being asked, a small basket appearing at her elbow whenever she sat too long with her hand pressed to her stomach.
But in the fourth month, Iola came to her with a furrowed brow and an old book under her arm.
"I have been reading Cress's notes," Iola said, setting the book on the table in the round room. "The ones she left about the seal and the body that carries it. I want to show you something, and I do not want you to be afraid, but I also do
