"Your highness, forgive me. I didn't mean to speak out of turn," Nieah rushed to add when Circe's silence stretched on. The princess's brows had furrowed, her expression turning inward in a way that made it clear her thoughts were spiraling.
"No." Circe shook her head, as though physically trying to scatter the worries forming in her mind. She refocused on Nieah. "No, you are right."
But even as she said it, the words sounded fragile to her own ears.
Nieah did not look convinced. Her gaze remained steady, quietly assessing Circe. She drifted closer to where the princess was crouching, lowering her voice so no one lingering nearby would overhear. Her next words were meant for Circe alone.
"There are ways to prevent it," she murmured. "Some of the maids… they sometimes choose to become intimate with a guard or another servant. Those women have no intention of becoming with child, so they take certain herbs to prevent it. I'm usually the one they come to for such things."
