Page 96 of Broken Souls

She shakes her head. “I shouldn’t have brought her out to fight you. When the wards came down… I assumed it was you. You were back early. Not part of the family… I did not think one of my own boys… That Talon might have set a trigger for the wards to come down when you returned. I am sorry, Micha.” She looks up at me now, her eyes dry but still so full of pain. “And I am sorry that my interpretation of what I saw led to your torture.”

I swallow hard as I force a flippant shrug. I don’t know if I want to accept her apology just yet. She acted exactly how I would have. You don’t talk to a strong opponent; you hit hard and fast and hope like hel you catch them off guard. She didn’t have time to ask questions when the wolves were closing in on us. If I was the traitor, and she tried, I would have killed her. But still…she’s the bitch who caused Varius to mistrust me.

Looking at the dead beast, I focus on why I’m here. “Was the…” ‘Thing,’ though, seems rude to say. As does ‘monster,’ so I gesture at the snake-bat instead.

“Monmon,” she says as her eyes dip back to the creature.

“Was it a pet?”

“You cannot own a creature from the Plane of Monsters,” she says. “Even Olivia, who lives in the kitchen counter now that her body is gone, is not a pet.”

I blink. Oh my gods, that makes so much sense. “You used dark magic to trap a monster in your counter?”

“To save her,” she corrects. “She got infected from the poison of a kelorara.”

“What is she?”

“An echnida.”

“Wait, what?”

She smiles wryly. “Not the tiny animals you’re thinking of. Olivia is the offspring of Echidna herself.”

My jaw drops. “The Mother of Monsters?”

She nods.

“Shit. So is that what she looks like? Half human, half snake?” I hesitate a second, then ask, “Is she a human?” A creature that can take a full humanoid shape regardless of its origins.

She shakes her head. “No. She looks more like a praying mantis mixed with a xenomorph. And she has a humanoid shape, but she isn’t human.”

My heart stops at the word ‘xenomoph.’ Is that what Varius is? “Can I see her?” I ask nervously.

“She isn’t a thing to be brought out for our amusement.”

“Shit. Of course not. I was just…”Wondering what I can expect when the baby pops out of my stomach.“So why is she not considered a human if she has a humanoid shape?” I ask instead. “Isn’t that the definition of what a human is? Anything created in the image of a god?”

“It’s the layman’s definition, yes. But humans are given a humanoid shape first and another form second. Monsters are beasts, created to be wild and untamed. There are a few cases, though, of them pleasing the gods enough to be gifted a humanoid shape. But that is not who they are.”

“By ‘pleasing,’ do you mean by pleasing Zeus?” I can’t help but ask.

She smiles wryly. “I would not be surprised if that were the case with some.” She cocks her head. “Then again, I do not think he has any issues with fucking things that aren’t human.”

My cheeks burn as I glance at the monmon – a name that is way too cute for it.Where would Zeus even put his dick in that?

I shake my head to get myself back on track. “So do they give birth to humanoid shapes then,” I try hopefully, “or…”

“No.” She pauses for a moment, her eyes piercing. Slowly, she says, “I’ll be training some monsters later today if you would like to join me.”

I match her stare. “Are you fit to do that?” I might not be ready to forgive her for all the shit she’s pulled, but she is the best healer on this side of the Atlantic, perhaps even in the world, and I’m pregnant. With a potential monster baby. I am not being dumb enough to risk her life.

She smiles. “We’re at war. If we all waited until we were well-rested, we would lose. Now. Stand back. I need space to put Hoo-hoo to rest.”

Okay, what the fuck? That thing is not a Hoo-hoo. It’s a Regina. But I keep my thoughts to myself as I step back, and her shadows swirl out of her hands.

She starts to sing again, a dark country song that speaks to me all too well right now.

My throat working, I ask once Hoo-hoo is gone from this world, “Who’s that by?”