Page 75 of Vengeance and Vipers

‘Are you an on-call girl?’ she asks, and I tilt my head at her, sort of liking her directness.

‘Not exactly. More like a loathed houseguest,’ I answer.

‘What the hell are you doing out here?’ snarls a voice I know all too well.

I shy away from his tone, but Jane just wrinkles her nose at him.

‘I was going to the bathroom,’ Jane says like he’s the dumbest guy in the world. ‘You legit just followed me there.’

He rolls his eyes. ‘I was talking to Jules.’

‘Well,shewas talking tome,’ Jane says, giving him a what-the-fuck look that I swear makes his eye twitch, and I have to force myself not to laugh.

‘Want to take a walk?’ she asks.

‘Sure,’ I say. ‘The maze?’

‘Nope. Me and the maze don’t get along.’

She doesn’t elaborate; she just turns and starts walking down the hall without me. I stare at Daemon for a millisecond while he looks like he’s about to try to stop her, but he clearly thinks the better of it, and I turn on my heel to catch up.

‘I can’t go all that far,’ she says, pointing to her stomach. ‘Theo will give me so much crap later if he thinks I’ve over-exerted myself.’

I stare at her stomach; it taking me far longer than it should to figure it out because she’s not really showing.

‘Oh!’ I exclaim. ‘Congratulations!’

‘Thanks.’

I scramble for something else to say about it. ‘When are you due?’ I blurt.

‘Early next year.’

‘Great,’ I say.

‘Not really,’ she mutters. ‘I mean I’m excited, and I already love the baby, but, ugh, being pregnant sucks. My feet hurt, my back hurts, my moods are all over. A thousand tiny things no one tells you that are misery-inducing. Blah!’

‘If your feet hurt, would you rather sit in the Parlor than walk around?’

‘Yeah, that would be nicer, actually,’ she nods, and I guide her to the right room, where she immediately sits down heavily on one of the sofas.

‘Do you want anything to eat or drink?’ I ask, ready to pull the bell for Tabitha, but she shakes her head.

‘No, thanks. Maddox had some tea served, so I’m good.’

I sit down across from her.

‘So, areyouan on-call girl?’ I ask.

‘Not exactly,’ she says.

I wonder if she’s a surrogate for the other clan to have a kid, and I frown. Will they take her beloved baby from her once it’s born like Iron told me they’d do to me if I got pregnant when we were in the Mountain?

‘So, the fae, huh?’ I ask, changing the subject abruptly.

It doesn’t faze Jane, though.

‘Yeah, they’re such assholes.’