Page 35 of Vipers and Vendettas

Maddox said he wouldn’t take Jellybean, but I don’t believe him. Iron’s words in the Mountain come back to me.

‘The females never get to keep demon babies. You’ll be out on the streets as soon as that kid is pulled out of you.’

I try not to think about it because all I’m doing is scaring myself. I have to find a way to get out of here. Maybe if I can get to Jack… Who am I kidding? After everything I did, all the things I said, I won’t get another chance to escape the estate.

But Krase got out of this fold before, so there must be a way.

I get up and explore the room. It’s small, but there’s a twin bed, a bureau, a wardrobe, and a door that leads into a bathroom with no mirror in it. I errantly wonder how you plumb water and electricity into a fold. Maybe this is just another room in the house, and not a fold at all, but when I shut my eyes, I can feel the energy of it all around me, a little like a conjure but on a much grander scale. No, this is a fold, all right.

I go back to the bed and sit down.

‘How are you feeling?’

I jump at Tabitha’s voice and find her standing beside the bed. I’m lying on top of the covers. I must have fallen asleep.

‘Okay,’ I rasp.

My throat hurts still, but it already feels better than it did.

‘I brought you some tea,’ she says, placing a mug on the bedside table.

I look at it for a second before I turn to meet her gaze.

‘You shouldn’t have told him,’ I whisper. ‘They’ll never let me go.’

‘They never were, dear,’ she sighs as she sits beside me. ‘I had to tell him. He would have killed you.’

‘Maddox wouldn’t kill me,’ I say. Then, I smile a little. ‘Daemon, maybe.’

‘Maddox has changed since you’ve been gone. His temper often gets the better of him,’ Tabitha says. She pats my leg. ‘Drink your tea. He’s telling the others you’re here. They’ll want to see you.’

‘Will they?’ I look away. ‘I don’t think they will. Not this time.’

‘Get some rest.’

‘It smells funny in here,’ I say, twisting my hands in my lap.

I’m not looking forward to facing the others after the things I said. In some ways, I’m sort of glad Maddox put me in here. Maybe I can avoid them for a little while longer.

‘How many keys are there for this room,’ I ask, but Tabitha tuts.

‘I’m not helping you escape. It’s plain as day that you were struggling out there. You need looking after. You need to be here.’

‘You’ve changed your tune,’ I rasp.

She gives a small grunt and stands. ‘Rest,’ she says again. ‘I’ll bring you some food in a while.’

‘Crackers,’ I whisper. ‘Can’t keep much else down.’

She nods and disappears, leaving me alone. I drink some tea and then lay down, closing my eyes and crying myself to sleep.

What am I going to do?

I don’t know how much time has passed when I wake. There’s no clock, and I know my watch stopped working completely the moment I entered the fold. Maybe it’s because time has no meaning here.

I don’t open my eyes at first, just listen to myself breathing as I try to come up with some way to get out of here and keep Jellybean safe. But even if I can get out of the fold, they know about Jack and my apartment. I wouldn’t even be able to go back there. Or get any help from him.

The enormity of how fucked we are makes tears leak from my closed eyes.