Page 38 of Vipers and Vendettas

I move away from Maddox and sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

‘I’ll bring her to you when I’m finished,’ Theo says to him.

‘I’m staying,’ Maddox snarls.

Theo doesn’t look the least intimidated. ‘I’m afraid not. I take patient confidentiality very seriously. Unless Ms. Brand says so, you’re going to need to wait outside, Maddox.’

Theo looks at me expectantly, and I give a slight shake of my head. Maddox snarls behind me, but he leaves the room, slamming the door behind him.

Theo rolls his eyes. ‘Okay, Ms. Brand.’

‘You can just call me Julia,’ I say quietly.

‘Okay, Julia.’ He sits in the chair next to mine and puts the clipboard on the desk. ‘All I’m doing today is giving you a health check and ensuring everything’s within normal parameters.

I nod, relaxing a little at his easy manner.

‘How are you feeling?’

I clasp my arms around myself. ‘You said this is confidential?’

He nods. ‘Completely. Nothing you say will leave this room, and you get the results of any tests first.’

‘Even though I’m technically an on-call girl?’ I ask.

His lips stretch into a thin line. ‘Even then.’

‘I’m scared,’ I say abruptly. ‘I haven’t been sleeping. I’m nauseous all the time, and I can’t eat anything except crackers dipped in tea.’

‘Pregnancy forces the body through a lot of chang—’ he begins, but I put my hand up to stop him.

‘I know. I’ve been reading the books, Doc. I don’t mean to be rude, but I shouldn’t even be able to have kids. I was told I couldn’t. I’m scared something isn’t right.’

I almost laugh at my words as I hear them aloud. I’m scared something isn’t right. There are so many things that aren’t right about all of this.

‘Well, let’s take a look, shall we?’ Theo says with a friendly grin.

Despite everything, I feel myself relax a little.

‘Will I need to take off my clothes?’ I ask, wondering if it’ll be weird since I know him a little as an Iron I, not a doctor outside this room.

‘Nope,’ he says cheerfully, pulling out a golden fae thing. I tense up. I recognize it from my time in the white room. Grinel used to use it often.

Noticing the change in my demeanor, he puts it down on the desk. ‘It’s a handheld scanner,’ he says. ‘It’s noninvasive and has no side effects. It’s perfectly safe for the baby. Am I okay to proceed?’

I grit my teeth and give him a nod. He picks it up.

‘Can you stand, please?’ he asks.

I do it, staying still while he hovers the device over my torso.

He frowns.

‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ I ask.

‘It’s nothing. I think maybe I need a new one of these things,’ he chuckles.

He smacks the side of the box in his hand. ‘When in doubt, beat the crap out of it,’ he mutters.