Page 93 of Vipers and Vendettas

Maddox

Isit in the library, flicking through a human pregnancy book entitled ‘The Wonder Weeks’ to find the chapters on weeks fourteen to sixteen. I glance over at Daemon, who’s doing the same, and my eyes narrow at him trying to one-up me in this, even though I’m glad I’m not the only one taking an interest in the changes Jules’ body is going through and what she and Jellybean, as she calls her, will need from us as the weeks progress.

The fact that she’s a succubus has my head spinning, but, on a fundamental level, it makes sense to me, as if some part of me knew the truth, but I kept it from myself. Why I would do that, I don’t know, but I don’t doubt that Julia is a succubus, and I don’t doubt that she’s pregnant with a baby girl. They’re both going to need protectionand friends.

And we need to destroy Tamadrielle. Easier said than done. High Fae are notoriously difficult to kill, and it’s been so long since it was successfully done that I wouldn’t even know how to start going about it.

I put the book down.

‘Have you spoken to your brother recently?’

He shakes his head. ‘We’re not really talking much right now outside clan business.’

I raise a brow. That’s news to me.

He shrugs. ‘I might have said some things.’

‘Well, considering that they have a pregnant succubus, and we have a pregnant succubus, I think we’d better call him, don’t you? Compare notes, if you will?’

‘Fine,’ he sighs, ‘I’ll call him.’

He gets up and takes out his phone as he leaves the room.

I sigh and use my fold key to get into Jules’s room. It’s been over twenty-four hours, and she’s been asleep for most of that.

I’m worried, not because of the sleeping but because as soon as she got here, she asked to go into the fold. She’s scared for herself and the baby. I try not to let it rankle that she clearly doesn’t trust in my ability nor the magick of my estate to keep them both safe.

When I enter, she’s sitting up and staring at the wall.

‘Are you all right?’

She just nods a little listlessly.

‘Shall I leave you?—’

‘Sometimes I get a pain down low in my belly,’ she says. ‘Does that mean I’m hungry … like, for sex?’

I can’t help my grin. ‘For sex? No. For sexual energy, yes.’

‘What’s the difference?’

I sit on the edge of the bed. ‘You can feed from sexual energy, but you don’t always need to have sex to feed. You can snack on other’s acts and on lust. But, I think you might be stuck with us.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Something Alex Mackenzie said to me, that Jane can’t feed from anyone outside the clan. It makes her sick.’

I frown as I remember exactly what he said all those months ago. ‘And neither can they.’

‘Jane’s a succubus?’ she asks in surprise.

‘Yes.’

‘And she can’t feed from anyone outside her clan?’ She frowns at me. ‘But I have been, haven’t I? Krase said … in Spice, where I was working, that I must have been to have survived over the past three months.’

‘We aren’t sure of anything.’ My eyes track down to her tummy. ‘Especially not now.’

I watch her for a moment.