Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Ella righted her tee and slipped off the bed. “Thank you.” She shook the doctor’s hand once more and then walked out of the room with the others. Smiling down at the picture she held, she swallowed. “Psychically, the baby doesn’t feel so small. It has a strong presence, if you know what I mean. But it’s so tiny.” She showed the picture to Dice, who smiled down at it.
Viper curled an arm around her shoulders. “I can see you’re panicking at just how physically vulnerable the baby is right now, but no one will harm them, Ella.”
Maybe not physically, she thought, but the reactions of her family might emotionally hurt the baby.
Ella wanted her loved ones to be as excited by the pregnancy as she was. She wanted them to welcome the baby. More, she wanted them not to plot Viper’s death.
If the baby was really as advanced as Viper claimed, it wouldn’t be at all oblivious to their reactions. It would know if they were unhappy. It’d be hurt. She loathed the thought of that.
God knew how her demon would react to her family’s disapproval about the pregnancy. It didn’t love them—had no capacity to feel the emotion. But it valued them; it had formed a strong attachment to each of them. Still, it would want to butcher them alive if it perceived them as any kind of threat to the baby.
Ella didn’t for one second believe they’d harm the baby or in any way press her to abort it. No, they’d be disapproving. Worried. Wary of what it might be able to do. But they’d love it. Her demon would know that deep down. The problem? She couldn’t rely on the entity to be entirely rational when it was so on edge with hyped-up overprotectiveness.
It wouldn’t kill Luka, of course—to kill its anchor would be to harm itself. But it would certainly put him through a shitload of pain.
Outside the clinic, they walked to a nearby alley and—once sure no one was watching them—teleported back to the compound. Viper led the way into the main area … just in time for them to watch Razor hurl a coaster at Ghost like it was a damn boomerang.
“Stop being an ass,” Razor growled at him.
Ghost shrugged. “I don’t know how.” Noticing that Ella and the others had returned, he grinned. “Quick question: what about the name Clark for the baby if it’s a boy?”
Jester sighed. “Stop suggesting names of superheroes. Why are you so obsessed with them?”
“Not obsessed,” Ghost objected. “I just identify with them, you know?”
Jester stared at him steadily. “No, I don’t know. There’s no reason why you should.”
Ella only rolled her eyes at the spectacle. Her sister and Dice headed over to the little bar while she allowed Viper to lead her out of the room and into the hallway that led to the kitchen. It didn’t do much to muffle the noise coming from the main area. The place could never be described as quiet, but she didn’t mind that. And she liked that her child would be surrounded by people—all of whom she just knew would be glad to shower it with whatever attention they could.
Again, she looked down at the picture in her hand, smoothing a crinkle out of the corner, marveling at the sight of her baby. She was honestly a little terrified to be a parent, but it was a good sort of fear. The kind that was edged with excitement.
She looked at Viper, only then realizing … “You never talk about your own parents.”
He spared her a quick glance. “I never knew them well. I’m a fourth son. We’re given to the holy host when we’re young.”
Her lips parting, she halted in a horrified shock. “Oh, my God. How young?”
He stopped walking. “Six. We’re put through all sorts of education and training to prepare us for the life of a soldier. Parents know this is going to happen, have no way to stop it, and so tend to hold back from you in the hope it will make the separation better for all concerned.”
He said it all so dispassionately. As if it was nothing. But then, maybe a person would have to convince themselves it was nothing in order to emotionally survive it. “This is a rule in the upper realm?”
“Exemptions are made for some—mostly those with status—but not many.”
“That’s just so unbelievably cruel.”
Viper looped an arm tight around her. “Don’t feel sad for me, baby. It’s cold, I know, but I never knew any different growing up. It’s such a common thing that it’s accepted as normal. That said, I’d never intended to have children for that very reason.” His gaze lowered to her belly. “But this is different. I’m not up there anymore. No child we have would be taken from us that way.”