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A cool stare.
My jaw set. “Does everyone know?”
“The soldiers do, anyway.” Jasper’s mouth twisted. “You’re lucky Talon didn’t slit your throat. But you got pregnant, didn’t you? Smart.”
“Who told you I was pregnant?”
“William, when he assigned me to guard you.”
I blew a breath out through my nose. “So that’s what you guys think? That I got pregnant to weasel my way out of this?” Nathan had said something similar.
“Didn’t you?”
“It wasn’t like that. But you know what?” Removing my hands from my pockets, I drew myself to my full height. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
“No, you don’t. But—” he cast a pointed look at the gold cuff peeking out from beneath my sleeve—“Talon’s treating you better than you deserve.”
“I thought we were friends,” I returned, then rolled my lips in. That had come out more forlorn than I’d intended.
“Were,” he returned. “We were friends. Not anymore.”
“Suit yourself.” Still, things were bad if even Jasper no longer wanted to be my friend. He was the nicest soldier; all the thralls liked him.
“And now you’re carrying a dhampir. You know I’m a dhampir, right?”
I frowned. “Of course. So?”
“Do you know how hard it is for us in the syndicate? Yeah, your spawn’s father is a lieutenant, but what you did is going to leave a stain. Your kid’s going to have to work even harder to find their place.”
I flinched. I’d accepted Talon’s blood bond for the baby’s sake, and for Jasper to imply I didn’t have my child’s best interest in mind was like a jab to the solar plexus.
“Did you even think about what you were doing?”
Okay, I was officially angry now. “You know what? Attack me, sure. Maybe I deserve it—but not for getting pregnant. That was an accident, not that it’s any of your business. And I’m doing my best to roll with it. And yeah,” I added, “I do know how hard it is for a dhampir. Maybe that’s why I left. Maybe I don’t want my baby to grow up in the syndicate. Maybe I didn’t want my baby to have to fight for their place in a hierarchy that’s rigged against them.”
Maybe I wanted my baby to be wanted—not tolerated—by his father.
Jasper huffed a scornful breath. “You really think it’s better out in the human world? I grew up with a human mom, remember? The other kids treated me like I had two heads, and their parents were afraid to let me play with their precious babies in case I dragged them somewhere and drained their blood. It didn’t help that when you’re pissed off or excited, your eyes change and your fangs slide out, something I couldn’t always control. I mean, what four-year-old can?”
Holy crap. I stared at him, shocked and a little ashamed. “I’m sorry. I…didn’t know.”
“Because you’re a human.”
“Because it wasn’t like that here on the island. Nathan—back when we were kids, everyone knew you didn’t want to mess with him, but we accepted him.”
“This is Lilith Island,” Jasper said. “Trust me, the real world is nothing like this.”
Olivia’s office was in a little stone cottage nestled beneath an ancient oak at the edge of Bluebeard’s Cove.
I was conveyed there in a syndicate SUV by a stocky, silver-haired driver named Mr. Jones. The thirty-minute drive passed in silence, me staring out the window as we drove around the southern end of the island as the thick forest that surrounded the castle gave way to farms and vineyards.
Mr. Jones parked the SUV and exited to open my door. “I’ll be out here,” he told me.
I thanked him and walked up the cobblestone path through a yard crammed with wildflowers. They were dormant now, their leaves shriveled by frost, the seedheads picked clean by the birds.
A certified nurse-midwife, Olivia lived on the cottage’s second floor, using the first floor for patient visits. Her purple door was unlocked, and inside, the waiting room was deserted. Talon must’ve arranged that, too. Even the receptionist’s desk stood empty, her computer off.
As I hung my jacket on a peg, Olivia strode into the waiting room, short brown curls bouncing, a smile on her round, pretty face, and pulled me into a hug.
