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"Um, can I ask...?"
"Four hundred twenty-eight," she says, her smile growing.
Jesus.I hope my boobs look that good when I'm four hundred.
“Have you been tending the garden today?”
Gabrielle gives me a knowing look and smiles. Her snake’s fangs catch the failing sunlight and reflect it like they’re made of silver.
"Are you nervous, human child?”
I freeze. Does she know the truth? Has Fabien already told them? Or maybe she figured it out on her own?
Gabrielle leans close and puts a strand of my hair behind my ear. Her gaze is so intense as she observes me that I feel heat prickling over my skin. She looks at me so closely, like she's memorizing every pore.
She could take my head off in the blink of an eye if she wanted to. I’d never even know I’d died.
"It’ll be interesting to watch you grow," she says. "Into a woman and mother. Our family has not allowed humans in before, so we haven’t bred with them. We take forever to have children, that's why they’re so precious to us. It was a boon to learn the mountain god would allow you to conceive.”
I don’t have the heart to tell her thatconceivingseems pretty unlikely at this point. At her mention of the mountain god, I’m reminded of his prophecy to me. He promised the fire would find me, and that I’d burn just as Mia had burned.
He promised I’d lose this second life.
"What was Fabien like as a child?"
A cloud passes over her brow. Gabrielle sighs and curls her tail around a mossy stone.
"That was a difficult time for all of us. His mother, Liliana, had it the worst. Lili would try--"
"Are youshittingme?" I burst out.
Gabrielle's eyes widen and she stares.
"I assure you I’m not, and will not, er...shityou."
"His mother's name was Lili? Fabien’s mother’s name wasLili?”
"Well, Liliana, but she went by Lili to those who knew her well. Why’s it of concern to you? Is it a name that has meaning to you?"
It'smyname. My real name, which Fabien seemed so suspicious of. Of course he’d be. I’d already lied to him. How hard would it be for me to tell him I had his mother’s name? At that point, wouldn’t it all just seem like more lies?
I take a deep breath.
"At any rate," Gabrielle goes on. "It was a difficult childhood, I think. He’d often cry, horrible deep cries. Screams, even. When he was alone and desperate to know the warmth of someone's touch. But no one, save Lili and his older brother, Jarrad, would go near him. We were all too afraid. After what happened to his first few nannies."
"What happened?" I ask, but in my heart I already know the answer.
"They let him touch them when he was in one of his states, screaming and crying. Perhaps angry, or perhaps sad. But either way, those women were destroyed by it. Left in nightmares they rarely woke from. And when they did wake, they looked at the real world with such distrust. In time, they went mad and died. As does everyone who displeases him and faces his wrath."
I shudder.
I'm facing his wrath.I’ve betrayed him, perhaps more deeply than anyone ever has. To be lied to by your own wife, and sold out by her to the law... My heart breaks a little for that young boy, too.
How hard must it be for him to trust?
My heart aches with the thought of what I’ve done.
"If you'll excuse me, Lady Nightshade, I'm expecting a guest."
“Oh, of course.”
I leave the gardens behind and return to the mansion. For some reason, knowing Fabien’s mother and I have the same name solidifies something for me. It feels like I’m supposed to be here.
This life belongs to me. If I’m strong enough to keep it.
I’m staying. Whatever happens, happens. I can’t leave Fabien or this family behind.
