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The whole interlude had been so wildly exciting I’d even swallowed, not usually my favorite thing. That part stood out vividly though, because I hadn’t minded at all, hadn’t felt choked by the mucous fluid as sometimes happens. I’d drunk him in with as much hunger as the rest, reveling in his gasps of pleasure, the wildly triumphant utter delight emanating from him.
With a sinking feeling, I made myself contemplate it. Had that been the joy of a final victory? Of course it was completely impossible for a human woman to become pregnant from ingesting sperm, but my own snarky thoughts came back…Rogue’s magically potent sperm.
No no no.
Just because a lot of biology here didn’t work according to my physical laws didn’t mean that this could change too. There had been entirely too much superstitious nonsense and misinformation surrounding pregnancy back in my old world. Things here might work differently, but they still followed definable rules—if I could just find them.
Except Rogue had no belly button, so that implied he hadn’t grown in a womb, not in the usual way. How had the egg and sperm united to form him? With fish, the male salmon distributed milt over the red of eggs—no male/female interaction necessary. If the fae formed in eggs, they wouldn’t have navels.
It would explain why they all seem so convinced you’re pregnant, if you are, my objective self relentlessly pointed out. Of its own volition, my hand fell to my flat belly. Surely not.
“Did the baby move?” Starling’s eyes had popped open, bright with interest.
“No.” I snapped the grimoire closed and set it on the floor. “The baby—which does not exist to begin with—would barely be a division of cells at this point. Microscopic bits of tissue do not move in any discernible way.”
“Oh.” She pouted. “I’m just excited for you.”
“Starling…” I sighed. Started over. “Do you know much about how babies are made?”
This sounded like a condescending question to a twenty-something-looking person like her, but it had occurred to me that this wasn’t such an obvious thing here. Cecily had been clearly pregnant to Nancy and seemed to be giving birth in a human way. I hadn’t meant to question the extent of Starling’s sexual knowledge.
But, unaccountably, across from me, Starling had turned bright red and was picking at the blue velvet upholstery.
“Some,” she muttered.
Oh my God.
“See, I know that when a man and a woman love each other very much—”
“You can stop there. We’re not havingthatconversation.”
“But you asked.” She thrust her lower lip out and I rolled my eyes at her.
“Tell me this—do you have a belly button?”
She nodded and lifted her dress, revealing pretty lace pantaloons that matched her skirts.
“Glass coach, remember?”
“Oh, they can’t see in. Magic glass coach.”
Of course. So I took the opportunity she offered and moved over to sit next to her on her bench. Her navel looked perfectly normal to me. A dainty little innie. But Starling was half-human, so not unexpected.
“And you grew in Blackbird’s womb, right? She gave birth to you?” I asked this, just to be sure to cover all bases. The word niggled at me and I remembered something Rogue had said that last night, about Titania’s cursed womb. I needed to add that to my notes.
“Yes, but they had to cut me out.”
Interesting. Might not mean anything though.
“How about Blackbird—was she…cut out too?”
Starling frowned at me, puzzled.
“Let’s try this. Do you have a grandmother?”
She cocked her head, not quite understanding the concept.
“Your mother’s mother? Who Blackbird lived with before she was imprisoned in the tower in the Glass Mountains and so forth?”
