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“I’m pregnant,” January said bluntly.
Naomi’s face lost all color. “What?”
January added, “Babies have a lot of bargaining power. It could be a girl. There may not be many of us, but women can create life. We’re fucking powerful.”
My mind returned to the women hidden away. “We might have more power than we realize,” I finally said.
January frowned, and Naomi didn’t look convinced.
I looked over at Priel, and then Lian. “We need you to give us a few minutes.”
Lian growled. “No.”
Priel glared at me.
I glowered back for a long moment before turning to the women. “Vevol gave me the location for a group of female fae. They’ve been hiding since some huge war a long time ago. I don’t know how many of them there are, or anything else about them, but I know where to find them. If we use that as a bargaining chip, we could probably get anything we want from the men. A place to live, food, lessons about how to do necessary shit to stay alive on Vevol without being attached to men…”
Both women were stunned to silence.
The men were, too, though they’d mostly been letting us figure our shit out anyway.
Priel’s grip on my waist tightened.
“There could be enough of them to even the odds,” Naomi finally said, her eyes bright and hopeful. “Pair that with the possibility of couples who are actually mated being able to have children… we’ll have them by the balls.”
“I like the way you think,” January murmured to her, her own eyes still full of shock.
She hadn’t been in Vevol as long as the rest of us. She hadn’t seen the fae men truly desperate, and she hadn’t seen the way some of the girls despised them or the land.
While she understood the male fae, she was still too new to really understand the ex-human women.
The tears in Naomi’s eyes told me that maybe I was too new for that too.
“I’m going to have to call Aeven here,” she told us, wiping carefully at her slightly-watery eyes. “I’ll give him our offer. I already know what the other girls will say; they’ll want to know how soon we can leave. If you don’t want to be here when he is, I understand.”
“We’ve got your back,” January said easily. She didn’t let go of Lian’s hand, but I didn’t really think he’d let her. The guy seemed pretty damn paranoid, and he had a right to be, considering his lady was pregnant with the first fae baby in who-knows-how-long.
“We can’t be here when you talk to him,” Priel told the other girls, his voice low and growly. “If the unseelie have a chance to take North before she and I are fully mated, they’ll act on it in a heartbeat. Her magic is too powerful for them not to.”
The other girls looked at him in surprise.
They didn’t understand brands, I assumed, or the importance the fae seemed to place on them.
“He speaks the truth,” Lian added. “Branded fae are known to be the most connected to Vevol, and North is undeniably one of them.”
I bit back a snort.
Yeah, there definitely wasn’t any denying to be had.
“You should hide out in the forest, then,” January suggested. “We can come and find you after we talk to Aeven.”
“No, they’ll need to be farther away. If the unseelie have a chance at getting out of this agreement, they’ll do whatever they have to in order to take advantage of it,” Naomi said quickly. “Is there a place you can go that only your most trusted friends know about?” She spoke to Priel, and something within me sort of clenched.
If that was jealousy, it could take a hike. This chick was clearly married to an absolute asshole, with no way out of the relationship. There wasn’t a chance in hell that she’d be interested in my hound; the girl was probably done with men altogether.
“There is.” Priel looked at Lian.
Lian dipped his head. “We’ll come find you when the deal has been made and the unseelies have fulfilled their side of whatever bargain we strike.”
