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My lip curled at the thought of her dad abandoning her at that fucking cult. “Yeah. He is.”
“Was your mom happier after that?”
“Oh yeah, we all were. It was so much better. And my mom’s sister and her lifemate were around a lot when we were kids, so she wasn’t just dealing with eight nightmare children all on her own.”
Beryl laughed. “She seems like she’d be able to handle it anyway.”
My mouth curved up into an affectionate smile. “Yeah. She’s awesome. Kind of overbearing, but… she’s great. I love her.”
I suddenly worried that it was the wrong thing to say—like I was bragging about actually having a mother. But I also didn’t want to gripe about my mom when Beryl hadn’t even been given the chance to experience all the tiny, silly things mothers did that exasperated you. It felt selfish and ungrateful.
Beryl just grinned up at me. “She clearly loves you too. You’re her little baby.”
“Shut up,” I grumbled. “I’m going to order dinner.”
Laughing, she turned for her door. I hurried to the stairs so I wasn’t tempted to peer greedily into Beryl’s room—to see the private little world she’d created for herself in there.
I already missed her as I listened to her bedroom door click shut.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Beryl
As I left work the following afternoon, I tried not to double over from the intense cramps stabbing through my entire lower abdomen.
They’d started about an hour ago, which I knew meant I probably had minutes before my period officially arrived. I hoped I managed to get home before I bled through my pants, but at least they were black and hidden by my coat.
I’d had the morning shift today, so it was only four, still light as I began walking down the street. I didn’t ask Greid to stop work to come and meet me when I finished at this time, even though he constantly offered.
At least I’ll be able to wallow in pain and misery all night without having to come back out.
By the time I got home, I was sweating from the pain. The first day of my period was always an utter bitch. After shedding my coat and boots, I hurried upstairs to my bedroom, shouting a hello to Greid in his workshop, and rifled through my bathroom cabinet for pads.
Shit, I only had one left. I’d just been coming off my period when I left the compound, and I hadn’t thought to grab more. Shoulders slumping with the realisation that I would have to go back out, I used the toilet then went to leave my room, but instead curled up on my bed in a moaning ball for a while. Hopefully the cramps would ease up in a few hours, so I’d go out then to get more pads, I decided, sitting up and reaching for my pyjamas and onesie.
Greid found me about ten minutes later, curled up on the couch in the living room. I’d covered myself in the blankets he normally used so I could breathe in his scent as I lay there staring vacantly at the TV, which was showing some daytime show about humans having to guess the values of demiurgus artefacts and creations.
“What’s wrong?” he asked straight away, coming to crouch in front of me.
“Period started,” I said, grimacing through another wave of cramps. His yellow eyes softened in sympathy.
“Want me to get you some painkillers?” He jumped up. “I’ll go find that hot water bottle too. I know I have one.”
I made a weak move to pull the blankets off me. “I can get them—”
“No, you stay there.” He raced out of the room and I heard him thumping up the stairs.
When he came back, he was carrying a glass of water and a packet of ibuprofen, with a big hot water bottle tucked under his arm. I smiled at him as I pushed up onto one arm to swallow the pills with a sip of water.
“Want me to go get you some snacks?” Greid asked as he handed me the hot water bottle and set my glass down on the coffee table.
I sighed. “I’ll go. I have to go buy more pads anyway.”
“I can get them,” he said instantly. “And I’ll get snacks. Just tell me what kind. Of pads, I mean.”
“Um, any, I guess.” We’d always just got the same kind at the compound. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Of course not.”
