Page 66 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

“Very ugly,” Kila said.

“Hush, you two,” Adefina said, but her brown eyes twinkled with amusement. “Now…where was I? Oh. Yes.”

Kila and I glanced at each other, grinning.

Adefina’s voice took on a storytelling cadence again. “When it came time for her to give birth, the wood cercy screamed and writhed in pain, but the baby would not come. This went on for days until at last the cercy begged the firelord to take the baby from her body in any way he could, finally asking him to save their child by cutting her open with his talon.”

“Fuck,” I said, drawing the word out and clutching my abdomen in sympathy. “That’s what hospitals are for. The Icecaix lands need better medical care. Damn.”

“Do you want to hear the end?”

“Do I? Jeez. Yeah, I guess.” I fished around in the dish tub to check for anything else that needed to be washed.

Adefina harrumphed.

“But thatiswhy C-sections were invented,” I said, unable to keep from adding one last comment.

Adefina pressed her lips together and raised her eyebrows.

“Okay, okay. Keep going.” I finished washing and rinsing the last of the bowls and handed it over.

Adefina continued her story as she dried the bowl and put it away, stacking it into one of the cupboards. “Where was I? Oh, yes. The cercy begged the firelord to take the child from her body, to save their infant. She knew she would not survive, and she couldn’t bear the thought of her child dying with her.”

“The firelord couldn’t do it,” Kila interjected, bouncing on the flour canister.

“Yes,” Adefina said, giving Kila a reproving look for interrupting her story. “The firelord could not bring himself to harm his beloved wife. But neither he nor the wood cercy had counted on the strength of an infant firelord’s will to live. Forsuddenly, from within her, the bride’s belly began to glow, and she let out a final scream as the firelord baby burned and clawed his way out of her womb, using his talons to destroy the last barrier between himself and freedom.”

I clapped my hand over my mouth, and Kila shuddered.

“Oh, dear holy fuck,” I said, speaking past my hand. “That’s awful.”

Kila nodded. “I hate that story.”

“So what happened to the baby and the father?” I was almost afraid to ask, but I had to know.

“Unable to face raising the infant alone, the firelord took his child back across the mountains to his people. Where, rumor has it, they were both executed— the father for being a traitor to his people, the son for being an evil half-breed mix of Caix and firelord.” Adefina gathered our teacups and arranged them on the counter.

“You really think they would kill a child?” The thought made my stomach churn, and I pulled down a canister, spooning out dried tea leaves to distract myself as I waited for Adefina’s answer.

“I don’t doubt it in the least.” Wrapping a towel around her hand, Adefina took the kettle from its hook over the fire and poured steaming water over the leaves. “The firelords are ruthless, and despite their affinity with fire, their hearts are colder than the coldest of the Icecaix.”

“Huh.” I wrapped my arms around myself, even more chilled than usual as I made my way over to our tea table and sat down.

Greeting Fintan absently when he entered the room and joined us, I stirred my spoon slowly in my drink, barely hearing the conversation as it flowed around me, only contributing when someone posed a direct question to me.

If the firelords were as vicious as Adefina’s stories all indicated, going to them for help was a bad idea.

Then again, I didn’t have much other choice. Kila had no idea how to get anywhere from here—not even the Starcaix lands she was from. And although Fintan had been willing to help me by giving me a weapon last time I’d run, that was apparently as far as his courage went.

As for Adefina… I didn’t know what compelled her to stay in Frost Manor. But when I’d finally worked up the nerve to ask her to run with me, she’d shaken her head and gazed at me with sad eyes.

“Oh, child,” she’d said. “I have nothing to return to in the Starcaix lands. And no desire to live among humans. I won’t stop you, but I won’t join you in any attempt to escape, either.”

There had been something so heavy, so melancholy in her voice, that I had not been able to bring myself to press her on the issue.

That left only the firelords.

After all, I knew where they were—or close enough, anyway, since I’d gotten Fintan to point out the pass in the distant mountains. They were unlikely to return me to the Icecaix if they disliked all Caix as much as Adefina’s stories suggested. And although I didn’t know how they felt about humans, I figured they couldn’t be much worse than the Icecaix.

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