Page 93 of Hupotasso
I’d wondered if vampire babies were different to human babies. Now I know. But there’s so much more I don’t know.
I’m not sure if this is why they make certain the human mother breastfeeds for three years, but I imagine this is the reason. They’re too little to hunt or to comprehend killing before that, but they need blood.
As soon as Marianna had shown me how to hold him to properly feed him she’d left to alert Yin to the ‘unusual diet.’
How she’s going to cope with that I have no idea.
As I stare down at my beautiful boy I wonder if my daughter also looks like her father. There’s no denying the resemblance in his son. But I hadn’t even had a glimpse of her tiny face. I hadn’t had time.
Yin had left with her the minute she was born.
As my son’s bite begins to sting I shudder at the thought that the tiny lives I’ve harboured will be responsible for taking other mothers’ children all through their long, long lives, just as their father does.
“But you won’t rip off heads or rip out hearts,” I whisper to him. “And no redheads for you, my boy.”
I raise my eyes to the doorway as a shadow falls across my white linen bedspread, and I look up sorrowfully at the man taking up the entire span.
“Hello, Jag.”
76
The queen frowns and waves her hand at me to begone from her presence as she embraces my mother.
I turn and leave as instructed.
She’d demanded our attendance at court the moment Mother had advised her of her ‘adventure with death,’ and it was naturally in our best interest to attend quickly. Word would definitely have reached her by now that I’d tricked Spider by using her name. I’d planned to explain personally, but Mother said it might be best coming from her, and I’d agreed promptly. I can’t stand the baby-eating monarch cunt.
Meanwhile, free to roam the court, I’m looking for my half-sister. When Mother told me she’d received her intelligenceabout Sophie’s pregnancy from Attracta, I knew she wielded far more power than I’d previously imagined. I know Attracta had done all she could to facilitate Angie being selected for The Games by pulling strings with powerful people, but I don’t know just how far her web extends.
I need to know now. Moreover, I need to know if she’s aware the baby Sophie is carrying is likely mine.
Mother’s right. It’s time I take my place in court and play the games of the powerful. And my half-sister might be the key to defeating my enemy, stranger though she is. Although it occurs to me, as I stride the halls of power, that we’re strangers because I chose us to be. I’d distanced her and her sister and kept them at arms-length my whole life. I’d avoided the kitchens because I knew they were there, and like my father, I’d refused to acknowledge them in any way, feeling both ashamed and disgusted that they were under our roof. Only my mother had retained a relationship with them. One that, thankfully, had resulted in her life being saved when Tatyana had attacked.
If Asumpta had not stepped in things would be very different now.
Attracta’s previous comment to me that I would suffer due to pushing anyone away who was on ‘my side’ comes back to haunt me.
‘Perhaps if I’d acknowledged her and Asumpta after father’s passing, I wouldn’t be in the dark about my family history. Perhaps she’s right, given that I’m still searching for my wife, that I push anyone away who might be on my side.’
My introspection comes to a close as I knock on her door and she opens as though she’d been expecting me. Given what I know about her now, she very well could have been.
“Attracta.”
“Lord Dragonspur.”
“May I come in?”
She steps back, and I walk into her chambers, struck instantly by the familiar feel. I could easily be in my own library at home; the decor is strikingly similar.
“Yes,” she laughs at my expression, “it was always my favourite haunt in your castle, and it was my heart’s desire to have it for my own.”
“I had no idea,” I shake my head.
“Of course not. We guttersnipe bastards were relegated to the kitchens when you and your brother were in the castle. But elsewhile we roamed and lived as we liked. Asumpta preferred the kitchens, so it was no mind to her. But for me it was always the library.”
“You’d get on well with Angie,” I murmur as I peruse some of the titles, thinking how to mend yet another broken fence, another shattered relationship. It seems like I’m surrounded by a wasteland of women I’ve hurt one way or the other.
“If that’s why you’re here,” she shrugs as I turn back to her, “you’ve wasted your time. I don’t know where she is.”
