by Sue Tingey
I nodded and put my knife and fork down, my appetite completely gone.
‘Are you all right?’ Jamie asked. ‘You haven’t eaten much.’
I looked down at the remains of my meal and suddenly felt a bit nauseous. ‘I’m just tired, I guess.’
He didn’t appear so sure. ‘You’re rather pale.’
Jinx dropped the chicken leg he’d been gnawing and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘I suppose it’s to be expected.’
Jamie frowned at him across the table. ‘What is?’
‘Lucinda being a bit peaky.’
‘Peaky?’
‘Umm,’ Jinx said, taking a swig of wine.
‘Jinx, what are you talking about?’ Jamie asked in exasperation.
‘You know – mothers-to-be.’
‘Lucky’s pregnant?’
‘Twins,’ Jinx said.
‘How can you possibly know that?’ I asked.
‘The difference between life and death is a mere heartbeat: I can sense the beginning of new life just as I can feel it ebbing.’
I glanced down at my very flat stomach and then at Jinx. ‘I can’t be.’
‘Why?’
‘I … How on earth did this happen?’
Jinx gave a snort, then started to laugh so hard I thought he was probably going to piss himself.
I could feel my cheeks heating up as I realised what I’d said, so I told them I wanted a bath and spent far longer in it than was strictly necessary. I really needed some time alone to think. My head was all over the place and I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. I really wished I had Kayla to talk to now, and my mother. It would have been nice to have a mother to talk to about something like this.
Was I really going to have twins? Would Jinx lie about such a thing? Everything was spinning around in my head when suddenly I recalled a snippet of conversation between Jinx and Persephone that made me feel giddy.
He’d said, ‘Did you know that when someone calls upon a daemon and orders him to take a life, that the life of he who calls becomes forfeit if the order cannot be fulfilled?’
‘Then fulfil it. There she stands. Kill her – take her life.’
‘I cannot.’
‘Why ever not?’
‘By taking her life I would be destroying two others whose lives you did not bid me to destroy; therefore, I am unable to fulfil your demand.’
I realised I’d never know if he would have killed her if he hadn’t known I was pregnant – I wanted to believe it would always have been her rather than me, but that wasn’t something I could ponder for too long; it’s the sort of thing that would have driven me mad. And when all was said and done, I was alive and she wasn’t.
I went to join them on the beach, still thinking about the new lives inside me.
‘Are you not happy?’ Jinx asked, brushing my hair back from around my face so he could look into my eyes.
‘I … I really don’t know. It’s a shock. I’ve never given it any thought before.’
Jamie went very quiet, and it didn’t take much to know what he was thinking about; I was wondering the same: I was pregnant – but by whom? Jinx hadn’t actually said, although he had implied it could be him – and he did appear very pleased with himself. That in its own way was good; he’d finally got back his smile – maybe it wasn’t the same Devil-may-care grin he used to have, but the slightly forbidding look that had almost permanently marred his face since I’d found him again had gone.
Unfortunately, Jamie’s smile had sort of disappeared.
Jinx went and got the flagon of wine and three goblets. ‘To toast the expectant mother,’ he explained as he handed out the goblets.
‘Not for me,’ I said, covering mine with my hand.
‘Why ever not?’ he asked, sinking down onto the sand beside me.
‘Alcohol is bad for unborn babies.’
‘Lucky, you’re a daemon – your babies will be just fine,’ Jamie said, taking the offered goblet.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely.’
I accepted a small measure, but I still wasn’t convinced.
‘To the five of us,’ Jinx said, raising his goblet.
‘To the five of us,’ Jamie and I chorused, and my hand automatically went to my stomach.
‘You are going to be a good mother,’ Jinx said, looking at my hand on my tummy.
‘I hope so.’
‘Just as the lad and I are going to be good fathers.’
Jamie’s eyes jerked up to meet Jinx’s. ‘Fathers?’
Jinx grinned at him, and Jamie’s lips slowly curled up into a smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
‘We’re both to be fathers?’
Jinx gave a bob of the head. ‘One winged baby, one horned and tailed.’
‘Boys?’
‘Ah ah, if I told you that, where would be the surprise?’
‘As long as they’re healthy I don’t care,’ I said, grinning from ear to ear. I wasn’t at all sure I was ready to be a mother, but Jamie and Jinx would be the best of fathers.
We finished the bottle of wine while the sun set over the lake and the amethyst waters changed to deep purple to black.
‘Come on,’ Jinx said, hopping to his feet and reaching down for my hand.
Jamie also stood and did the same, and I smiled up at the pair of them, took each of their hands and let them pull me up. Jamie put his arm around my shoulders and Jinx slipped his around my waist as they led me back inside.
‘I think we should celebrate,’ Jinx said.
‘I think I’ve had enough wine,’ I said.
‘Who said anything about wine?’ Jinx kicked open the bedroom door with a nudge of his toe and gave me an exaggerated wink.
‘You, sir, are incorrigible,’ I told him.
‘And you are adorable,’ he said, kissing me on the nose and then pulling me from Jamie’s arms to swing me around and round and drop me onto the bed.
‘Good enough to eat,’ Jamie said.
‘That, brother, would be a waste.’
And they sank down on the bed beside me and we set about celebrating, all thought of death and assassination attempts forgotten – at least for the time being.
*
As the first rays of dawn filtered in through the shutters, casting soft shimmering lines of pink across the bed, I lay awake. Jamie was spooning my back, his right wing as usual spread out over us like a protective feathered blanket. Jinx lay on his back, eyes closed with a small smile curling his lips, thinking similar thoughts to mine, I suspected.
The lovemaking between the three of us had been unexpectedly tender, and at times so sweet it had almost hurt. Every now and then, one of my lovers laid their palm upon my stomach, their smiles of happiness bringing a lump to my throat. But there was still that one elephant in the room, and if I were to ask the question I had promised myself I never would, it had to be now. If I were to ever get a truly honest answer, at least one I could believe, it would be now.
‘Jinx …’
‘Umm.’
‘Are you awake?’
‘Umm.’
I took a deep breath, not sure how quite to carry on. He opened one eye, looked at me for a moment, then closed it again.
‘No,’ he said.
‘No?’
‘Nothing and no one in this world or any other could ever make me do something so terrible to you.’ He smiled up at me, his eyes still closed. ‘I will love you until the end of days and I promise I will always keep you and our children safe, my lucky lady.’
‘And so will I,’ Jamie murmured in my ear, and nuzzled my neck.
I closed my eyes, happier than I could’ve ever imagined. I believed both my men with every inch of my heart. More importantly, I think my inner daemon did too, for when I dozed off into sleep, I’m pretty sure she was smiling.
The End
Acknowledgements
Taking those first few steps as a writer once you’ve managed to secur
e a publishing deal is not quite what you might expect – in fact, after the initial euphoria, it can be totally bewildering and sometimes bloody terrifying. I was lucky – joining Jo Fletcher Books as an author was like becoming part of a family. The other authors enthusiastically welcomed me into the fold and offered their encouragement and advice when at times I must have looked like a rabbit in the headlights. In no particular order I would like to thank Naomi Foyle, Stephanie Saulter, Tom Fletcher, David Towsey, Stephen Jones, Snorri Kristjansson and Sebastien de Castell.
Thanks for your support, guys.
The other members of the family and working behind the scenes at Team JFB are Sam Bradbury and Olivia Mead and I would like to say thank you to these ladies for looking after me on a day-to-day basis – not an easy task, I’m sure!
I would also like to thank my editor and partner-in-crime, the lovely Nicola Budd, who took every step of this exciting journey with me. It really was a joint effort.
Lastly, I would like to thank the amazing Jo Fletcher who, I’m quite sure, thinks of her authors and their creations as her children. Maybe it’s just me, but when presented with my draft manuscripts, Jo somehow has the knack of patiently asking questions that have my ideas spinning off into all sorts of unexpected directions making my stories all the richer and me, I hope, a better writer.
Thanks, Jo.
Sue Tingey is the author of the fantasy romance series The Soulseer Chronicles and lives with her husband in East Grinstead, West Sussex.
She spent twenty-eight years working for a major bank and after taking voluntary redundancy in 2001, spent another fourteen or so years working as a practice manager for an arboricultural consultancy. She has now given up the day job to allegedly spend more time with her husband; he however has noticed that an awful lot more writing appears to be going on.
Sue admits that storytelling is her obsession and was thrilled when she was offered a three-book deal by Jo Fletcher Books in 2014.
You can learn more about Sue on her website www.suetingey.co.uk or contact her on Twitter @suetingey
