was weird. I had no idea what had gotten into him.
And then we passed the huge glass window beyond which was the nursery. Shame’s body language changed. He went from stiff-shouldered and tense, to relaxed, loose, like a runner who was warmed up and ready for the road.
The emotion that rolled off him was hunger.
Holy shit.
“You aren’t afraid of the babies. You want to . . . eat them? What the hell?” I was still whispering, but that did not lessen the horror in my voice.
“It’s not that I want to eat them—well, okay, maybe a little.” He grinned at me. “Oh, put the Bible down, Beckstrom. I’m not going to hurt babies. It’s . . . it’s just so much life around here. Life, get it?” He tipped his head down so the shadows cleared his eyes, and I was relieved to see Shamus behind those eyes. Sane, clear. “I’m on some short supply of that right now. And babies are full of fresh, beautiful life energy.”
“Tell me you wouldn’t.”
“I wouldn’t. Not in a million years. Not if my life depended on it. Not for anyone. Not for anything. Not ever.”
And I knew he meant it. Which was good. I did not want to have to fight him. Again. But I would for babies.
We were still walking. I put my hand on his arm, and could feel the bunch of muscle against bone. He might promise to never take the life energy from the babies, but it wasn’t an easy thing to resist.
“Is this because of the fight?” I asked. “What you and Terric did to help me keep Zay alive? Is it a part of dark magic?”
“No, it’s just a part of Death magic. Energy transference, life transference, carried on the magic. And the side effect that comes with giving too much energy before you draw on magic again, or reclaim that energy.”
“Eating babies is a side effect of Death magic?”
“Like dry mouth.”
“Is a disgusting sense of humor a side effect too?”
“No, that’s all me.”
“Shame.” I stopped. Pulled on his arm.
He pivoted toward me, his head down again, slanting me a gaze though the shadows. “Yes, Beckstrom?”
“Do you need energy? Life energy?”
“Not need. Want.” He pulled his arm away. “I couldn’t take it anyway. No magic to carry it on. Can we keep walking?”
We could and we did, passing the babies, and stopping about midway down the hall at Violet’s room. “You coming in here?” I asked.
“Afraid I’ll gnaw on your stepmother?”
I made a face at him and opened the door as quietly as I could. Violet was in the bed. Someone had brushed her hair back, revealing a bruise that covered her forehead and spread palm-wide down the left side of her face. She was in a hospital gown, an extra blanket tucked across her rounded figure, monitors and an IV hooked up to her.
Something inside me twisted, hurt. I felt, more than heard, my dad’s moan, his sorrow. It was good enough to know she was alive. Probably better if I didn’t go in to see her. Better for me. For my control over my dad. And maybe for Shame too.
Violet stirred, opened her eyes, squinted, without her glasses, over at us. “Allie,” she said softly, and a little slurred. “Come in, please.”
So much for walking away. I stepped in. “Hi,” I said.
“I won’t stay long. This is Shamus Flynn. He drove me here.”
Shame held up one hand. “Hello, Mrs. Beckstrom. I could step out if you two want some privacy.”
What did you know? Flynn had manners.
“It’s fine,” she said. Violet pursed her lips, as if trying to feel her teeth. “I’m numb.”
“Something to help you sleep, I think. Has the doctor talked to you?”
“She said I should sleep.” She closed her eyes, and the green lines on the monitor jumped before it settled again. I wasn’t sure what the doctors were monitoring, but I knew it had something to do with magic as well as her physical injuries.
“I’ll let you rest. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay, that the baby’s okay.”
Violet frowned. “Baby?” She pressed her fingers against her eyes. “They said I might go into early labor.” She pulled her hands away from her eyes and cradled her stomach. Her eyes opened and the whites were red and glossy from more than just rubbing. She’d been crying. “Poor little thing. There was so much magic in the room. I can still feel it in me. In the baby.” The tremor in her