Creche (Book II of Paranormal Fallen Angels/Vampires Series) by Karin Cox Page B

at Skylar, “to deserve him? Must we both be punished for our mother’s actions? Who will punish Daneo for his?”
    The woman raised an eyebrow as she turned the key to lock Kisana in her cage.
    “Was that a threat?” she said, crossing the space between the cages. She circled my cage, as if appraising me. “You have a temper, Amedeo, and quite a body. I am sure you would find no shortage of suitors in Milandor.”
    “Don’t,” Skylar said. “Your quarrel is not with him, Jania.”
    “No. And I have no hope of convincing you to join Milandor, do I, Skylar?” Her words lacked malice, but her enormous blue eyes were sad. “I gave up on such hopes ... years ago. But many others do not. Thanks to Milandor, not all Cruxim will be slaves to the Cruximus ,” she continued. “Not all of us will suffer.”
    “There will come a day when such suffering will end.” I heard Skylar’s thoughts.
    Jania’s laugh echoed around the chamber again. “For you, Skylar Emmanuel, yes. Unfortunately, it will be the same day you hold your newborn daughter in your arms.”
    “Then I will know pure love,” Skylar retorted.
    Jania looked at her wearily. “For an hour, no more. I would have offered you my love for eternity.”
    “Jania, your heart belongs to Lilyana now, for eternity,” Skylar said gently, approaching the Cruxim to place a hand on her shoulder. “Do not speak of such sorrows. You will always have my heart, friend.”
    “No.” I felt the slicing blame of Jania’s stare. “You will trust a stranger sooner than your oldest friend, even if he will lead you to your doom.”
    “So be it,” Skylar said.
    “The Council will meet this evening to determine his fate. Have pity on your sister,” Jania addressed me. “Do not think to attempt escape.”  Her boots squeaked as she strode off.
    Skylar put her hand over mine where it wrapped around the bars. “I apologize for Jania. She does not easily trust newcomers.”
    I scoffed. “I have caught you in a lie, Skylar: a kind lie but a lie nevertheless. It is not newcomers she distrusts. It is me. Any fool can see that. Just like the rest of them.” I slumped to the ground to sit. “What is she to you?”
    “A childhood mentor, and the Proxim of Milandor.” She lowered herself down next to me on the other side of the bars. “She hoped, at one time, that I might join them. But their way is not for me.”
    “Their way?”
    “They are barren.” Kisana put her head up, and I wondered that she too had no children.
    With Daneo as her mate, surely a son would be welcome, I thought, but I did not give voice to the words. “By choice or by nature?” I asked
    Skylar shrugged and answered. “They love other Cruxim of the same sex. They will not suffer the pain of losing their mate when a child of the same sex is born. ”
    So my mother had been honest about that, at least. “Then they have more sense than you,” I said, not unkindly, but thinking of Joslyn and the hole her absence had punched in my heart as surely as if the silver cross had ruptured my skin.
    Hurt crumpled Skylar’s brow. She did not answer, just inspected the nails of her left hand.
    They were short, I noticed, for a woman’s, as if she kept them that way so she might play an instrument.
    “Jania loves you. Even I can tell that.”
    “It is not the way of Silvenhall,” Kisana interrupted.
    “To be celibate? Our mother was of Silvenhall, and she took a vow of celibacy.”
    “A vow she broke,” Skylar responded.
    I reached my hand out through the bars toward her. “Tell me about her, if you know of her. I have told Kisana all I know.”
    “Jania?”
    “No. My mother. She left me young when Kisana was born. How do you know so much about her, here in Silvenhall?”
    Skylar’s eyes fixed on my lips, and then she flushed, almost shyly. “You resemble her in many ways.” She nodded across at Kisana. “As does your sister. Calira was proud, very beautiful, and clever. Before Samea took her