Page 105 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

“Yeah. Just decided to do it if we’re doing it.”

“Damn straight,” Maura said.

“I can’t wait,” Kierse said truthfully. She wanted the best for them. She’d known longer than Nate that Maura was the real deal, and if he didn’t settle down, he’d lose her. She was glad that he’d figured it out, too. “Were you on the night shift?”

“I…yes,” Maura said. Her gaze shifted to her fiancé. He nodded. “But I got off at midnight. I was looking into something else. Something I thought maybe you could…bring up with Graves.”

Kierse’s eyebrows shot up. “With Graves?”

“Tell her, baby,” Nate said.

Maura took a breath and let it out. “I can’t have kids.”

“Oh, Maura, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“No one else knows really. When I was younger, before the Monster War, I was seduced by an incubus.”

Kierse gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. “Maura, no!”

Tears glinted in Maura’s eyes. “Yeah. I didn’t know about monsters then and just thought I was falling in love and rebelling against my parents. But as you know, once you’re…intimate with an incubus…”

“They put the curse on you.”

She nodded. “Yes. They feed on your sexual energy.”

Kierse’s gaze shifted to Nate. “I can’t believe this. I’m so sorry. But how do you think Graves would help?”

“He might know a cure,” Nate said. “Maura jokes, but she didn’t want to get married because she thought I deserved to have children. I told her she was out of her mind, but I have been looking for a way to help her. The pack even tracked the incubus and killed him. It didn’t change anything.”

Maura choked on that, as if it still hurt to think about.

“I know Graves isn’t forthright with information, and he might tell us to fuck off, but we’re down to our last resort…”

“I can ask him,” Kierse agreed easily.

But she had never heard of a cure for an incubus curse. It was like a vampire draining your blood or a wraith feeding off your soul. An incubus and succubus worked in a pair to drain energy through sex. Once they drained you, the only children you could have were theirs…if you survived. And most didn’t. They were monsters for a reason.

“Thanks,” Maura said with a sigh. “I hate to bring the mood down.”

“No, of course not, Maura. I’m happy to help, if I can.”

“Okay,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “I’m going to go pass out. Night shifts suck.”

She kissed Nate’s cheek and pulled Kierse in for another hug. “The invite goes for Gen and Ethan, too,” Maura said. “And a plus-one. In case you want to bring a certain hot, dangerous warlock.”

Kierse held her tighter. “I love you, Maura.”

“Love you, too, baby girl.”

Then Maura was gone, and when Kierse turned around, Nate’s face fell.

“Do you think he’ll help us? I know that’s not his MO.”

“I don’t know what he’ll do, but it won’t do any harm to ask.”

“Thanks. Yeah. We’ve gone through so many dead ends. What’s one more?”

“I hate this for you. I know that you’d make great parents.”

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