Page 73 of Vipers and Vendettas
I nod.
‘And they’d brand you? A few at a time, cutting through the ones they didn’t want anymore? Over many months?’
‘Yes.’
I hear Iron’s sharp intake of breath, which she ignores.
‘Did they hurt you after?’
‘I was beaten or whipped,’ I say succinctly.
Gigi doesn’t look surprised, but Iron curses under his breath.
‘Jules,’ he whispers sadly.
I don’t look at him. I don’t want to see his pity.
‘Old magick,’ she mutters half to herself, ‘very oldand very outlawed. I’ve only ever read about it.’ She pats my hand. ‘If the right symbols are taken into the flesh, a powerful conjure can be created. But the marks have to be embedded with pain.’ She gives my hand a small squeeze with her cold fingers. ‘The good news is, I think I know what they were trying to do.’
‘And the bad?’ I ask, leaning into Iron in spite of myself as he pulls me close to him because it makes me feel markedly better.
‘They clearly had no idea what they were doing and probably did the opposite of what they actually wanted.’ She shrugs.
‘Please, Gigi,’ I say, taking her gnarled hand in mine. ‘What did they turn me into?’
‘Oh, dear girl,’ she says kindly. ‘They didn’t turn you into anything. I believe they were trying to get your power to manifest before it’s time, but in doing so, they likely delayed it … byyears. They must have known your background. You can’t tell one of your kind until she matures unless you know her lineage without a shadow of a doubt.’
‘Gigi, come on,’ Iron whines. ‘What the hell are you talking about? Whatisshe? A shifter? A siren?’
‘She’s a succubus, boy. Of course, she is.’ Gigi looks at us like we’re the dumbest couple of idiots she’s ever seen. ‘What else would she be? What else would they be doing? They found a succubus, and they took her babe because they knew she’d be one as well; only didn’t want to wait.’
She frowns at the owner’s brand on my chest that she can’t see anymore. ‘Your mark isn’t known to me, though. Who was your master?’
‘Tamadrielle,’ I say faintly.
‘Not one of the Ten,’ she remarks thoughtfully. ‘But the name rings a bell.’
‘All that time,’ I murmur. ‘Why? Why did they do that to me?’
‘I don’t know, child,’ Gigi says, ‘but it must have been something very important; otherwise, they’d have killed you with your mother.’
‘You think my mother’s dead?’
Gigi nods sadly. ‘They wouldn’t have let her live. Succubi are too dangerous.’
‘Why?’ I ask.
‘Because they’re practically fonts of magick, especially with an incubus clan,’ Gigi says. ‘The Ten would never have kept control for as long as they have if the succubi hadn’t been culled. They were rumored to be more powerful than the High Fae themselves, you see?’
She checks her watch.
‘I mean, this is hearsay, of course. All of this supposedly happened well before my time, and I’m almost nine hundred. It’s mostly forgotten now. Very few texts have survived.’
Gigi goes to a hook on the wall and dons a cardigan. She hangs up her goggles at the same time.
‘My conjure will start making me loopy soon,’ she states. ‘I try not to be here when it goes into effect. I’ve been found walking around the halls of this castle more than once.’
She leads us out and back to her house, and we reappear in her hallway.
