“Oh yes, we know it well. Very curious specimen. It’s only been available for public purchase for just a year or two, I think? Are you interested? Itwouldbe an excellent present for your husband,” one of the sisters said tactfully. “Especially as your pregnancy progresses. And then, for after, you know.”
“You know what it feeds on, right? Itsucks,” the other added, with far less aplomb. “It’s not sexual for the plant, of course, it just wants to get its food source, but—”
“—Itwantsits food source. And it was very specifically developed,” her sister continued. “It was found wild, you know, but it was bred and cultivated for years to enhance certain . . . properties, as part of the botany program on one of the space stations. I think it’s rather telling that the main food source—”
“—Is exactly what someone who is stuck in space wants to unload, if you know what I mean.”
The sisters giggled. Lurielle had placed her order after being assured that it wasn’t harmful and would be safe to have in the house with the baby.
“Oh, it’s perfectly safe. It was tested for a long time.”
“Some botanists just really enjoy their work,” her sister went on, still giggling.
“The sap has aphrodisiac properties, but it’s non-toxic. That was one of the features discovered when the work on its cultivation began. It wants to eat, after all. Definitely put it somewhere out of reach, and ensure good handwashing practices are in place after handling it. But, well, your husband is only going to be handling it for one purpose.”
Khash had been incensed.
“Lurielle, did you go and get kicked by a mule? Did you really get me asex dollthat has to be watered? Like I’m some green lad who can’t control himself, poppin’ off in the middle of the bank? Do I look like bully boy to you? I’m insulted, Bluebell. You’re acting like I need a nurse.”
“That’s the point!” she exclaimed, laughing, as they stood before the houseplant after it had arrived. “You don’t have to exercise self-control! And we’re about to get to a point where I can’tdoanything, Khash. And then I’m supposed to be healing after he’s here. You’re the one who told me it’s unhealthy to let the plumbing get backed up, you and your bad humours. You ought to be thanking me, because if you think you’re going to put that big dragon anywhere near the gaping wound in my body, you’ve got another thing coming.”
He had sputtered and grumbled, and she was relieved to learn the plant had come with a dried packet of food mix, one that only needed to be mixed into a gallon jug of distilled water. She hadn’t wanted to think about where the mix had been harvested from, shrieking a little when some of it spilled, but the jug had lived beneath the plant since bringing it home.
The plant that looked . . . large to her. Suspiciously large, as if she were seeing it for the first time.In fairness, you haven’t been able to see anything lower than your tits in four months. She remembered telling him the plant needed to be moved before her due date, and hadn’t thought about it since. And here it was,in their bathroom, looking mighty healthy for something that was fed with a premixed solution.
She snorted, shaking her head.He doth protest too much.
Lurielle turned on the water, setting it as hot as her skin could stand, after glancing into the mirror. Rourke was right. Shedidhave spit-up in her hair.
Looking over her phone, she swept open the screen just before stepping into the shower. A message from her mother. A request from Khash to let him know if she needed him to stop at the store for anything on his way home. A text from Ris, which she tapped open.
First of all, I miss you so fucking much, you have no idea.
You are NOT allowed to have any more kids.
I was thinking maybe I could come visit you next week?
Oh! Gossip from the break room.
I guess Edzin still talks to Tannar pretty regularly.
Apparently Silva is pregnant.
Lurielle blinked in surprise. Silva had married Tannar just a month after her own nuptials. The whole situation was strange, to say the least.Fucking weird, let’s be real. Ris was uncomfortable talking about it. Lurielle knew that Ris’s boyfriend held a grudge against their former coworker, a grudge that hardly made sense considering all that had happened, but they rarely talked about Silva as a result.
Lurielle held her own opinion. The whole situation with Tannar seemed rushed to her, too soon, too neat. She’dseenSilva in her apartment that day she went to check on her with Ris. Their younger friend had been practically catatonic. There was no way she had simply bounced back that well, that soon. Having her heart broken and marrying someone else just a few months later.And now she’s pregnant. Your kids might have even been friends if she would’ve stayed in Cambric Creek.
Lurielle shook the thought away. Silva had left and not looked back, and hadn’t reached out to any of them since.
“Well, you will have lots of other kids to play with, don’t worry.”
Kael slept on, unconcerned. She snorted, stepping into the shower. Rourke was right. She smelled.
The key to crushing it, she had discovered, was keeping her expectations low and her tolerance for slovenliness high, and so far, Lurielle couldn’t imagine doing better than she was.
Ris
“Ithink I’m partial to human names for animals,” she announced one afternoon, one of those work-from-home days when she managed to scoot out of her own office early.
