Barbara Ferrars had been in love once. She remembered the feeling well and worked hard to keep the sensation alive. Not, as anyone would imagine, due to any romantic sensibility—no, quite the reverse. Her reason not to forget her feelings for her long-dead husband was born of anything but sentimentality.
No. She wanted to make sure that if anyone dared stir those feelings in her ever again, that she’d be ready for them and could cut them dead in their tracks. Her late husband, Miles, had brought nothing to their marriage but heartache and shame. Despite early promises, he hadn’t increased her fortune by a single dime, and though he had given her children, the sad truth was she was ashamed of them.
She’d seen the snide, half-sneer glances the other goblin mothers had given her. She’d endured the poor math grades and was troubled by their artistic excellence, which had no value for her at all. Luckily, there was enough goblin in two of them to overcome this rough beginning. Fanny and Robert took to the banking business like ducks to water. She could say the same of Edward, too, though he was a little gentler than the others, taking more after his father. He often displayed a more sensitive, considerate side that she’d worked hard to thrash out of him. Thankfully, he had come around at last and was toeing the family line. She would make a ruthless banker out of him yet.
Her daughter, Fanny, was sitting on their suite sofa playing with her smartphone, while Anne, the less pretty of the two succubus sisters, jabbered away to her about nothing in particular, as least as far as she could make out.
She had invited the two for tea yesterday just to snub John’s snooty sister. Oh yes, she’d heard everything about the girl making ooey-gooey eyes at her son, and she wouldn’t tolerate it. Who did she think she was anyway? But now that one of the succubus girls was here, she was already regretting it. She had asked them over for tea––not the whole day. Who did they think they were? And they smelled. What might be pleasant to the men was offensive to her goblin nostrils. She shivered and pulled a bottle of alchemy musk from her purse, spraying it around her face to alleviate the stench.
“Will your sister be much longer?” she asked, as the droplets lingered in the air, masking the girl’s scent.
“Oh, sure, Lucy won’t be very long,” Anne replied. “She just had to go back to Betsy’s for something or other. ‘Lucy,’ I said, ‘I don’t think Mrs. Ferrars will care one bit whatever you put on. She’s a nice lady.’ And I said she looked nice enough, I really liked the blouse she had on. But she would go, though I expect she had her reasons for wanting to look her best, I’m sure she had.”
“Are you looking forward to getting back home?” Fanny asked. “I know I am. I find this Florida heat unbearable, and I long for the cold of the north. It’s too humid, don’t you think?”
“Well yes, you’re right about that. I’ve gone through more bottles of deodorant than you could ever believe! And where are the men, I say? I mean, what’s the point of being a succubus if there are no men to drool over, know what I’m saying? I mean it’s all right for my sister, Lucy. She’s got Edward—but me, I’ve got no one. It just isn’t fair.”
Barbara felt her body go rigid and even Fanny sat more stiffly in her seat. “What was that?” Barbara asked.
“You know, Lucy and Edward. I mean it’s all right for them, they’re in love. But what about me? No one’s offered to bond with me. At this rate, I don’t think anyone ever shall.”
Fanny suddenly lost interest in her smartphone, dropping it on the sofa cushion.
“Are you telling me, your sister is bonded to my brother?”
At last, the penny must have dropped, because Anne’s mouth fell open and she raised her hand to cover it. “Shoot. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone that. It’s supposed to be a secret.”
Slowly, Barbara rose from her seat. Then, though she was of advancing years, she crossed the room with uncanny speed. She took the girl’s chin in her twisted goblin fingers and brought her face close to her own.
“Now let’s be absolutely clear. Are you telling me my son Edward has bonded with your slut succubus sister?” She could see Anne was trembling and rightly so. Barbara was of a good mind to poke a sharp nail into one or both of those fearful eyes of hers. “Well?”
Anne was crying, and her words came out a jumbled mess. “I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone,” she repeated. “Lucy is going to kill me!”
“I will kill you if you don’t answer my question,” Barbara hissed.
She turned to find Fanny standing right behind her and looking just as horrified. “Call Edward. Call him and tell him I need to see him here at once! Do you hear me?”
“Yes, Momsie,” Fanny said, jumping right to it and snatching up her phone.
But there was no need. In the adjoining room, Barbara heard a door opening, and a moment later, both Edward and Lucy were standing in the sitting room.
“Hello, Mother,” Edward said politely. Then his gaze fell on Anne, who could not hide her fright. “What’s going on?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing. This…this thing has just informed me you’ve attached yourself to this succubus. Do you dare deny it?”
Edward turned a ghastly shade of white, and to her horror, he took Lucy’s hand in his own and squeezed it. “Yes, Mother, I have. We are bonded.”
“Yes, we are in love,” Lucy said, as if it were the most wonderful thing in the world, completely ignoring her simpering sister. “We think we’ll be very happy.”
Barbara’s blood boiled just beneath the surface. Her fingers began to tingle, and her skin turned a deeper shade of green. “Have you performed the actual ceremony?”
“Not yet,” Edward said. “But we have exchanged vows, and my word is unbreakable. We are as good as bonded. But we would like your blessing.”
Barbara was so incensed she’d forgotten she was still holding onto Anne’s chin. She thrust it away now and could smell the blood she’d drawn with her sharp claws. Anne turned away, which was good, for Barbara couldn’t bear to watch her sobs of embarrassment. Weakness repelled her, and this succubus was as weak as they came.
“My blessing?” Barbara smiled, but her smile was born of cruelty, not joy. “My blessing? Heed this. I don’t care about your word at all. What is such a thing when offered to a slut like this one?” She fixed her cold gaze upon Lucy Steele. “I don’t know what arts and allurements you practiced on my son but know this. YOU WILL NOT HAVE HIM. I would rather see my son dead and in his grave rather than shackled to such as you.”
“Mother, watch your words!”
“Hush, Edward. You have had your say. Now let me have mine. You must give up this ridiculous fling at once. I will not have you make my family look ridiculous. Give her up, and everything will be forgiven.” Barbara stared hard at her son, wanting to be sure he understood her completely. “If you do not, have no doubt I will cut you off without a cent. Not one cent. I’ll rewrite my will and leave everything irrevocably to your brother, Robert. Have I made myself clear?”
From the ashen look on her son’s face, she could tell he understood her completely. “Well?” Barbara pressed, needing to hear his words of submission.
Edward took a long breath, then clasped Lucy’s hand firmly. “Mother, I gave my word. I cannot and will not go back on it.”
Fanny stood bewildered and looked afraid to speak, no doubt fearing to draw any of this venom her way. Yet despite her daughter’s shock, Barbara could see the wheels turning behind her eyes, calculating how this would turn to her advantage. At least one of her offspring showed some spunk.
Barbara’s heart turned cold. “Then so be it. And may your decision bring you much happiness.”
Anne, who had been weeping nonstop, jumped up and ran from the room, her wings drooping miserably behind her. Unlike her sister, Lucy was not sniveling, but she stood dumbstruck. Good. She deserved to suffer the miseries of hell, because she had cost Barbara a son. “Now leave us. All of you. And Edward?”
Edward turned as he was about to walk out the door.
“I never want to see your face again. You are dead to me.”
The goblin who had once been her son nodded solemnly. She hated his weakness and his foolish pride in his sense of honor. How pathetic he was, how easily led astray. And how very much like his father. Edward had held a place in her heart for a while; after all, he was her firstborn son. But no longer. He was dead to her now, and unlike him, she would never weaken. She took a deep breath, and focusing on the love she’d had for her son, she turned that part of her heart to stone.