Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 139178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
—Nisia to Elena and Raphael (At Journey’s Beginning)
“I have all I need,” Nisia pronounced eighteen weeks into the pregnancy, having just finished taking Elena’s vitals.
“Is the babe well?” Raphael asked, and Elena felt the tension thrumming through his entire body as he stood next to her seated form, his hand on her shoulder.
“It appears to be firmly settled in. No complications so far, and I can’t see any reason for that to change.” A gentle pat of Elena’s cheek, not even Nisia having the temerity to do that to Raphael. “Be happy, both of you. You’re well past the perilous stage of an angelic pregnancy.”
Walking to the screens to one side of her office, with Elena and Raphael following, the healer brought up the recording of the latest scan—then played the sound of their baby’s heartbeat as they watched that tiny heart pulse on the screen.
“Look here.” She indicated a specific section of the scan. “You can just see the beginnings of the wing understructure in the back.”
Elena sucked in a breath. “They’ll fly.” Her voice trembled—she’d never taken her own wings for granted, wanted the sky for their child.
“Yes,” Nisia confirmed. “As for the mortal cells in the super-parasite’s body, as far as we can track, they’ve stopped multiplying. Still there, but harder to detect. The immortal cells are now dominant.”
She looked at Elena. “Add that to the fact you’re still inhaling more food than required by even the most muscle-bound angelic warriors, and I believe immortality is a given—but I’m afraid neither Keir nor I can explain why the mortal cells have survived in the midst of the immortal, or what effect they’ll have on the child long-term.”
“Tiamat told me not to worry,” Elena murmured, her eyes on her baby’s heartbeat and her entire being pulsing with love fierce and primal. “As long as our baby is growing and thriving, that’s all I need to know.”
Raphael circled his palm lightly over her lower back. “As my consort states, Nisia.”
The healer looked back at the recording of the scan—with a scowl this time. “You know, I do believe this child is going to confound me as much as you’ve always done.” A sharp look at Elena that did little to hide the affection beneath the snark. “A gift of generational irritation.”
Laughing, Raphael picked up the healer and spun her around with a playfulness no one would’ve ever expected from him once. Watching Nisia swat at his shoulder while amusement lit up his whole face, and their wings threatened to sweep papers off Nisia’s desk, Elena rubbed her abdomen and spoke to the child within.
What a life you’re going to have, little spark of ours. I can’t wait to meet you. And with their developing baby now in the safe zone, she was ready to share the news beyond the very few people who knew to date.
* * *
* * *
Venom and Holly were missing from the gathering of the New York–based Seven and Elena’s Guard at dinner the next night. Raphael had sent the couple to India to help Avi and Jelena and the rest of Caliane’s senior team. As agreed by the Cadre, the archangels around Caliane’s lands had done flyovers and made their presence felt while leaving her people to the day-to-day running of things.
Raphael had worried the most about Alexander when it came to territorial conquest—but he’d forgotten how long Alexander had called Caliane a friend. Alex and Callie had known each other since long before ascension, and while Alexander had once been ready to go to war with her son, that had been an eternity ago—and Alexander a wholly different man.
He’d stepped into the breach for Caliane as Elijah would for Raphael and vice versa.
“His winged squadrons are helping maintain stability at the border,” Venom had reported. “Also—the single time a vampire kiss decided to act up, he came down personally on them like a hammer.
“Lady Sharine, too, has been in the territory several times, and Titus has flown in with her to assist with the archangelic oversight. Suyin has, of course, been heavily involved.
“Jelena and Avi also made the decision to tell the populace that Lady Caliane will only be gone for a decade, which has proven a good decision—no one wishes to have a black mark against their name when she rises.”
Raphael only hoped that his mother would rise, would see how well she was loved and respected.
Tonight, however, was about a topic far more joyful.
All of their senior people based in or close to New York sprawled in comfortable armchairs set among Elena’s plants, leaned up against the wall, or—in the case of Janvier—sat on the thick Persian carpet with one long leg out and his back to the armchair occupied by the love of his life.
Voice languid as always, the Cajun vampire said, “We’re all here, except for Holly and Venom, the Refuge-based crew, and Bluebell and Sparkle.”