Nile had somehow convinced Ferdinand to wait at the top of the stairs, but not the angel. So they squeezed together down the narrow stairway that opened into the brilliant cavern of Light where he’d found Valeria half-crazed. This was where it had taken her, changed her. He wouldn’t underestimate it again.

“Light!” he bellowed and Anark’s wings twitched.

“That’s how you call it?” the angel asked with a smirk. “Just scream at it and wave your arms about?”

Nile frowned and ignored him. “Come out! There’s something Valeria must know! She’s in danger!”

The ground rumbled under their feet and Nile bent his knees. The angel flared his wings and his amethyst eyes went wide with surprise. “By the Divine, I can’t believe that actually worked.”

The sentient creature of purest Light slipped from the walls, slinking around them and trailing a finger of molten metal in its wake. “Danger?” it asked.

Nile was grateful that the Light didn’t live in Valeria anymore, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew that in their union it had left a piece of itself in the child now in Valeria’s womb. It was overconfident, traipsing around them as if invincible. The fact that it cared what happened to Valeria told him all he needed to know. He stormed up to the creature. “You’ve got to get her to return home. The demons are building a tower to the angel city and if they get there, we’re all dead. There won’t be any Light. There won’t be any life. Valeria will be dead.”

It frowned as it considered Nile’s stern words. “Dead?” it asked. “Even the child?”

“Yes,” Nile insisted patiently. “Especially the child.”

Anark gripped his wrist hard. “What child?”

Before he could reply, the Light flashed and swirled into the ground until they were left with a sudden sense of emptiness and cold. The walls dimmed to a less spectacular brilliance, illuminated only by Divine Material. The creature was gone.

“It’s done,” Nile said, yanking free of Anark’s grip. “Come on. Ferdinand is going to be worried.”

He rushed to the doorway and the angel flared his wings, vaulting in front of him and blocking the exit. He glowered, which was an intimidating expression from a tall, immortal creature with eyes an impossible shade of purple. “What child?”

Nile swallowed, and prayed to the Divine that this angel wouldn’t take his life. “Well, Valeria and I, we, um.”

Amethyst eyes went dangerously wide.

Yep, Nile thought, definitely going to be cast into oblivion by an all-powerful immortal angel.

* * *

Valeria was soon bedridden after her child started to grow. Her muscles weren’t meant to expand this fast. Her skin strained against her hips and she groaned as each new instant forced the child to grow larger.

“Shienne!” she cried.

The girl rushed to her with a basin of crystal water and a plush cloth and dabbed at her brow. “It’s all right. You’ll make it through this. I’ve seen these kinds of pregnancies before. It’s completely natural.”

The child shifted and pain speared down her spine. She cried out and gripped the sides of the bed as sweat broke out all over her body. “Natural?” she shrieked. “I’m barely two days pregnant and I already feel like I’m going to have this child! Please, Shienne, do something!”

She pressed the cloth to her brow one more time. “Okay,” she finally admitted. “I’ll get Xorn.”

“No,” Valeria bit off the word. “Don’t you dare. He’s done enough already.”

Silver eyes watched her with a sense of helplessness. “Then I don’t know what to do, m’lady. Tell me what to do.”

Valeria opened her mouth to say things that wasn’t going to help matters, but then something broke inside of her. A burn seared through her senses and her world exploded into gold.

Shienne shrieked and ran out of the hut, but Valeria focused on the voice trying to form in her head. It was the Light, but it was telling her about Nile.

She pieced the broken message together, groaning as she writhed through the pain.

Nile.

Nethara’s tower.

Manor Saffron.

Just as she was about to figure out what the Light was trying to tell her, a blast of darkness swirled and blocked out the Light. The sentient creature trying to reach her from the depths of the Ether screeched and retreated, swirling through the layers until it returned to the Divine Material stores of Manor Saffron.

Valeria opened her eyes as the searing pain eased. Xorn’s concerned face came into focus, his two metallic horns swirling with shadow.

She groaned as she eased up. “Why did you do that?” she snapped.

His eyes widened. “You mean, why did I save you? That thing was trying to—”

Valeria scoffed and winced, wrapping her hand over her bulging belly. “It was telling me that Nile is in danger. I need to get back to Manor Saffron.” She gave him a glare for good measure. “It has something to do with Nethara. Is that okay with you?”

He frowned as he considered her request. His gaze fell to her belly. “Are you sure it’s nothing to do with that?”

She gripped the bedsheets in an effort to restrain herself for punching him in the face. “You mean the fact that you tricked me and fed me your own blood? Sure, I’ll kill you later for it, but for now, I need to get home.”

He grinned.

“What?” she snapped.

“You’re a true demon general. You’ve claimed your territory, threatened a rival, and designated your new heir.” He stood and brushed dirt from the shadow of his trousers that he preferred over battle leathers in the oasis. “My work is done. Let’s get you back to Manor Saffron.”

Valeria raised an eyebrow. “Really? You don’t want me to lead your people to a new era, or something?”

He shrugged. “I believe you’re going to do that already.” He offered her a hand. “You have a castle, and every castle needs a queen. Let’s get you back where you belong.”