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)
“But the child is otherwise well and progressing as they should?” Raphael’s question snapped Elena out of her shock, because yes, that was what mattered, the only thing that mattered.
“Yes,” Nisia confirmed. “Hitting all gestational milestones.”
Elena shuddered in relief, felt Raphael do the same next to her. “Tell us if you discover anything else,” he told the healer.
“At once, sire. I would’ve already spoken to Keir but he was involved in handling an accident at the Refuge—a young angel, only eighty-five or so, has broken both wings.”
It was a testament to who Raphael was, Elena thought, that he said, “What is the prognosis? Will it require amputation to allow regeneration?”
“Thankfully not. The child will, however, be immobile for a significant period to allow his wings to heal—but his friends are already rallying to ensure he will have constant company through the process. You know how they are at that age—family is welcome, but friends are their lifeblood.”
Raphael gave Nisia a small nod before they left the infirmary.
* * *
* * *
Evening sunlight slanted in through the large hallway windows as they left the infirmary hand-in-hand. “Right,” Elena said with a deep breath. “Forget about the how of it—we can leave that to Keir and Nisia. What does this mean for our child?” This nascent being that she already loved with all of her soul.
“Immortal or mortal, either is a possibility.” Raphael squeezed her hand.
Elena shut her eyes tight for a moment, and when she opened them again, she said, “It’s my fault. The mortal cells.” The possible shortening of their baby’s life.
Raphael turned to cup the side of her face with one big hand. “Never say that, Elena. Without your mortal heart, I would be a monster and we would have no love and no child. Without you, this timeline simply would not exist.”
Her entire body ached. “I don’t want to watch our child die, Raphael.” It was her greatest nightmare.
“Then, if our child is born mortal, and does not choose vampirism—or is incompatible with the process—we will go into Sleep when it comes to a time in their life that they are aging, and are no longer in need of parental guidance.” No hesitation, his decision firm.
“I was born mortal,” she said. “Never sought immortality—but I also wasn’t born to immortal parents.” She could already envision her child’s confusion and pain. “How do we give our child a joyous life when they’ll always feel like a outsider in this world?” If she could, she’d reverse the clock, erase her own immortality, but that was as impossible a thing as the mortal cells in their child’s bloodstream.
“We will find a way, Elena-mine,” Raphael said, his voice gritty with determination. “Perhaps what it means is that our child will grow up closest with the descendants of your sisters’ families. Spend their formative years with children who are mortal. He or she will not feel the outsider then.”
Elena inhaled, exhaled, starting to see a glimmer of a pathway. “Yes, there are so many good people among the descendants, so many sweet children like Parisa who’ll be kind to our baby.” Her eyes grew hot. “And we’ve known an incredible number of extraordinary mortals who all left a powerful mark. We’ll raise our baby to cherish and honor their life, to believe in the furious power of their dreams.”
Raphael stroked his thumbs over her cheekbones. “We will also teach them that our lives will end, too, in the natural way of things, with the parents going before the child.” Raphael’s wings, still glowing, spread out against the evening light. “I feel now for your brother-in-law as I did not before. He truly has suffered what the mortals call hell.”
A stab through Elena’s heart. “Should we ask Nisia to let Harrison go?”
But Raphael shook his head. “No, Nisia would not agree, and were I to overrule her, it would shatter the trust between archangel and healer. He is under her care now, and—for her own sense of honor—she must be certain that he makes the decision with a sound mind.”
Elena nodded against his chest as they stood in that sunshine-drenched hallway. As Raphael folded his wings around her, she found she could breathe again. “I wanted eternity for our baby, an endless life full of discovery and new wonders, but most of all, I wanted happiness and love.”
“Our babe will be beloved beyond measure, Elena-mine.”
In the end, it was that simple. They would love their baby, mortal or immortal. There was no grief in watching a treasured child grow and change and become. It was a gift and they would cherish it as such, whether it was for a single mortal lifetime or an eternal immortal one.
“Do you think Nisia or Keir will figure out why I have mortal cells in my bloodstream when I was literally reborn an immortal after the chrysalis? Complete with a piece of your freaking heart.” He’d removed her dying mortal heart, put it inside his own chest, where it had exploded, gone without a trace.