However, it’s all speculation at this point.”
“I agree,” Sethios replied. “We need to get over the hurdle in the other room and figure out how to help Elizabeth hide from both my father and the Seraphim. After that, we can focus on the potential fight ahead.”
“And Osiris’s request to train me,” Astasiya added gruffly. “I’ve not particularly enjoyed his version of training so far. Pretty sure I’m not interested in learning more from him.”
Sethios snorted. “Trust me, I understand that better than anyone you’ll ever meet.” He’d spent thousands of years beneath his father’s tutelage. While many of his trials were practical in nature, none of them were easy or favorable to endure.
“We should—”
A cry of agony from the bedroom interrupted Caro’s words and had them all turning toward the door. Astasiya was the first to move, the sound coming from her best friend.
She sprinted toward the commotion, only to freeze on the threshold at the sight before her.
Sethios was next at her back, his eyes on all the blood and mournful faces in the room.
Oh, fuck…
The baby wasn’t breathing.
Leela tried to calm everyone down so she could focus, but the others were too emotionally charged to listen.
Only Balthazar seemed able to understand her. His chocolate irises met hers, his chin dipping in confirmation that he could control the situation while she worked. She hadn’t even needed to say anything to him; he just understood her—something she would need to evaluate more thoroughly later. Because it freaked her out how well he read her, in addition to everything else that had occurred since coming in to physical contact with him again.
He knows, she thought for the thousandth time. But how is that possible?
Vera had changed his memories of their time in Brazil.
He shouldn’t know.
But he kept doing things that insinuated he did.
Like calling her Lee and offering her the exact drink they’d shared on the beach in Rio de Janeiro.
She mentally shook herself and stared down at the still infant in her arms. You and I are going to have a conversation, little one, Leela thought at her. Starting with how not to freak out your parents.
Seraphim babies never cried.
They were usually born aware and fully intelligent, marking them as supernatural and unique compared to human births. But Lizzie wasn’t a typical Seraphim. She was created in a lab using technology and genetics that none of them understood or had proper access to.
Case in point—Lizzie had given birth well after her projected due date. Most Seraphim went into labor around week seven or eight. But not Lizzie. Which suggested some mortal genetics had impacted her gestational period.
Leela rocked the silent child, her fertility power igniting to provide the small being the nutrients she needed to return to them.
Seraphic souls couldn’t die, only the body.
And this tiny form had endured quite a bit on her way into the world.
Come on, sweetheart, Leela cooed through her mind. You’re mostly healed. It’s time for your spirit to return.
Time seemed to tick by slowly, the others in the room growing more and more distressed with each passing second. Mostly because they were trying to calm the terrified mother on the bed. Jayson was still lost to Balthazar’s emotional control. But Lizzie was beside herself with horror at having lost their child.
“She’s going to be okay,” Balthazar was saying. “Leela’s confident, which makes me confident.”
Warm praise, but again troubling in nature.
He shouldn’t be confident in her at all.
They barely knew each other. In his mind, anyway.
Lizzie replied in gibberish, her statement lost over her sharp intakes of breath as she fought another wave of fresh tears.
“Did this happen to me?” Astasiya asked softly.
“No,” Sethios murmured. “But your situation was different.”
“Seraphim souls can’t perish,” Caro informed them all. “The body can die, but it’ll regenerate.”
Which was exactly what Leela had tried to tell them initially. Fortunately, they seemed to be hearing Caro.
Lizzie’s breaths were evening, and Jayson was whispering words of encouragement in her ear. Either that was still a result of Balthazar’s emotional control, or he’d finally regained his senses enough to do his job. Regardless, Leela was thankful because it gave her the peace and quiet she needed to nurture the child.
She closed her eyes, her mind seeking out the wandering soul of the infant in her arms. Stop exploring, little one, she mentally chided. It’s time for you to meet your parents in a corporeal state.
Seraphim children were born with an intelligence unlike human babies. They were already aware and understood aspects of