Page 56 of Redeeming the Angel

When the Lord and Lady or Wurrakia had gotten over the novelty of having two luminite princesses as guests and were no longer monopolizing our waking hours, Nik and I were able to venture out of the castle.I returned to the hospital and spent every moment I could with the healers, especially the ones dedicated to pregnancy and childbirth.

“Are you sure you want to be doing this?”Nik asked me when I returned from assisting a midwife in delivering a baby.“Surely spending so much time around midwives and pregnant women can’t be good for your mental health.”

“Are you sure studying Wurrakian swordsmanship is good for your pregnancy?”I countered.“If I hadn’t overexerted myself, then maybe…”

“Don’t you say that!”Nik said fiercely.“The healers told me that had nothing to do with it and I know they assured you more than once that your loss of the seedling wasn’t your fault.In fact, women who remain active during their pregnancies have the best chance of a healthy delivery.I was in the room when the head healer told you that.”

“Fine.”I accepted the stalemate.“Then you keep up with your swordplay and I’ll continue to study midwifery.”

When we’d learned all we could, we returned to Medicia.Nik had about two more months before she wouldn’t be able to hide her pregnancy anymore.Our parents greeted us cheerfully, then, some of my grief must have shown in my face because Mother assured me that she’d received a message from the Jagwolfes and they’d be visiting next year.I almost broke down crying right then and there.

Once more, I spent a lot of time with the healers and with various books.Nik studied the books with me.We learned a lot more about ourselves than I’d expected.Though I knew that luminite children were rare, since fertility periods came so sporadically, I didn’t know how rare they really were.Apparently, both Nik’s and my first Yearnings came much earlier than usual.Our pregnancies were anomalies as well, as pregnancy only occurred roughly half the time one mated during a Yearning.And only half of those two-year-long pregnancies resulted in a child.My heart gave another twinge of agony at knowing thatIwas the half that failed.I was determined that Nik’s would succeed.

There was another negative thing we read that I wished I’d had the foresight to have considered sooner.One of the books said some luminite clans had rejected half-breed children back in the days when they’d resided on Earth.Those children were sent off to be raised amongst those who shared the other half of their blood, humans, faelin, and others.They were almost never permitted to reside in Luminista if they transcended there after death.At the time, I’d only thought of the Earthside Jagwolfes who Lucian had mentioned but never sought out when he accompanied me on rescue missions.I hadn’t considered how Nik would react with the halfling she carried.After all, Nik had no more interest in residing in Luminista than I did.So why would it matter that her daughter possibly wouldn’t be welcome there?Now, after reading about the fate of halflings, I realized that our own parents might not view Nik’s situation as sympathetically as I’d hoped.

When Nik’s belly began to protrude to the point where soon she wouldn’t be able to hide it with her clothing, I woke her up and we flew to the secret cave where she and Del had their trysts.

“You need to decide what you’re going to do about my niece.”Kerainne declared.

Nik frowned at my tone and at first looked like she’d tell me off, then her stern expression crumpled into worry.“I’m not comfortable withanyoneknowing about my pregnancy.”

“I’d thought as much, given that Delgarias is gone, so you don’t have the option of going with him if our parents decide to reject their grandchild.”Pacing across the cave floor, I finally told her what had been on my mind since my miscarriage.“I’ll help you hide and help you with the birth.That’s why I’ve been studying birthing.And if you want to take the baby and run away, I’ll help you with that as well.”

And so we brought our things to the cave and erected an even more powerful shield around it and the surrounding forest and valley.Then we set about turning the cave into a comfortable home.Living in isolation with Nik helped distract me from the pain of my loss, especially when Tiana grew big enough for me to feel her kicking in my sister’s belly.It also provided me an excuse to hide from Lucian.I still didn’t know how to tell him that I’d been pregnant.Would he blame me for failing?Or would he just be as devastated as I was?The idea of giving him the pain I felt was far worse than merely angering him.

The day I delivered my sister’s baby was one of the happiest days of my life.Succeeding in helping this baby take her first breath eased the pain of my own failure somewhat.Nik was hesitant to leave the cave and bring her daughter home to meet her grandparents.I was completely fine with the delay because it meant we could have Tiana to ourselves for a little while longer.

Then, Nik had the insane idea to put her baby in a time stasis container so that she’d still be a baby when Delgarias returned from his secret mission to become an immortal.I told her that was a terrible idea, but she refused to listen to me.

However, my fury at her foolishness gave me the courage to return to Luminista and face Lucian.

Though I still lacked the courage to tell him about my miscarriage.

Chapter Twenty

Lucian

Present

For several minutes, I sat in stunned silence.Kerainne was right.The knowledge that she’d kept this secret did hurt me.But she was wrong about this making me want nothing to do with her.Instead, I was mostly angry with myself.

My hand shook as I grabbed the wine bottle and poured myself a third glass.

Kerainne’s lips twisted in a bitter smile that didn’t match the pain in her eyes.Revisiting that memory must have been agonizing.“And here’s where you tell me to get out and tell me you never want to see me again.”

“Wrong,” I bit out.

Her head cocked to the side and more of her brittle façade crumbled.“Then will you go back to Luminista?”

“Wrong again.”I took a deep drink of wine.“I remembered how furious I was when you’d disappeared for over two years.And when you told me you’d been taking care of your sister, I accused you of lying.”

She refilled her wineglass.“I sort of was.”

“No, you were only omitting pertinent facts.”I couldn’t help a teasing smile even as my heart was contorting in shock and agony at the bombshell she’d dropped.“Tiana’s existence explains a lot about where you were.”I wondered why I didn’t guess at that timeline when Nikkita confessed to birthing Delgarias’s child.I felt so stupid for not figuring it out sooner.“But why didn’t you tell me?If I’d known, they’d havenevertried to betroth your sister to me.”

“With how vehemently our mother disapproved of Nik and Del’s union, I didn’t dare.”Her expression screamed that she hadn’t trusted me not to tell anyone in Luminista about Nik’s pregnancy.

Thatalsohurt, I admitted to myself.“And Delgarias’s quest for immortality led to him becoming the first vampire.Did you also keep that a secret from me?”

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