I saw what I thought was Roth’s arm rise as he said, “You know, I actually don’t want to be a part of this conversation, anyway.”
“But why would that even be a conversation?” Layla protested.
“Come with me, shortie, and I’ll explain to you what can happen when two people have sex—better yet, I can show you—”
“I know what happens,” Layla snapped, and whatever else she said was lost as Roth dragged her from the room.
I waited until they were gone. “How would you even know if I’m pregnant or not? Can you see inside my uterus?”
Zayne looked over at me. “I can’t believe those words just came out of your mouth.”
“I can’t believe those words came out of my mouth, but they did.”
“That has to be one of the most disturbing things I’ve heard, and I’ve heard a lot.” Grim’s lip curled behind his beard. “Death and life are two sides of the same coin. I can sense when the youngest life has taken root and know when the process of death has begun long before the body begins to rot.”
“I bet you’re amazing at dinner parties,” I whispered as I exhaled slowly.
I wasn’t pregnant.
Thank you baby gargoyles everywhere.
Relief swept through me, leaving me a little dizzy and guilty. Like should I be this relieved to learn I wasn’t expecting?
I thought about how I’d just mouthed off at the Angel of Death.
Yeah, I should be this relieved.
But there was this teeny, tiny, seed-size sense of disappointment. While I had serious doubts about my parenting ability, Zayne would’ve made an amazing father. It would’ve been kind of awesome to have seen that.
But this was one less thing to worry about—to stress about and worry about having to protect.
“You two can have children,” Grim said, dragging my attention back to him. “Maybe one day, if that is what you decide you want. It will be hard but it won’t be impossible. What your child would be, well, that would be interesting. A possible whole new class of angelic bloodlines. Evolution. Isn’t it grand?”
My head was turning over a whole lot of stuff at the moment. “Wouldn’t our child just be a...Trueborn since we both have a lot of grace in us? Or like those with way watered-down grace?”
“Your child would’ve been like that—like you,” he said. “But that was before.”
“Before what?” Zayne asked.
Grim’s smile spread. “Find Lucifer. Take care of Gabriel, and then worry about that. In the meantime, I would invest in birth control.” His ancient gaze drifted from Zayne to me. “I’ll see you again.”
And with possibly the most unnerving words the Angel of Death could ever say, Grim vanished from the kitchen.
“He’s...” I slowly shook my head. “He’s something else.”
“That he is.” Zayne turned to me.
I looked up at him, mind still reeling. “The actual Angel of Death just popped in to yell at us and to tell me I’m not pregnant. Our lives are so strange.”
A smile played over his lips as he placed his hands on my upper arms. “It is definitely strange. How are you feeling about what he told us?”
“I...” There were so many emotions and thoughts rolling through my head, but there was a lessening of tension in my chest. “I feel relieved? Does that make me a bad person?”
“No. It doesn’t. I also feel relieved.” Curling his arms around my shoulders, he stepped into me. “Don’t get me wrong. If you were, we would’ve been okay. We would’ve figured things out, but now...”
“Now is so not a good time for any of that.” I rested my chin on his chest. “At least we know it can happen.”
“He did give good advice about birth control.” His lips twitched.
“That was advice I never needed to hear from the Angel of Death,” I retorted. “As were his parting words, but I guess all of us—or at least most of us—will see him again one day.”
Zayne’s jaw hardened. “That’s not going to happen.”
I smiled as I rested my cheek on his chest. He said that like he could somehow prevent death from taking me. He couldn’t. One way or another, I would meet death. Hopefully it was a long time from now.
“But it’s good to know that it is possible. You know?” He threaded his fingers through my hair. “If down the road we decide we want to.”
“What? Ruin a child?”
He laughed. “Yeah, that.”
Another smile curled up my lips. I still felt a little guilty for being so damn relieved, but I was so not ready for that. Not with everything going on. Maybe not ever, but at least that would be a choice we would get to make.
“What do you think he meant about the whole ‘before’ part?” Zayne asked. “About what our child would be.”
“God, that’s anyone’s guess. We’re going to have to obsess over that later.” I started to pull back.