He pauses, sharply inhaling. It has to hurt, losing a sibling, and the guilt must be crippling. I have no idea how archangel emotions work, but if he fell in love with my mother, then certainly he loves his other siblings. He killed his own brother for me, and Lucifer is presumably hiding the body in Hell. Out of my thousands of cousins, only one doesn’t want to kill me, and he’s working as a double agent, keeping up the pretense that he has no idea I was even born.
And I thought the Martins were full of family drama.
“The others will be on high alert,” Michael finishes.
“What are you going to tell them?” Lucas puts my plate in the microwave. “I can’t imagine archangels are easy to kill.”
“We are not. The only way to kill any angel is with demon-forged daggers that—”
“Bael had one,” I interrupt. “Julian brought it. Would it be believable that Bael killed Remiel?”
Michael thinks about it for a few seconds. “Perhaps. Battle is—was—not one of his strengths. I believe that was the angle Lucifer was going to play.”
“Let’s circle back to the demon thing,” I say, sliding the pie over and taking a seat next to Michael. My feet are starting to hurt from standing here, which is unusual for me. I didn’t take my boots off or anything either. “I’m always a demon-magnet, but it’s gonna be worse, right?”
“Right.” Michael looks up and around the room. “The warding placed on the property will help for a while.”
“Can you up it?” Lucas asks.
“I will bless the space,” Michael tells us. “But it won’t be foolproof.”
“What about the Covenstead?” Kristy asks. “Is she safe there?”
“In theory.”
“But if demons know I’m there…” I start, not needing to finish. When Varrador figured out which coven I belonged to, he sent lower-level demons to attack anyone trying to get through the door, so he could in turn force himself in and find and kill me. If demons are looking for me and they know I went through the door, I’d be putting everyone at risk.
Again.
“You said only someone with archangel blood can claim the throne,” Lucas starts, taking my food from the microwave and bringing it over to me. “Which means now there is no doubt amongst the demons that the rumors about Callie are true.”
“Right.”
I should be too nervous to eat, but I’m starving, and the leftover mashed potatoes and cornbread dressing are begging to be mixed together and devoured right now.
“If the demons know, won’t the angels find out?” Lucas asks.
“Demons aren’t the most trustworthy source of information. With Lucifer being gone, they are more desperate than usual to try and take the throne for themselves. The chatter may raise suspicions, and Julian and I will continue to evade them.”
“Thank you,” I tell him as I put a spoonful of dressing on my potatoes.
“It’s your divinity that will give you away. I would bind your angelic powers, but I fear you may need them.” I assume he meant I’d need them to fight off demons, but he looks at my stomach. I’m not really showing yet, but my usual flat stomach isn’t so flat anymore. Give me ten minutes to finish this plate and I’ll look even more pregnant. “You are only half human, and your daughter is part angel as well. No one has ever—”
“Daughter?” Lucas interjects. “You’re sure about that?”
Tears prick the corner of my eyes, overcome with emotion when I see the excitement on Lucas’s face. He told me he’d hoped for a son, going back to his old human ways where sons were preferred to daughters. I was a little worried he’d be disappointed when I told him I thought I was having a girl.
“I am, though only that your child is biologically female. What she grows up to be is up to her, as it is to all of God’s children.”
And now I’m blinking back tears even more, knowing Michael—a freaking archangel—is open to inclusion of everyone. I wish I could record him and tell the world that their bigoted hatred for anyone different is wrong and I have an angel to prove it.
Lucas’s eyes meet mine, and a smile comes to his handsome face. “We’re going to have a daughter. I hope she’s just like you,” he says softly, and for a brief moment, I forget anyone else is in the room with us. Our love is the strongest thing I know, and we’ve overcome so many odds by getting married. And now we’re having an impossible child…I didn’t think I could love Lucas any more than I do, but every day I wake up and feel more strongly for him than I did the night before.
“Elena King,” Lucas whispers. “Do you still like that name?”
“I do.” I smile at him and then blink, looking back down at my food and remembering we’re not alone. “So, demons will be able to sense the divinity?” I wrinkle my nose. “I don’t feel all that divine.”