“I think I might leave that to someone else. I don’t think I can kill my own child, but it must be done.”
I sat straight up in bed. “What?”
Yeah, he had my full attention now.
“I told you she was half asleep,” Dev said.
Daniel groaned and let his head fall back.
“What the hell do you mean you’re going to kill one of our children?” I nearly screeched the question.
Daniel sighed and started talking.
Chapter Nine
I gratefully took the coffee Albert offered me the next morning. I only allowed myself one mug in the morning during my pregnancies, but I was definitely going to savor this one. It had been days since I’d had coffee, and there hadn’t been any of Albert’s pastries on the planes we’d visited.
“Are the masters coming?” Albert moved around the dining room. I’d always wondered how such a large demon could move with such delicacy. He inspected the silver coffeepot and settled china cups on their saucers, his clawed hands looking incongruous against the fragile dishes.
But that was Albert. He was the definition of gentle giant.
“Yes. Dev was finishing getting dressed, and Daniel was taking a quick shower. They’ll be here any moment.” I’d been in shock the prior day. I hadn’t taken a chance to talk to him privately, and if anyone deserved my thanks, it was this halfling who’d been so loyal and loving to my family over the years. “I wanted to talk to you.”
He straightened up, his horns almost touching the ceiling. “Of course, Your Highness.”
It had only been a few days since I’d seen him, but I felt the years between us in that moment, and it brought tears to my eyes. “I don’t really want to talk to you. I only have one thing to say.” I set my cup down, and there was a moment’s panic in his eyes as I moved toward him and wrapped my arms around him. “I love you, old friend. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
A shuddering sigh went through him and he patted my back. “You are my family, Your Highness. You have been since the day you married the prince. You should understand that the children have become the light of my long existence. I bless the day you came into my life.”
I stepped back, grateful he gave me that moment. “And I bless the day you came into mine.” I did have one question I wanted to ask him. “That day we disappeared, Grayson Sloane asked if he could speak with you.”
Albert nodded. “Yes, the dark prophet came up to the penthouse that morning.”
“He warned you, didn’t he?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about the fact that Gray had known and not warned me. There are two prophets walking the Earth plane. I’d met the first many years before. His name was Jacob and he came from the Heavenly plane. Grayson was the Hell plane’s prophet, and like his Heavenly counterpart there were rules that governed his existence. Gray could see all possible futures, but he couldn’t clearly warn anyone. Instead he could only speak in terms that could be taken in any number of ways, so I wondered how he’d managed to warn Albert.
“He did, though I did not understand I would need to act so quickly,” Albert admitted. “His warning was somewhat cryptic, but that is his nature. He tried. He tried very hard to get me to understand. He made himself sick, Your Highness.”
The fact that Gray had been able to get a warning out at all was a miracle, and I tried to tamp down my irritation that Gray had known and not told us. Though even if he’d tried, it likely wouldn’t have worked. “So he gave you his whole prophet spiel, and then when Myrddin came to the penthouse, you figured out it was time to move?”
“I understood that if anything happened to you and Daniel, I should run with the children. I should not allow anyone outside our household to gain access to them,” Albert explained. “It was Sarah who warned us something was wrong. She came to the penthouse that morning looking for you. She’d heard unsettling rumors.”
“Do you know what happened to Sarah?” I felt sick inside that I couldn’t find my friend. At least we knew where Neil was.
Albert shook his head. “We realized that our cell phone service was unavailable, and she went to warn Neil and Chad. I did not see her again. Your father and I decided we should move the children. Eddie came with Trent.”
“But Gray didn’t come?”
“From what I understand, the dark prophet bought us time. He went to speak with the wizard while Eddie and I tried to make the children ready. Harry helped. It was during this time I also wiped the hard drives on all of the computer systems. I locked down the bank accounts as my master taught me, and I gathered the documents required to access the money left. We still have much of the cash Master Dev prepared for such an occasion. I am sorry we couldn’t save your father.”