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Amber continued to excel at her training, as well. But her energy level didn’t respond nearly as dramatically as her sisters’. She continued to fall into an exhausted slumber immediately following dinner and had to be prodded awake every morning. The elders reasoned that she was expending the most energy and building the most muscle, so she likely drained herself more completely than her sisters every day.

“What’s for breakfast?” Amber asked groggily as she shuffled into the family room.

It was the morning of a day they were scheduled to take most of the day off. The girls would each practice with their primary weapons, but would otherwise be free to do what they wanted. Olivia looked up from the book she was reading. They had all collected in the family room and she was curled up in a large chair. Gabriel, it turned out, had an extensive library, and she had raided it. James sat across from her in a second chair, also holding a book. Everyone else was gathered around a small table playing cards.

“Uh, well,” Skye said, “first off, it’s almost noon. And second, we ate yesterday. Don’t you remember the huge dinner buffet?”

Amber frowned. She looked truly perplexed. When she reached up and started twisting a lock of hair around her finger as she considered this, Gabriel laid his cards down and walked over to her.

“Do you feel okay?” he asked, pressing a hand to her forehead.

She swatted at him. “I’m fine. Just hungry. I feel like I haven’t eaten in a week.”

Ini-herit, Knorbis and Uriel exchanged looks. Gabriel was so focused on Amber that he missed their shared thought. Olivia tilted her head in consideration.

“You’ve been pressing yourself too hard,” he guessed. “Your body can’t keep up. I’ll bet you’re metabolizing your food more quickly than you used to.”

She glanced at Olivia and Skye. “Are either of you hungry?”

They shook their heads.

Sighing, she walked over to the couch and flopped down. “I’ve been feeling hungry every day, even when we eat,” she admitted. “I just ignored it before, but now, I’m starving!”

“You are with child,” Ini-herit said.

If ever there was a more silent room of beings after an announcement, Olivia thought they would have been dead.

Then Amber snorted. “That’s not possible.”

“Why not?” Knorbis asked curiously. “You have both human and Estilorian blood. Gabriel has the same reproductive organs as a human male, and your DNA has a fifty-percent chance of being compatible with his.”

“Because I haven’t…” she trailed off and blushed furiously as everyone stared at her. Sighing, she finished, “I haven’t had my, um, cycle since I got to this plane.”

Olivia and Skye exchanged a look. “Yes, you have,” Olivia said.

Amber stared at her. “Huh?”

“While you were unconscious, after the attack.” When she saw Amber’s eyes widen and further embarrassment flooded her expression, she hastily continued, “Skye and I took care of you.”

“Well, geez,” Amber muttered. “You two get Nurses of the Year awards or something.”

“So you did menstruate,” Ini-herit pointed out. “Before you were married and having sex with Gabriel.”

“Okay, okay,” Gabriel said, rolling his eyes over the other elder’s bluntness. His face flushed with color. “Good Lord.”

“But…that was more than two months ago,” Amber said weakly. Olivia thought her sister looked terribly pale.

Ini-herit got to his feet. “It is an easy enough question to answer,” he said.

When he approached the couch and looked down at Amber, she raised her eyebrows. Then, understanding, she nodded. “Fine. Do your thing.”

“I need to touch your abdomen.”

Sighing, she got to her feet. Since she was still wearing her pajama tank and pants, she lifted the top enough to bare her midriff. Ini-herit reached out and placed his hands on the lowest part of her belly, over her womb.

Everyone held their breath.

After a moment, the expressionless Ini-herit reached beside him and grabbed Gabriel’s hand even as he left one hand on Amber’s waist. His silver eyes flashed as if conveying a thought. Olivia watched Gabriel’s reaction. Puzzlement, then realization washed over his handsome face. And then, raw emotion. His eyes caught Amber’s and grew suspiciously moist.

“Oh my God,” he said hoarsely. “I hear its heartbeat.”

Skye gasped and held her hands to her face. Olivia sat up straighter and brought a hand to her chest, her book forgotten.

When Amber sank back down to the couch in disbelief, Gabriel fell to his knees beside her. He pulled her against him and buried his face against her neck.

“Amber, we’re having a baby.”

Chapter Thirteen

Ryce paced in front of the wall of windows in Grolkinei’s home meeting room. One of those beautiful panes of glass had been replaced several months before when the Mercesti leader had thrown a chair through it. The reason for that particular tantrum had been due in part to Ryce’s failure to complete a mission.

Sure, he hadn’t been the only one who failed. His fellow commanders, Angius and the mentally-gifted Layla, had all been sent to the Becoming ceremony to acquire one of Saraqael’s daughters. Grolkinei didn’t have to rage to remind any of them how they had been defeated by three half-human girls who had only just acquired their powers. Angius still bled freely from the cuts he received by the unusually skilled daughter, Amber. Her sword had been blessed, which meant he would never heal. Ryce bore his own scars from where the white panther controlled by the daughter named Olivia had taken a swipe at his leg. He thought of Olivia whenever he saw the scar.

In fact, he thought of her more often than that. She had even invaded his dreams.

He couldn’t seem to stop obsessing about their brief encounter. She had run into the chamber after Kanika. It had been ridiculously easy for him to grab her and drag her outside of the circle of holy light cast by the third sister. He remembered very well the feel of her soft body pressed against his, remembered how she trembled in her fear. He could easily bring to mind the scent of her hair and the brilliant green of her eyes.

He also remembered the surprisingly calm voice she used when she explained that she controlled the huge white cat with her mind. It was because he hadn’t believed her that he was now scarred. That was also the reason his knife had sunk deeper into her neck than he had wanted, and why instead of bringing the half-human back to Grolkinei he had been forced to dump her body and flee.

“Quit your pacing,” Angius grumbled from one of the chairs surrounding the long, wood table in the center of the room. “You have given me a headache.”

Ryce flicked a dark glance to the other commander, curling a lip in response.

“We all want to know what the former Orculesti has to say,” Cesaro said from his seat. The light of the sunset streaming in through the windows turned the slight man’s short, white hair pink. Ryce could simply not take anyone with pink hair seriously, especially when he was as puny as Cesaro.

“I could not care less what she has to say,” Layla argued stubbornly. The words were at least five more than she had uttered in weeks.

Ryce couldn’t blame her bitterness. Her once lovely features were now nearly as disfigured as Angius’ thanks to a blast of holy light thrown at her by Saraqael’s third daughter. She had even lost a patch of her light blonde hair, giving her forehead an uneven appearance. He knew for a fact that Grolkinei had taken Kanika as his mate. Whether that meant his leader had discarded Layla in that regard was something Ryce didn’t care enough to know.

“You do not care whether the daughters of Saraqael live?” Cesaro clucked his tongue. “We all know that they are the best possibility we have ever had to cross the planes. If they have maintained the knowledge of transitioning, they can tell us how to do it.”

“Yes, yes,” Layla waved a hand impatiently. “My desire to get my hands on those half-humans does not mean that I want to sit here and listen to that—”

“Layla, my lovely,” Grolkinei interrupted, opening the door to the room and stepping in ahead of Kanika. “Surely you mean to welcome Kanika to our council.”

Not giving an inch, Layla lifted her chin and said nothing.

Kanika looked around the room, her red eyes taking in the spectacular view of the lake and gardens through the windows. Her dark hair gleamed in the fading sunlight. She wore a black dress that cut into a deep V in the front and bared her back and shoulders. It clung to her curvy figure and ended just above her knees. The gold and onyx jewelry she wore had been a gift from Grolkinei. Ryce had been in the forge overseeing the creation of weapons when their leader had ordered it made.

“Layla,” Kanika said, walking over to the other female. “I do not wish to usurp your authority on this council. In fact, I want nothing to do with this council whatsoever.”

Her gaze swept the room. When Grolkinei indicated that everyone sit down, she did so. Then she continued, “I understand now that I have made my bed, and I must lie in it, however foolish that makes me. I brought two things with me from my former self: my gift of reading thoughts and my…feelings for Gabriel. Most of my other memories about the lives of the other classes are lost to me, just as yours were lost to each of you when you became Mercesti.”

“Now, now,” Grolkinei said, leaning back in his chair. “All of that is understandable. Now, would you care to share your news with the rest of the council? They have been waiting quite some time for you to finally join us.”

She once again looked around the room. “I have spent as much time as possible opening my mind to the thoughts of other Estilorians. I seem to have the ability now to focus in on thoughts regarding Gabriel. It appears my obsession will aid your cause.”

Ryce found himself leaning forward. She looked right at him.

“I have discovered that the daughters of Saraqael are even now training at Gabriel’s home.” When there was a collective indrawn breath across the room, she spoke again.

“They are all three still alive.”

The discovery of Amber’s pregnancy led to careful consideration by Uriel, Ini-herit and Gabriel in regards to her training. They wanted to curb her activity, reduce the amount of weight she was lifting and make other, similar changes. Amber argued that she had been doing fine for the two months she had been training before she learned of the pregnancy, and they shouldn’t treat her like an invalid. In the end, they compromised. Amber agreed that she wouldn’t push herself as hard and would give herself more time to rest. Everyone else agreed to continue assisting her in her training just as they had been.

Now, though, James was facing off with her in hand-to-hand combat. He couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she had a new life growing inside her. Olivia had explained to him a bit about what pregnant human females went through. He knew enough of the basics from studying animals, as well. The idea that her belly would swell and grow round, that a life-form would be inside her, writhing around as it grew…well, in Olivia’s words, it completely blew his mind.

“Quit staring at my stomach,” Amber ordered as she moved slowly to her right looking for an opening. “The baby isn’t going to appear any time soon.”

Embarrassed and caught off-guard, he almost took a hit when she whirled and lifted her foot in a high kick. Fortunately, she pulled back in time. But her point had been made.

“I apologize,” he replied.

She stopped moving and put her hands on her hips. They were alone, the others in their various forums conducting their own training exercises. Sighing, she stepped forward and patted him on the arm. The action surprised him. She rarely touched anyone besides Gabriel unless it was part of her training.

“Look, James, I know I’m going to be seen as some freakish oddity by almost everyone on this plane,” she said, her golden eyes somber. “I also know that you guys moved the timeframe up to bring the three of us out into Estilorian society so that I won’t be showing and we can keep it a secret as long as possible. You had wanted to wait until we were all fully prepared for any eventuality, and now that isn’t going to happen.”

What she said was nothing less than the truth. He nodded.

“So that means that we all need to use the little time we have left as effectively as possible,” she continued. “I need your help to train me so that I can protect myself.” And then she smiled and patted her stomach. “And this little guy.”

His eyes widened. He hadn’t thought of it quite like that.

“Gabriel is very protective,” she said, her smile fading into concern. “He doesn’t want to believe that I’ll be ostracized or feared because of the pregnancy. But you and I both know that the world is full of all kinds of people. I’m no idiot. I know what challenges I might face. But if I know that I have the support of my family, it won’t matter. Do you understand?”

Again, he nodded, an unfamiliar emotion clutching him around the chest. And he did understand, perfectly.

She was calling him family.

“Okay,” Gabriel said a few days later. “We’ll be leaving in less than a week. We’ve all been focusing on our meditation more intensely than our physical exercises these past few days so that we can effectively keep our thoughts from the Orculesti, and thus, everyone else on this plane. Knorbis feels that we’re all in good shape there.”

When Gabriel glanced at the Wymzesti, who stood to the side with Ini-herit and Uriel, he nodded. Then Knorbis gave Skye a knowing glance. The youngest sister had proven the most difficult for him to train. She gave him a thumb’s up and grinned.

“Today, we’re going head-to-head,” Gabriel continued. “You ladies against me, James and Caleb. Weapons are optional. Wings are forbidden. The goal is for one of you to capture the flag, which we’ll be defending.”

He pointed to a white towel tied to a high post at the far end of the courtyard.

“You have ten minutes to get past us. Losers get dish duty until we leave,” he said, a twinkle in his blue-gray eyes. “And winners, of course, get full bragging rights.”

Olivia exchanged looks with Amber and Skye. They had strategized the evening before. The key was in keeping the guys from taking advantage of their weaknesses. It had been Olivia’s idea to pair off with a Gloresti who wasn’t their assigned one. She figured that Gabriel would instinctively try to cover Amber, James would try to cover her and Caleb would focus on Skye. Their biggest chance lay in keeping the guys a little off their stride.