IT WAS TIME. The revolting stench of hatred was palpable, even from miles away. I could taste it in the frigid air and feel it rake against my skin like a bristled, dark cloak. They were coming for us. We knew this day would come, but sitting here, waiting for death to arrive…that was a trick not even I had mastered after centuries on this earth. I clutched my bulging belly and said a silent prayer, asking for courage and strength for my beloved Alexander, the Dark Warlock who’d captured my heart and freed my soul. His large, tanned hand covered mine as he wrapped his arms around me to cradle our daughter, safely tucked away in my womb. I wanted to remember us like this…together, safe and deliriously in love. I looked up into his endless blue eyes and smiled through the pain of losing him. “I love you,” he whispered. “I’ll never leave you—either of you. We are a family. We’re in this together. This is forever, Nat.” I nodded, but my agreement was steeped in deception. It had to be. There was no way he and I could stay together; there was no chance of survival for either of us. He knew it too; he just wanted to believe in the illusion of second chances. Those didn’t exist for us. Not after what we’d done. “Alex,” I whispered hoarsely. “We don’t have much time, my love. You have to go. You have to leave now or you won’t have a chance.” “I’m not leaving you,” he said without a second thought. His voice was thick and rough, emotion squeezing the air from his chest. “I will wait here with you and our daughter. There’s no way I’m abandoning my family. You’re all I have.” He squeezed my body tighter, burying his head into the crook of my neck. I could feel him breaking, and I did my best to absorb his agony. It was too much for him to shoulder alone, and too strong for me to contain along with my own. This was it. This was our final goodbye. As if on cue, his partner hurried in, a frantic look painting his usually stoic face. “Alexander, it’s time. We must go now.” He looked between the two of us, the frown between his brows urgently conveying that trouble was near. Alex’s head snapped up even faster than my trained eyes could follow. “No,” he growled, baring his teeth. “I am not leaving her. I will not leave my family.” His dearest friend, his brother in arms, shook his head in exasperation before his ocean blue eyes locked with mine. He knew there was no way to dissuade Alex from doing what he thought was right. He was stubborn to a fault—a quality I both loved and loathed about him. “Alex…” I cupped his face in my hands, forcing him to look at me. “Baby, you need to go. If you’re here when they arrive, there will be no chance of survival for you. For us.” I pressed his hand into my belly, hoping to tap into his rationality. “I can talk to them. I can make them understand. If there is any chance of mercy, you cannot be here.” Falling to his knees, Alex cradled my belly. My heart broke into a million tiny pieces as he pressed his cheek to my stomach and closed his eyes. I couldn’t fight the tears and let them spill down my face freely. He began to hum a tune I knew well. Since the day we found out we would be parents, he had sung this melody to my belly every night, his silken voice coaxing me and our little one into slumber. It would be the last time I’d ever feel the richness of his voice enrapture me in harmonic euphoria. A low hiss resounded behind us. “There’s too many. If we don’t leave now, there will surely be bloodshed. We’ll split up. I can lead them farther north while you trail them east. The Light wouldn’t dare go south.” “And the Dark?” he mumbles against me. “We’ll have to hope like hell that they’re too pompous and arrogant to give enough of a damn to look.” I could see the uncertainty he hoped to conceal wash across his almost angelic features before he turned toward the front door. He was beautiful, as was my Alexander. They all were. The Dark were believed to be the Divine’s most perfect creation. Where we, the Light, encompassed humility and compassion, they exuded beauty and mystique. Together, we were balance and harmony. Apart? Treachery, chaos and envy. “Wait!” I called out, surprising myself. Alex was on his feet immediately, ready to attack. “Wait,” I repeated in a gentler tone. Softly, I touched the bare skin of Alex’s arm, soothing him instantly. “I just need to speak with him before he goes,” I said, nodding at Dorian. As always, Dorian regarded me cautiously, yet he nodded courteously before following me to the next room. There was something I needed to say, and Alex could not know. He wouldn’t understand. “You’re brave and loyal,” I began. “I know this is difficult for you to grasp, and you struggle with the idea of Alexander and me, but I want to thank you for keeping our secret. And for being a true friend to Alex…and to me.” Dorian nodded, his pale blue eyes guarded. “Yes, of course.” “There is strength in you. And goodness. More than you can ever know. And that’s why…that’s why I need your bravery and loyalty again. This child will restore our world to how it should be. The Dark and the Light, brothers and sisters—children of the Divine. We will be as we once were. But she will need you.” “She?” “Yes,” I smiled down at my swollen belly. “Our little girl. She will save us all. And you have been chosen to help her.” “And why do you say that? Why me?” he frowned, unconvinced. I could see the reluctance in those gleaming blue eyes—not fully believing my words, but wise enough not to discount them. “It is your destiny, Dorian. She is your destiny.”