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If I had Planet Killers and someone threatened him, I’d destroy the universe to keep him safe. I never thought I could love so deeply. I put my finger in his hand, and he squeezes, much stronger than a human baby ever could, and I just smile.

Khra gets Ra’al to bring ancient books every time he visits. They are on the Scorp Tribes, the different Aurelians who live like caveman, deep in Wild Space. He found a passage from long, long ago, and brought it to me with triumph.

“Look, look,” he said, pointing, forgetting in his excitement I can’t read the lilting, alien script. He blinked and shook his head, feeling stupid. “The Scorp-Blood men’s pregnant women live the same length. It is believed that it is not the Bond itself which confers the lifegiving power, but the pregnancy between alien and human.”

He hugged me then, as I broke down crying. It was my deepest, darkest fear that I would be an old lady before my son was even a teenager, that I would never be able to see him grow into the man I knew he would be. That was the happiest moment, after the birth of Mattias.

“It feels strange, not wearing a crown,” muses Rachel as she gently bounces her baby. Her own son is healthy and hale, with Ra’al’s bright blue eyes. She’s able to relax on our hidden planet, the weight of leadership off her back.

“You can get used to anything,” I say.

“Yes. You can. And once you have it…I never want to let it go. I never want to let it go,” she says. There’s an edge of worry in her tone. She is not on a planet far away from danger, if this place that is my sanctuary can be considered that. She is on one of the hotly contested planets, sitting at the throne before a triad who the Aurelian Empire would love to destroy.

I block out news of the war, but even this I know. “Obsidian’s legion has taken more planets. They’re deeper in. You’re not on the border anymore. If planets start to fall, you can escape. Ra’al wouldn’t keep you there if you were in any danger.”

“That man’s a titan,” she says, keeping her voice soft as her baby coos.

She shudders. “Think of Obsidian’s Mate. She gave birth on Collossus as a captive…”

I shake my head. “I don’t think so. Khra was doing his research. He was terrified that Mattias would be like Obsidian. But there were others, like Obsidian, long, long ago. A human and Aurelian pregnancy takes thirteen months. A cursed Bond…it can take much longer. We don’t know how long she’ll be pregnant with the war-god’s baby. It could take years for him to develop…”

“That’s even worse. Being pregnant there, not knowing what’s going to happen, not knowing if… Ra’al says it’s a standoff. Queen Jasmine is using the Bond between Fay and the War-God to track Obsidian’s movements. Obsidian can’t surrender, because he knows Queen Jasmine won’t let his baby live. He was the son of Asmod, who came back to haunt her. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. But Queen Jasmine won’t kill her, at least not yet, because she’s useful.”

“Queen Jasmine isn’t a monster. Or she would have used the Planet Killers in the first human planet to surrender to Obsidian. She won’t hurt Fay.”

“How do you know?”

“Don’t think about that. You’re here. With your son, and with me. It’s going to be okay.”

“I know. I know…only…”

“No only. You’ll only drive yourself mad. I worried sick that Mattias would have oil in his veins like Obsidian. That I was bringing into the world a tortured creature. But it all turned out okay.”

Mattias stares at me with those intelligent eyes, those eyes that are full of love. I kiss him tenderly on the forehead, and look out at Khra, Bolden and Krazak. They are standing at strict attention as they listen intently to every word the General Ra’al says. They are the ones who are my shield.

And with them, I don’t have any fear.

No one will ever threaten what we have built.

No one.

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