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“Cure heartburn,” Grace quipped.

Sonja frowned. “This is no time for your jokes, Grace.”

“I’m not joking. Pregnancy causes heartburn.”

Sonja scoffed at the idea. “You are a deity.”

“We both know that doesn’t mean we’re all-powerful. If I were, I’d kill you with a single thought.”

Sonja’s voice dropped to a low, blistering hiss. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, I would dare a lot of things. Pregnancy has made me cranky. And hungry.” Grace flashed Sonja her fangs. “Now leave me alone before I bite you.”

But Sonja was unfazed by her sister’s show of fang. “You seduced Faris.”

“You say that like it’s a hard thing. That god had clearly not been laid in centuries.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s an insufferable ass, and no one wants to sleep with him.”

“No,” Sonja growled. “I don’t care why no one wants to sleep with Faris. I care why you chose to sleep with him.”

Grace favored her with a sunny smile. “Sometimes even I get an itch that needs scratching.”

“You would have chosen someone less wretched. No, you chose Faris for a reason.” Gold light flashed in Sonja’s eyes. “You wanted to conceive a child with Faris. You wanted to create a child with the powers of dark and light. But why?”

Grace opened her mouth to speak.

Sonja cut her off first. “I don’t need any more of your flippant remarks, little sister. You’re trying to distract me from the truth, that you have created a living weapon,” she hissed. “You acted in error, but what’s done is done. We can use this.”

“We?”

“Of course you’re going to share your new weapon with your big sister. There has never before been a child with demon and god magic. We must train it properly if it’s going to serve its purpose.” Sonja’s smile widened. “But first, I have to kill the priests just outside the door. They’ve been peeking through a crack in the door and listening to every word that we’ve said. And, after all, what good is a secret weapon if it’s not a secret?”

* * *

After we leftGrace and Sonja in the meditation chamber, Arina brought us further down the road of memories, to Faris. The god stood in a room of martial decor, flipping through his cosmic maps. Outside his window, winter had covered the lands in a thick blanket of snow.

“Sonja knows.”

Faris looked up to find Grace in his castle, right in front of him. She wore a fur-trimmed red velvet cloak that did a good job of hiding her baby bump.

He brushed the battle maps away. “What does Sonja know?”

Grace flicked her hand to cast a gust of magic wind that flung her cloak away.

Faris’s gaze dropped to her baby bump, clearly visible under her tight red gown. “When did this happen?”

“Don’t play coy, Faris. You were there.”

“Six months ago. You sure waited a long time to tell me,” he said. “Besides your sister, who else knows?”

“No one. I have been in solitude for the past several months, engaged in the Magic of the Faith rituals. Sonja showed up unannounced at the temple and barged into the Room of Solitude. She saw the fruit of our labor.” Grace’s hand slid over her belly. “Some of the priests were close enough to see inside the room. Sonja killed them so they couldn’t spread the word.”

“How kind of her to protect your secret.”

“Sonja wants the child for herself,” Grace growled. “There has never been a child conceived with demon and god magic. Sonja wants to weaponize the child.”