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Damiel’s face might have been etched in stone. Even the usual spark of humor was missing from his eyes.

River turned to Nero. “They wanted you to be born, so you could father a child with Leda Pandora. This child was to be the instrument the Guardians would use to create their new order.”

“The Guardians tried to kill Leda.” Nero’s voice scratched like gravel. “Up on that rooftop in Purgatory, when they’d gained control over Meda.”

“One of the Guardians tried to kill Leda,” said River. “One who, out of the belief that the Angel of Chaos was too dangerous to be allowed to live a moment longer, acted against the other Guardians’ plans. The others didn’t want Leda killed until after she’d served her purpose and given birth to the child.”

That showed the Guardians were not a single, unified force. If they had different ideas on how to do things, maybe we could use that against them. Maybe we could get them to turn against one another.

“You seem to know a lot about the Guardians’ plans,” Cadence commented.

“I have been watching them very closely for a very long time,” River said.

“What about Illias?” Cadence asked. “He took credit for my relationship with Damiel. He had a plan for us too: to get him the daggers.”

“There was a time when Illias’s plans for you overlapped with the Guardians’ plans for you,” River said. “So for a while, they worked together, united in their hatred of the Immortals.”

“Illias told the Guardians how to kill the Immortals and trap their souls inside immortal artifacts,” Gertrude said. “And the Guardians helped Illias set the scene for Cadence and Damiel to meet.”

“But Illias and the Guardians had different motivations,” said River. “Illias only wanted to get rid of the Immortals so that they were out of the way, while the Guardians went about achieving their goal of gaining the magic the Immortals had specifically denied them.”

“As long as the goals of Illias and the Guardians were aligned, they worked together,” Gertrude said. “But when their goals diverged, they parted ways.”

“So, to answer your question, Leda, that’s how both Illias and the Guardians had a plan for Cadence and Damiel,” River concluded.

“This is so nice, but we really must start our preparations. We have very little time left for question and answer.” Indira glanced at our very round bellies. “You have very little time until your babies are here.”

“To gain magic, the Guardians are planning on a mass sacrifice of magic energy of their ‘rescued’ people—and it’s all happening very soon. If you want to save everyone…” River glanced at Arina. “…if you want to save your children, then we need to begin our preparations for battle.”

I did not like the octuplets’ savage rearranging of life and death, as though they got to decide who lived and who died. But right now, we didn’t have the luxury of arguing with them. We had little time left, and we needed Indira’s magic to attack the Guardians.

I’d promised Arina that I would help her save her children, and I was determined to save the other people the Guardians held prisoner too. In my heart too, I knew I had to stop the Guardians now and save my daughter’s future.

“We’re ready.” I looked at the other pregnant women.

They all nodded. I saw the same determination shining in their eyes that I felt burning in my heart.

Nero caught my hand. “Wait.”

“I’m not sitting this one out,” I told him. “Not this time. You can’t do this without us.”

His voice was softer, gentler. “It’s too dangerous, Leda.”

“We must stop the Guardians, Nero,” I told him. “We can’t allow our daughter to lose her goodness or her family.”

“There’s an entry point to the Guardians’ Sanctuary not far from here,” River said.

“Then that is where we’ll make our stand against them,” I decided. “And save our children’s futures.”