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“We only have to keep them at bay long enough for…” I cringed as the latest contraction hit me. I felt like I was splitting apart from the inside. “…for us to hit the Sanctuary with everything we’ve got…” I groaned as another contraction pulsed through me. “…and bring it into our realm.”

“You’re close, Leda,” Grace observed.

We were all close. From the expressions on my six pregnant companions’ faces, our contractions were in perfect synchronicity. Indira sure knew what she was doing. I bet all seven of us were going to deliver at exactly the same moment.

Nerissa and her staff hurried over to us. At least I wouldn’t have to catch my baby myself.

“Lie down, Leda,” she ordered me.

“I feel better standing,” I told her. “And pacing.”

The contractions were close together now. Really, really close. I hardly had time to catch my breath between them.

“You never could sit still, Leda.” Nerissa followed behind me as I paced, as though the baby was just going to shoot out of me like a bullet. “Fine, stand. But no pacing.”

“Leda,” Bella said.

I blinked. “When did you get here?”

“I’ve been here the whole time,” my sister told me.

“Don’t mind Leda,” Nerissa told her. “She’s a tad delirious.”

“I am…” Another contraction came, and I clenched my fists. “…not delirious.”

Nerissa looked at me like I’d just sinned. “Did you push?”

“Yes,” I croaked.

Nerissa’s eyes went very wide. “This is the fastest labor I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve always been precipitous,” I declared proudly.

Nerissa snorted.

Bella said something, but I hardly heard her.

“Say that again, Bella?” My body tensed up, and I pushed again. “It appears I’m kind of delirious after all.”

“The Guardians have sent these people out to die,” she told me. “They want us to kill them. They’re already linked to the Guardians, who’ve all had their potion. Each person we kill on this battlefield only fills the Guardians’ cup of power. We’re helping them gain power.”

“How—”

A contraction cut off my sentence, but Bella knew what I’d meant to ask.

“How do I know?” she said. “Arina told me.”

“Where—”

“Arina has brought some toys to the fight, technological wonders I’ve never seen before,” Bella answered my broken question. “Arina’s toys are doing a good job of knocking the other side’s soldiers unconscious. But our soldiers must do the same. They must stop killing these people. It’s only helping the Guardians.” She was looking at Faris and Grace.

Grace nodded briskly. “Agreed.”

She cut her long fingernail across the inside of her arm. That must have been the way she communicated with her forces—through blood.

Faris frowned. “Agreed.” He signaled to Devlin, who passed the message along to the rest of Heaven’s Army.

Faris looked particularly furious at the Guardians for trying such a trick, for trying to use him to serve their needs.