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Damiel wasn’t fazed. His smile persisted. “Being observant goes with the job,” he said lightly. “I was the Legion’s first Master Interrogator, after all. And, honestly, I’m surprised Nyx hasn’t offered me the job again.”

“The position is already filled,” I told him.

Damiel gave his hand a dismissive wave. “By a brute. Xerxes Fireswift has all the subtlety of a bloody spiked mace.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

“The fact that Nyx hasn’t offered you the job has nothing to do with Fireswift—and everything to do with you,” Nero told his father.

Damiel laughed softly. “Indeed. I’m not very popular with the other angels. Perhaps I should join Leda in taking remedial angel lessons.” His eyes twinkled. He looked very amused—at my expense.

“Yes, you should join me,” I shot back. “I’m sure Colonel Fireswift would enjoy telling you how a proper angel must behave.”

Damiel laughed out loud. I thought the walls might tumble down from his amusement.

“Shush,” I chided him. “You’re going to wake up the sleeping angel.”

“Sunstorm could sleep through an earthquake.” But Damiel gave me a graceful bow; the walls stopped trembling.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Nero’s eyes hardened. “And how did you make it past the defenses I set up?”

“The magic defenses guarding this house are very impressive, but you need to rethink your strategy, Nero,” Damiel replied. “The alarms go off when someone or something physically crosses the perimeter. Your mother and I never crossed the perimeter because we teleported right inside of it.”

Nero seemed to be mulling that over. He was likely already trying to think up a workaround to the inconvenience caused by teleportation magic.

“As to your other question,” Cadence said. “We’re here because we need to tell you something important.”

Nero looked concerned, like he was expecting another disaster. Honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised.

“What’s happened?” Nero said it like he was asking who’d died.

“Oh, it’s nothing like that, Nero. Nothing tragic. It’s good news actually.” Cadence’s gaze flickered to Damiel. She took his hand. Then she looked at Nero again. “I’m pregnant.”