Chapter 69

69

MINA

I didn't feel particularly lucky, at least not at first, when I still had the strands of dead women's hair caught in my own.

But as I sat in Sylas's lap on the edge of the cellar while he cradled me protectively, watching the remaining members of the RRP reap what they had sown, things began to settle in. I knew living meant having to accept that sometimes bad things happen and there's nothing you can do about them.

Except how you carry on.

If you can.

If you get to.

"Are they all going to die?" Sirena asked, coming down to sit beside us. Nine was out in the field with other MSA agents, cataloging bodies and clearing us a path.

"I don't know," I said.

"And how did you stop them earlier?" asked her mother, still leaning against Royce and favoring one ankle.

Sylas's hold on me tensed. "They fought you? They weren't supposed to touch you!"

"More like I fought them—I told them to stop, and they did."

"Even though they wouldn't listen to me," Omara said. "And I am the far superior telepath."

"Mmmm, you made my mom mad," Sirena whispered, just for me. Omara glared at her, which sent Sirena into quiet snickers.

"But you stopped them?" Sylas pressed.

I was quick to nod—before I realized it might not've actually been me. "Or it was our time-baby?" I asked, my voice arcing high. "But that's insane, Sylas. It's like the size of a period right now—the kind at the end of a sentence!" I turned in his arms to face him fully. "Speaking of, though, how did you know I was pregnant? And why didn't you tell me? And—what the fuck happened to my birth control? Because I feel like we were both on the same page about things." I pushed a palm into his shoulder and shook him—and even though the smoke he was made of was still trailing away at all of his edges, he felt increasingly solid to me.

"We were—and I honestly don't know." He raised a hand to his chin to scratch it, and the level of detail on his fingers for him was insane. "I didn't want to give any of myself to you—until I did. And then once I knew you were pregnant..." he said, his voice drifting.

"You couldn't tell me. Because it made you the father of an asshole," I said, even though I was grinning.

"Everything comes from somewhere, Mina. Clearly, our child is destined to be a jerk," Sylas said, grinning back.

"You two don't make any sense," Sirena complained.

"They don't have to, anymore, now that they have each other," Royce said, reaching for Omara, to carry her out over the minefield of corpses.