The safe house was no longer a manor, but a secluded, tech-shielded cabin deep in the Kretian wilderness. The joy of their victory over The Aetherium Council had been short-lived, replaced by a constant, gnawing vigilance. Eliza’s warning was a bell that could not be unrung. Laken’s pregnancy progressed, but each flutter of life was shadowed by the knowledge that their child was a prize, a threat, a miracle that the entire magical world would soon scent on the wind.

Laken spent her ...