The world stopped.

The hum of the Council’s orreries faltered. The frantic beeping of the monitors seemed to stretch into an infinite, silent scream. Reed felt the floor drop out from under him. He stared at Laken, at her silver-lit eyes, at the hand pressed protectively over her abdomen.

“A… child?” he whispered, the words soundless, a ghost of breath.

Harold’s face went slack with a horror that dwarfed any he had felt as a dragon. Luca simply stared, ...