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I felt the bitter tang of horror before I truly registered what Joriel’s words meant.
“I know the law may feel unfair. It’s not your fault that you’re human, and it’s not Nathaniel’s fault that he’s an angel. But any child conceived between the two of you would be forbidden.” And there was the last nail in the coffin.
Nate and I couldn’t have children. Their very existence would be a crime against God.
I raised my hand to my mouth to stifle my half gasp, half sob. My heart felt like it was splitting into tiny pieces, each one sharp and tearing through my insides. The pain was unlike anything I’d felt since I was sixteen and watched my dad take his last breath.
The unfairness crashed over me like a suffocating wave. I was drowning, lost in grief for a child I didn’t have yet but already loved.
My legs buckled under me as I wrapped my arms around my abdomen.
“Sierra.” Joriel caught me before my knees could hit the ground. He pulled me into his chest and held me. “I’m sorry.”
I believed his remorse was genuine. He was just the messenger. This wasn’t his law.
Joriel held me while my world collapsed around me for the second time in my life. I was full-blown ugly-crying, dampening his shirt with my tears.
Nate should have told me. I deserved to know, and I should have heard it from him.
I thought of the words he’d said to me after the first time we slept together.I’m never letting you out of my sight again.Nate had always been protective—he was my guardian angel after all—but he’d been downright possessive ever since last Friday. Had that declaration had anything to do with the possibility of me getting pregnant with a forbidden child?
“Joriel?”
“Yes?”
I swallowed hard. “Will he be punished for sleeping with me?”
“Probably.”
My hands shook, a feeling of helplessness rising up and threatening to choke me. “And if I’m pregnant?”
“Let’s not worry about that yet. It might not be an issue, and there’s no point in stressing now.”
He was avoiding answering my question, but I didn’t really need to hear him say what I already knew. The Nephilim in Joriel’s story had all been killed off. I had no reason to believe a child of mine and Nate’s would be given a different fate. I also knew that I would do anything to protect my baby, stand up to anyone, die without an ounce of regret if that’s what it took. And Nate would stand in front of me.
There was no happy ending for us. Our story was always going to end in heartbreak, pain, and maybe even death.
“Sierra!”
I turned toward the sound of Nate’s voice, pulling away from Joriel and wiping at my eyes furiously.
Nate’s hands gripped my arms, and his eyes ran over my body frantically. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
I shook my head. I was sure I looked like crap. My eyes felt swollen and were probably a really unattractive shade of red.
“Talk to me, baby girl.” His hands slid up my arms until he was cupping my cheeks between his palms. “Please.” The last word came out sounding so broken, and it was like a match lighting me aflame. How dareheact hurt or broken.Hisworld hadn’t just fallen apart a few seconds ago. He’d known this was coming, had known about the Nephilim law before anything had happened between us.
“Oh, so now you want to talk,” I scoffed.
“Sierra, I don’t understand. What is going on?”
“I can’t do this.” I tried to pull out of his grasp, but he held on. “You’ve been keeping me in the dark, hiding things I deserved to know.” I met his eyes, needing to see his reaction to my next words. “We can’t have children?”
I saw a myriad of emotions cross his face—shock, dread, pain. And then he set his jaw, a look of determination taking over his features. “We’ll figure it out. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”
“You can’t make that kind of promise!” I felt fresh tears spring to my eyes. “Nephilim are forbidden. You can’t go against God and win, Nate. That’s madness.”
Nate’s thumbs brushed away the tears on my cheeks, but he didn’t say anything. What could he say? I was right, and we both knew it. He couldn’t protect me from the future.
