“I didn’t feel them,” Casey said. “I was here in Argolea, but I didn’t feel anything. I was already pregnant then. I just didn’t know yet.”
Callia’s brow dropped. “You’re speculating that because you were pregnant, it caused you not to feel any adverse effects from our connection?”
“No,” Casey answered. “Not just because I was pregnant. Because I was pregnant with an Argonaut’s child. Genetically, the Argonauts are stronger than humans and Misos, right?” She splayed her fingers over the roundness of her belly. “Isn’t it highly possible this baby is strong enough to keep me from feeling any ill effects Isadora is experiencing?”
“Yes,” Callia said, a crease forming between her brows. “That’s entirely possible. It’s just…”
“Just what?” Casey asked.
“Well.” Callia shifted her weight. “If that’s the case, then I should be feeling the same things as Isadora. I’m not pregnant.”
“Are you sure about that?” Casey tipped her head. “You told me a few weeks ago that you and Zander were hoping to give Max a sibling soon.”
A faraway look filled Callia’s violet eyes, and she glanced around the room as if not seeing it. Slowly, her eyes widened, and she turned quickly for a door that led into an exam room. “I-I’ll be right back.”
She was gone without another word.
Isadora frowned at her sister when they were alone. “This is a stretch. Even for you.”
“Why?” Casey asked. “Because you don’t think it’s possible?”
“No, because there’s nothing wrong with me. And I need you and Callia to back me up on this so I can get Demetrius to stop worrying. He has more important things to deal with right now.”
Carefully, because her center of gravity had shifted thanks to the pregnancy, Casey lowered herself to the arm of the sofa. “Still no word on Nick?”
Isadora wrapped an arm around her waist and pinched the bridge of her nose. “No, nothing. It’s like he’s completely vanished off the face of the planet.”
“If Hades has him, that’s entirely possible.”
Casey had been to the Underworld, when Hades had taken her there in an attempt to convince her to give up her life for the sake of a prophecy and his attempt to hold the goddess Atalanta in check. At the time, she’d been raining havoc over a portion of the Underworld and he’d wanted to keep her under his control. His plan had backfired, however, when Isadora made a deal with the god-king of the Underworld to save her sister’s life. A deal that had led to that moment when Isadora had been dying and Nick had made the same deal to save hers. Only Hades hadn’t wanted Nick’s soul like he’d wanted Isadora’s. No, what he still wanted was Krónos’s powers, which were locked inside Nick.
“No,” Isadora said. “He’s in the human realm somewhere. Hades wouldn’t risk taking him to the Underworld where Krónos could influence him. He’s left him with his son until he can access those powers.”
“Did you foresee that?” Casey asked.
“No.” Isadora rubbed her fingers across her brow, wishing the tension headache taking up space behind her eyes would just go away. She felt Nick was still in the human realm. The same way she felt he was alive. Which was weird because she’d never been able to sense something like that before.
She dropped her hand. “Even if Zagreus doesn’t succeed and Nick is—”
The door to the exam room pushed open, and Callia’s ashen face filled the space.
“Callia?” Casey asked, pushing to her feet. “What’s wrong?”
“You were right. I just ran the test. I’m…pregnant.”
A slow smile spread across Casey’s lips, and she stepped forward and gripped her sister’s hand. “That’s wonderful. Zander will be so excited. When are you—”
“No.” Callia’s eyes locked on Casey’s. “It’s not good news at all. It means you were right. Whatever’s affecting Isadora is not affecting us because of the Argonaut genes we’re carrying. And as rapidly as Isadora is weakening, it means whatever’s happening with her is serious.”
A chill spread down Isadora’s spine. And that vision she’d had before, of her future with her mate, flashed in front of her eyes. Only this future wasn’t the future she’d planned on. And the man in the center of it wasn’t Demetrius.
Isadora’s stomach tightened. Cautiously, to Callia, she said, “You told me you didn’t sense any disease or illness in me.”
“I didn’t,” Callia answered. “But we’re all linked to the Horae. It’s possible whatever this is, it’s hidden.”