Damien's POV
The Council received the news with considerably more warmth than I'd braced for — genuine celebration from most quarters, a rare moment of unanimous goodwill after a year defined mostly by crisis after crisis.
Marcus, however, remained notably quiet after the initial congratulations, and I found him afterward in the archive, expression troubled in a way that immediately put me on alert.
"You're not celebrating," I said.
"I am," he said. "Genuinely. But I confess this pregnancy raises questions none of the old texts fully answer."
"What kind of questions?"
Marcus gestured toward the stack of Guardian records still scattered across his desk. "Aria is the Silver Luna — the first in generations to fully awaken her power. No text I've found describes what happens when someone
