AN: Sorry for the delay in posting! I'm heading out of town for a week so it'll be another delay in the next chapter. How about you review and tell me what you think so far?

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kresley Cole. The plot is all mine

"No. It's…it's you Emmaline. It's you. You're pregnant and you're not going to survive it."

It had been a week since Annika had muttered those words and rocked Emma's world. Pregnant. Emma didn't know what to feel. Her pregnancy was tied directly to her death. Regin had been all about "getting rid of it" before anyone even knew. Emma had been suspicious that she was pregnant but hadn't had any kind of confirmation. She hadn't told Lachlain of her suspicions. She had been so happy and now this pregnancy would end in death, either her own or her child. A sob shook her body. How could she face the death of her child? How could she even think of it? She crossed her arms protectively over her child. She simply wouldn't. She refused to believe that this was the end for either of them. Kaderin had cheated death. Emma simply would have to do the same.

A soft knock shook her out of her misery. It was sure to be Lachlain. Again. He had been so patient, hiding his worry as best he could. This was saying something since Lykae have serious issues with controlling emotions, especially when it comes to their mates. Emma sighed and peered into the mirror on her way to the door. Her eyes widened at her appearance. Her hair stood on end and her face was puffy. There was no way she was going to be able to hide that she had been crying for the better part of a week so she just ran her hands over her blonde hair and flipped the lights down before unlocking the door. She quickly turned and moved to the window, hoping to hide the worst of her appearance in the shadows.

"Emmaline?" Lachlain's voice was hesitant, his entrance into the room even more so. "Sweetheart, what's going on?" Seeming to spot her at the window, he moved quickly to her. She felt his arms go around her middle and draw her into his strong chest. She held herself rigid, afraid that if she relaxed that she'd come unglued again.

"I'm ok. Another of the Valkyrie have gone missing and it's just hard to take." Which wasn't a lie. One had gone missing. She just had turned up a week later, no worse for wear.

"So you've been holed up in here for a week because of that? I dinna think so, Emma."

"Please. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Can we just let it go?" Another half truth. She didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Fine. But you canna stay in here anymore. You must eat. You have to be starving."

"No, I'm fine. I just want a hot shower and a nap. Will you wake me for dinner?"

"Of course. But I could come with you…"

"I'm exhausted, Lachlain. Perhaps after dinner…?"

Lachlain tried to hide his surprise but knew from the expression on Emma's face that he had failed. Not since their mating had Emma turned away from him. Something was clearly up. Evidently he'd have to call Val Hall himself.

"Of course, love. Shall I send up a maid?"

"No, thank you. I can manage."

As he watched Emma's slender figure walk up the stairs, Lachlain tried to piece together what he knew of that could be bothering his mate. As king of the Lykae, Lachlain didn't like being out of the know, so to speak. He crossed quickly to his office, summoning Harmann as he went.

"Sire?"

"Have you noticed anything off with Emma lately?" Lachlain cut immediately to the chase. One of the good things about having had the same butler for a dozen centuries was that they could cut through the bullshit and not take offense.

"Sire? I'm not sure what you mean. Off how?"

"I dinna know, damnit. If I did, I wouldna be asking!" He began pacing the room, thinking back over the last week… "Have you noticed her attempting to walk in the sun?" The demon blushed. He fucking blushed. "Well?"

"I, well, I'm sorry Sire. I mean, I only caught her the one time and she said it was the first and only time…"

"When was this?"

"About 3 weeks ago, Sire."

"And you haven't seen her in the sun since?"

"I have not, no."

"What do you mean I have not? Has someone else?"

"Well there, erhm, there has been talk amongst the maids that more than one of them had walked into a room to find her standing in the sun."

"And no one thought to tell me? When was the last time this happened?"

"Right before the last full moon Sire, a week ago. We all thought you knew, why wouldn't you have been the first she shared this with?"

Lachlain sat down heavily in his chair, allowing his head to fall into his hands. So it seemed the last time his Emma had been in the sun was the day he had found her in the Lunarium. Perhaps he'd been right. It would make sense that she would be upset if she was no longer able to stand in the sun. To have discovered what it was like to have the sun worship your skin and then to have it taken away just as quickly would be distressing to his sensitive mate. He had scolded her, his own fears blocking out the joy she must have been feeling. And he had been right. Not that he had wanted to be right but still….

The sun had set by the time Lachlain raised himself from his chair. The grandfather clock in the hall had just rung 7, the rhythmic chimes bringing him back to this world. He sighed and stretched, heading towards the door. He wasn't looking forward to this conversation. He dredged up the stairs, his feet moving slower and slower as he got closer to their bedroom door. He'd never dreaded facing Emma before. Hell, he'd never really dreaded anything like he was dreading this.

"Emmaline?" He rapped his knuckles on the door, trying to squelch his inner beast. Emma certainly wouldn't take kindly to him barging in. This whole playing nice thing sucked. He just wanted to take her in his arms and make the world go away. Emma deserved so much for all that she'd been through both before they'd met and since. He had been an admitted monster when they'd first gotten together, refusing to see the gentleness in the half vampire/half Valkyrie who was his mate. Emma had a stubborn streak a mile wide so he wasn't surprised when she didn't respond to his knock. It was actually comforting. "Emma?" He smiled, seeing her ethereal form curled up in a ball in the middle of their massive bed. He kicked his shoes off and started shedding clothes as he walked toward the bed. Drawing back the covers, he almost threw up. Lachlain hadn't thrown up since the first time he'd taken a life, when he was a mere lad of 12. Seeing his mate covered in dark red blood was almost enough to put him over.

"Emma!" His hands flew to her next, feeling for a pulse. When he didn't feel one, he started shaking. "Harmann!" He screamed, terror making his voice an unnaturally high pitch.

Lachlain crouched over Emma, doing anything he could think of to get her heart beating. When Harmann stopped dead in the doorway, Lachlain roared in rage. "Get someone on the phone. Call Val Hall. Call Bowen and get Mariketa over here. Call Nix. Call one of the fucking vampires who hangs around Val Hall. I don't care who it is, get them here. I won't lose her."

Mariketa and Bowen ran through the mirror 5 minutes later. They ran to the bed, Bowen to drag Lachlain away from Emma and Mariketa to try – something. Mariketa had known Emma pretty much all of their lives and as the minutes drug by, Lachlain's stomach continued to turn. Mariketa's already pale face began to get whiter as she tried spell after spell. Nothing worked. 20 minutes after Mariketa walked through the mirror, she walked back through. No one could get back and forth between Val Hall and the manor as fast as Mariketa.

Lachlain had moved back to Emma's side, cradling her head in his lap, refusing to believe that she could be dead. He rocked back and forth, sending prayers to any and every deity that he could think of. Immortals didn't just die. They didn't just bleed out. No way.

When Mariketa returned 20 minutes after she walked through the mirror, her face was even whiter than when she'd first shown up. Bowen hadn't left the room, calling anyone and everyone, desperate to save his king. Seeing Mariketa's face, he snapped the phone shut and went to stand by her.

"Lachlain….we only have one thing left to try." Mariketa's normally strong voice wavered but whether it was from fear or sorrow no one could be sure of. "I have to take her through the mirror to Nikolai. Nikolai can get her to Kristoff and that may be our only chance."

"Kristoff? The vampire king? Not happening. Not without me."

"We have to go through the mirror, but I can't take everyone at once. I'll take Emma, then you and then come back for Bowen."

"No, I go first. I'm not leaving her alone over there."

"She won't be alone…" Mariketa's voice had a strain of irritation but she bit it off at a shake from Bowen. Grumbling under her breath, she grabbed Lachlain and said "C'mon then your majesty."

It was a solemn affair getting through the mirror to Val Hall and Lachlain wasn't prepared for the storm that crashed around his head. All the Valkyrie in Val Hall were in a rage making the house shake with the intensity of the storm raging outside. Giant balls of hail slammed down on the roof and Lachlain would have been surprised if there were any windows left in the entire place. Clearly the lightening rods were being overworked.

Annika, Regin, Myst and the vampire Nikolai waited for him. Lachlain wasted no time, getting right up in Nikolai's face.

"I go with her. She goes, I go."

"I can't take you across the lines, Lykae. You know that. You would be separated and slaughtered, almost immediately."

"Listen vampire, my Queen goes nowhere without me."

Seeing a bloodbath in the imminent future, Myst stepped between the two furious immortals.

"Calm down. I'll go with her. Lachlain, you can not. You're not safe and you do Emmaline no good if you're dead." Both males stopped, looking at the slight woman standing between them.

"It could work. I can trace you and Emma together easily."

"No! I go with her!" The beast shimmered over Lachlain's frame

"You'd let her die over your pride, Lykae?" Nikolai snarled in Lachlain's face, moving Myst behind him.

"ENOUGH!" Nix had appeared at the head of the stairs. The ancient Valkyrie was shaking, something no one present had ever seen. "Do you see what you're doing? Look behind you. See your mate on the edge of death while you quabble, King Lykae. I have seen it. Myst and Nikolai will take her to Kristoff. This is the only chance."

Mariketa and Bowen stood in front of the mirror, Emma's limp body. Blood still covered her body, causing her gown to stick to her. Fresh shrieks rent the air at the sight of one of their own so near death. Lachlain crumpled at Nikolai's feet.

"Save her. Save her or condemn me."