Uriel shrugged. "It is not exactly slavery when you're willing to serve," she said. "I don't deny that I haven't sometimes wondered how my life would be different if I had never even known the Presence, but I have been blessed -- or cursed, either way -- with the strongest feeling of Presence among all angels, and I do not want to lose it. I know how it feels to be without Presence -- each and every time I Fell an angel I feel their loss like it were my own -- and I couldn't bear to be apart from it forever.

"As for my baby, well, if it is connected to the Presence, then so be it. Then it can enjoy the feeling of His warmth, and I'll be glad for it. However, it is only half angelic, so there is a considerable possibility that it may not be connected to the Presence at all. In that case, it is not an angel. I think I should be able to sense it some time during the pregnancy." With a tiny smirk, knowing how much her next words would probably irritate Loki, she added, "And if the child isn't an angel, it'll probably be a part of the Norse pantheon."