Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Zoe was standing on the path by the time he landed, her pack beside her, while the vehicle had taken itself off to the garage under the building. Lean but muscled, her black curls currently contained in two braids, one on either side of her head, she wore rugged pants in a brown fabric that hugged her legs and was likely to be fine armor, along with a simple black vest top that left her arms bare and exposed a strip of her belly.
A metallic tattoo ran down her temple, flowed across her cheek, the bronze and silver of it arresting against the brown of her skin.
Around each wrist was a bracelet of hammered metal, a set that Deacon had fashioned for her on her Making, and that Illium had never seen Zoe without. Inset into the left bracelet was the diamond from Sara’s engagement ring and a shard of dark metal that had once been part of Deacon’s favorite sword, while the bracelet on the right bore a message written in her mother’s curving hand in a code the two had developed when Zoe was a teen.
Illium knew what it said only because Zoe had told him once: Live your wild, baby girl. We love you more than the moon and all the stars. ~ Mom and Dad
Sara and Deacon would be incredibly proud to see who their daughter had become.
“Are my eyes deceiving me”—having removed her sunglasses, Zoe squinted as she looked up—“or is your entire building electrified?”
“Shield midprogress. Sadly the sparks will disappear once the system is up and running.” He held out his forearm. “Welcome.”
Zoe clasped his forearm…and sucked in a breath. “Whoa. You’re waaaay more buzzy than Raphael.”
“You should have seen me right after ascension.” His power had felt as if it floated at the top of his skin, just ready to leap out. “Nice tattoo.”
“Removable—new tech I’m test-wearing for a friend. He wants to see how long it lasts on vampires.” She shifted her head so the metallic colors caught the light. “Neat, huh?”
“Your mom would’ve had a coronary.”
Zoe grinned. “She would, wouldn’t she?” Lifting the bracelet with Sara’s diamond in it, she pressed a kiss to the metal. “Then she’d have researched the hell out of it and come with me while I had it done to make sure they did it right. So, Archangel Illium. In. Sane.”
“You have no idea.” Illium kept being surprised by the new power that danced in his veins. “I’m very happy to have you with me, Zoe.”
“A century,” she said, as firm as her legendary mother. “That’s the trial period. If I don’t like it, I go back to being a weapons-maker.”
“Agreed. Your priority task is to build me an armory.” He’d been a first general, could handle strategy and other logistics while she focused on that.
Zoe nodded, all business.
“And by ‘build,’ ” he clarified, “I don’t mean you specifically. Your time is too valuable and I want you to save that energy for the weapons you decide need your expert touch.”
“It’d be too slow if I did it all anyway.”
“You have a ton of buildings to choose from—we’ve acquired this entire area.” He’d made sure any affected residents had been relocated to even better homes in locations they chose because it would’ve been a bad omen to start his reign by kicking people out and leaving them unhappy. “Aside from any personal weapons owned by my squadrons, you’re starting from an inventory of zero.”
Zoe’s mouth fell open, her eyes shining. “Are you serious? All of it?”
“No one’s officially ruled this as one territory for centuries.” Illium shrugged, hands on his hips. “Uram’s armory is long gone, and the archangels who looked after each of the discrete areas have withdrawn their people and weapons. So yeah, all of it.”
Even as her expression turned gleeful, she frowned. “How vulnerable are we?”
“Raphael says the Cadre has an unofficial understanding that it’s bad manners to attack an archangel in the first century of his rule. Still happens now and then, but no one on the current Cadre is out for my blood.”
Aegaeon might be enraged by Illium’s rejection, but he was also too prideful to attack his son—at least at this early stage. “We need to be up and running by the end of that period, but I’d prefer it if we hit an earlier deadline.”
“I’ll have us sorted in a year.” Zoe waved a hand and only then did he notice that her nails were painted a glittering black. “The pretty weapons can wait; we have to be practical. Does Lady Katrina still like you?”
“She’s here, with Vivek—my new spymaster.”
“Well, damn, that should speed up the timeline even further. Woman has connections everywhere even if she hasn’t been in the weapons business this century.” A crisp nod. “I’ll get you up and running. Leave it to me.”