Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 139178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Raphael kissed their boy on his tear-reddened cheeks. Your bedside manner is as gentle as always.
No threats to smite me while you’re sleep-deprived because of the child, Nisia ordered. Do you want me to do a shift?
No, Raphael said. He needs to be with us for this. The smiting can wait.
Excellent.
A hiccupping sob, another rasping breath…and Nix’s fists unclenching on his body. His son gave him a reproachful look out of eyes identical to Raphael’s own, his thick black lashes wet, before exhaustion finally took him under.
Elena jerked awake at the same time, as if startled by the sudden quiet. “What? Where?” she cried out, strands of her hair stuck to the side of her face and her sleep tee twisted.
Bengal snapped up to a standing position, a growl building in his throat as he padded over Elena’s wings.
“Shh.” Raphael got into their line of sight with Nixie in his arms.
Hands flying to her mouth, Elena widened her eyes. He’s asleep!
Just.
Bengal, too, went silent.
They all stayed in position, scared of startling Phoenix awake, but when he began to breathe in a deep, steady rhythm, Raphael took the risk of laying him in the bassinet next to the bed…before collapsing facedown beside his consort—while Bengal jumped off the bed to pad over to the bassinet and put his forepaws carefully on the edge so he could look down at the baby.
Elena and Raphael just lay there limp, two people who’d been through the wars and had no energy for anything else.
“We survived a Cascade of Death,” Raphael said at last, making sure to keep his voice low as he flipped over onto his back. “We can survive this.”
“Right.” Elena continued to stare at the ceiling. “Or maybe the Cascade was just a test, and this is the actual event.”
“Nixie is a child. I am an archangel.”
“Who gets his heart ripped out when his son does that pain-crying.” She found his hand on the sheet. “I wish I could stop him hurting.”
The thing was that Raphael could—he just wasn’t allowed to; any kind of interference with the developing mind of an infant, even such a small thing as tamping down pain, was verboten among angelkind, and for good reason. No one knew how such interference might impact the child long-term.
“I hate this.”
“I know.” She wove her fingers through his. “Me too. But we’ll get through it.”
He turned to look at her as she turned her face toward him.
“Together.”
“Always.”
56
See you at seven, Evie.
—A message
Six months later, after the painful months Elena and Raphael had christened “the Cascade of Nix,” Phoenix was out of the pains of early wing development, and at about the same stage of growth as a mortal of around ten months of age—complete with cheerful babbling talk that charmed everyone in sight.
Elena smiled as her sister tickled his round little belly while he lay on a blanket in the dappled sunshine outside their Enclave home. Elena lay on her side on the blanket beside him, having not yet changed out of her hunting gear. She hadn’t had to spill any blood today, just pull an idiot in.
A purple-blue bloom fell from the canopy of the magnificent jacaranda tree under which they sat. Elena picked it up as Nix laughed that infectious baby laugh of his, and “tickled” Eve back with his plump fingers against her face.
Eve laughed as loudly, which set him off again, a perfect circle of joy.
Affection twined with a thread of old sorrow wove through her, because of the five sisters Elena had had in her life, only this single precious one remained. Eve might be adamant that she’d decided to become a vampire because she had so much more she wanted to explore of the world, so much more she wanted to do, but Elena knew that Elena’s immortality had played a pivotal role in her decision.
Always empathic, Eve had understood without it ever being discussed that Elena would be without family once they were all gone.
“I love you, Evie.”
A startled smile. “Love you, too, but I love this gorgeous nugget more.” She kissed Phoenix’s belly, to further baby giggles. “Yes I do, you snuggle bug.”
“Do you ever regret becoming a vampire?” Elena had never asked, protecting both of them, but that seemed a cowardice today.
“Nope,” was the immediate response. “I didn’t exactly have it hard, Ellie. You made sure of that. I was Made by Jason, who is about the coolest angel in existence—therefore adding to my own badassery—and I spent my mandated century in the Tower beside people I already knew and liked.” She made faces at Phoenix, who thought it was the most hilarious thing ever.
Laughing with her baby and her sister, Elena took a photo to add to her vast hoard.
“After completing my Contract doing work I found challenging and fascinating, I traveled the world,” Eve said when she could speak again. “I’ve had endless adventures—including being in on the ground floor of a new archangel’s reign. I’ve had a huge, colorful life. No regrets, Ellie.” The mist gray of her eyes meeting Elena’s gaze. “Never, ever worry about that, big sis.”