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)
They’d been careful with this, none of them wanting to bruise Caliane’s heart when she’d gone to Sleep to protect her child—at the behest of that child. She hadn’t fought, hadn’t tried to manipulate her way out of the truth.
She’d just gone into Sleep because she’d made a promise.
Nix also knew about Marguerite: Elena’s lost mother was Grand-mère to him.
Elena had transferred the photos and recordings of her family through time, so their boy had met all of her mortal family through those images—and of course, he was Eve’s spoiled and adored shadow.
More than once, when Elena had to discipline him after he’d first started walking, he’d toddle to the communications array and say, “Anny Ebi!” and the system would connect him directly to his aunt (who had set up that automatic connection), whereupon he would then baby babble and gesticulate to his aunt as he complained about his mother.
Eve would nod and scowl and agree with him that Elena was just terrible.
Elena had taped him doing so, and those snippets of his younger self made her break out into a huge smile each time she pulled them back up. Not that he’d stopped calling Eve—who, as always, was his willing listener.
These days, however, he liked to chat with her about the games he was playing—and sometimes, he’d ask for the mobile crystal comm they’d put on a lanyard for him, so he could take her on walks with him, Bengal, and Bengal’s daughter. Because yes, Bengal had gone courting when they’d visited the Refuge two summers earlier.
Elena didn’t know how relationships worked for not-housecats, but when they’d visited again the following year, he’d gone into the wild again, to return with a kitten Naasir confirmed was his. Turned out that kitten was as adventurous as her father and ready to move to the Tower.
Nix had named her Tigress for reasons unknown to anyone—though Elena had her suspicions that he’d learned Bengal’s language, and Tigress had named herself. These days, she proudly sported a glittering tiger’s-eye anklet courtesy of Greta.
Not a collar. That would be an insult.
The trio liked to go romping in the Legion forest, where they were infinitely and always welcome.
Zoe, too, was a big part of Nix’s life, but she was less of a spoiler and more of a friend—as much as she could be to a child so young. “I’m laying the groundwork for when he’s an adult,” Sara’s girl had told Elena. “Because if you’d had him while I was a kid, we’d have grown up together and been friends. So I’ll be just Zoe to him, and when he’s grown, I’ll take him drinking and teach him the odd bad habit.” A wicked smile.
Nixie loved his Zoe…and Elena loved that Sara’s spirit shone so bright in her daughter. The idea of Phoenix and Zoe as adults, shutting down a bar or getting into trouble together, made her grin.
She and Sara had shut down plenty of bars together.
It has been an hour, Raphael said as he rose to his feet with Nix in his arms. Dropping their giggling child over his shoulder while keeping a firm grip around his ankles with one hand, her archangel looked at her. The sun has set, gray on the horizon.
Sunset on the tenth Spring Equinox hence had been their chosen time to meet again.
He’s still doing okay. Elena took in a delighted upside-down Nix, who was currently pretending to be one of the Legion with their occasionally batlike way of hanging off trees. If he gets too bored, we’ve got that bag of snacks and games.
Our child never gets bored, Raphael said, a glint in his eye. It quite terrifies me. Did I tell you I found him throwing power bolts between his fingers earlier today? Mere arcs, but hot enough to singe off his eyebrows.
I wondered when he’d done that. The two of them were so used to their progeny’s antics that this felt like a perfectly natural escalation.
Until Elena’s brain finally caught up to what he’d said, while her archangel played chase with their boy. “Did you say power bolts?” She stared at him. “Nixie is a baby!”
59
We will keep this for our child.
—Raphael to his Elena (Once in Brooklyn)
“Not a baby, Mama!” came the immediate complaint from their happily huffing child, who was currently dragging his wings on the flower-laden ground as he ran back toward her. Angelic wings this young were definitely designed for a bit of rough-and-tumble.
Nix tripped on his own wing, fell, and lost a couple of the exquisite feathers of iridescent dark indigo hidden within those striking black feathers with filaments of white gold.
He was up and dusting himself off before Elena could react.
“Oops!” He threw up his hands before starting his journey again. “Look, Mama!” He held up his hands, palms out.