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)
“Sorry, Harrison, Majda and Jean-Baptiste have him today. Playdate with several of the toddler descendants. They’re baking cookies together.” The activity was taking place in their Enclave home, with the Legion a discreet security presence. “How about next week? Same time?”
His face broke out into a huge smile. “Sure, that’d be perfect.”
* * *
* * *
“Do you think Harrison’s attention to Nix is worrying?” Elena asked Raphael that night in bed. “He’s never crossed any boundaries, and Nixie loves spending time with him but…it’s like our son is the fulcrum of his happiness.”
“I’ve noticed the same. I think on this, we must consult Nisia.”
When they did, the healer said, “He’s not dangerous to Phoenix—I’d have warned you if that were the case. No, it’s the opposite, I’m afraid.” Arms folded, she’d exhaled. “Truth be told, he’s still fragile. He’s also determined to carry on his wife’s love of family.”
That was when Elena got it. “Phoenix is a direct line back to Beth. Not generations removed—and he’ll always be that because he’s immortal.”
“Just so, Ellie.” Nisia’s smile was poignant. “But your brother-in-law’s devotion isn’t a dangerous fixation. I’ve counseled him enough to say that categorically—he’s simply glad that Phoenix exists in the world, and that he’s permitted to interact with him.”
Only after she and Raphael were alone did Elena say, “I trust Nisia, but I think we should keep an eye on the situation. Still…I don’t get any sense of threat off him.” And her instincts were those of a hunter and a mother. “You?”
“No,” Raphael said. “He has never once asked for more than we give him. He seems happy to have even crumbs of time with Phin—but if he is that devoted, then why not use it for the good?”
Elena raised her eyebrow; she knew her archangel was ruthless, but he was no longer the same kind of ruthless as the man who’d made her close her hand over her blade on that long-ago roof. “I’m listening.”
“He’s an excellent bureaucrat,” Raphael reminded her. “And since our child is throwing bolts at this age, he will one day more than likely need bureaucrats. All the better for him to have one who is wholly loyal and in his corner.”
Elena thought about it. “I can’t see a downside. Harrison will be happy, and Nixie will have a good man on his team.” She played absently with her bracelet. “What do you think about training him in a few offensive and defensive skills?”
“An immortal bureaucrat who understands battle?”
“I mean…Dmitri.” She grinned.
“Call my second a bureaucrat at your peril, hbeebti,” Raphael warned, but his lips curved. “I see your point, however.”
That was how Harrison Ling, skinny bureaucrat, ended up being thrown into a strengthening regimen in the months that followed. After he wasn’t so breakable anymore, he commenced having his ass handed to him on a daily basis by one of the ground-combat skills trainers—and the female vampire was a hard-ass who didn’t give an inch.
What surprised Elena was that Harrison didn’t utter a single complaint.
“If I’m going to serve Phoenix one day,” he said to her after a session, his body dripping sweat, “then I need to be able to be his right hand. Like Dmitri is Raphael’s—he handles all the bureaucratic and political stuff, and he’s lethal as a fighter, a brilliant battle strategist. Hard act to follow, but that’s my goal.”
No depression now, only the fires of determination.
Thinking of her child’s needs and wanting to gauge Harrison’s sanity on this point, Elena said, “What if Nix decides he doesn’t want you at his side?”
“So be it,” he said without hesitation. “I don’t need to be next to him to serve him. I can as easily become a mole in an enemy court—no one pays much attention to the paper pushers.”
Elena didn’t chew Harrison out on his assumption that Nix would one day ascend; he knew never to voice that thought in his nephew’s hearing. But that particular theory was rife in the immortal world. Everyone, it seemed, was waiting for three generations of archangels in one family.
Which was another reason Elena was glad they were raising Nix in New York. She and Raphael might agree that their boy was showing clear signs of significant power, but they never, ever placed any sense of archangelic expectations on him—and the people around them followed suit.
Here, he was just a mischievous little boy.
But they couldn’t keep him in the city forever.
68
“You can’t put any of your plans in action until you can fly.”
“Then teach me. I’m ready.”
—Raphael and Elena (Once, after a Hunter Awakened with Wings)
Elena couldn’t believe her baby boy was now fifteen years old…and ready to fly. Which meant a long stint in the Refuge. It was the safest place to teach him. Not only because he could fall without questions and speculation from the mortal population, but also because he’d be learning with Aanisa.