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)
“You are my son,” was Aegaeon’s equally enraged response. “You may choose to maintain ties with that upstart pup of Caliane’s, but you are my son.”
“You chose to stop being a father to me long ago, Aegaeon,” Illium gritted back. “Enough with this falseness. Treat me as another archangel and don’t otherwise think about me.”
“If I treated you as another archangel, we’d be in the midst of a massive war. You are impertinent and arrogant and—”
“And your equal,” came the response in a cold, hard tone that Elena had never, ever heard from Illium. “I am Cadre, and if you want to—”
“There you are!” Elena walked out of the rockery as if she was a vacuous fluffhead who had no idea of the dangerous emotional tides that swirled around the two.
As if she wasn’t faced with two archangels whose wings were glowing as they powered up to strike.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
“Archangel Aegaeon, it’s been an age! I’d love to catch up, but I believe the Huntress of the Ages was searching for you.”
Much as she loved her, Elena didn’t enjoy having Tiamat’s voice in her head. It was too heavy with age, an agonizing weight of memory to it, but she’d already reached out to warn the other woman that she planned to send Aegaeon her way.
Tiamat’s response had held the amused humor of an apex predator: Excellent. I did not wear a backless gown today specifically to see his face as he struggles to define what I am and, thus, how to treat me—but I will enjoy the incidental outcome nonetheless. I do believe he will explode from the pressure of it soon.
Neither Aegaeon nor Illium moved.
So Elena tucked her hand through Illium’s arm; his body was rigid against her. She tried to think of a name that wouldn’t tip Aegaeon over the edge. “I’ve also been sent over by Archangel Suyin to bring you back to the party, Illium.” She managed a ridiculous giggle. “She mentioned that you’d promised her a dance.” As far as she knew, Aegaeon had no argument with the Archangel of China.
Power burned over her skin, archangelic anger not a thing with which to play. But this was her Bluebell, and he put his hand over the one she’d curled around his biceps, and said, “You are correct to remind me of my promises.” A clipped nod at Aegaeon.
Who clenched his jaw so tight that Elena could almost hear it grind before he inclined his head at her. “Consort. I look forward to our conversation later.” Then he took off in a smooth vertical rise that spoke to his power.
Waiting until he was out of sight, she turned to Illium and just hugged him. Her breath came out shaky.
That had been too close, far too close.
Illium hugged her back, his body strong and warm. “You know this war is coming, Ellie.”
She knew that; they all knew that. The tension between once-father and once-son had been growing in increments ever since Illium rejected Aegaeon’s offer to join his court, but it had ramped up to a lethal level after Illium’s ascension. The rage of two archangels, fueled by a lifetime of painful emotion on Illium’s part—and cold arrogance on Aegaeon’s.
“Not today,” she said, looking at him as they broke the hug. “Not so long as any of us can stop it.” He meant far too much to far too many people for them to even chance losing him.
Because though they were both Cadre, Aegaeon was an Ancient, while Illium had ascended only three hundred years ago. Power wasn’t a linear thing defined by age when it came to the Cadre, but it did have an impact—especially when some archangels carried gifts bestowed by a Cascade.
Exhaling, he strode to the other side of the clearing, then back. He was dressed in a strikingly cut black tunic that bared his arms—on which he wore metalwork sleeves of black filigree. Worn for the beauty of them, not for usefulness. No doubt made by Aodhan, his love for Illium in every curve and swirl.
“I would ignore him.” He thrust his hands through the blue-tipped black of his hair. “I do ignore him. But he isn’t satisfied with that. He wants us to play some fantasy game of family.”
Glittering diamond-bright wings above them, Aodhan coming to land beside Illium…as Elena slipped away. Her part of this was done, Aodhan now the one Illium needed.
She wasn’t expecting to see Caliane standing near where Elena had first entered the rockery. Raphael’s mother looked a goddess lit by moonlight as she stared up at that same orb.
Elena hesitated before walking over to join her. “It’s a stunning night, isn’t it?”
Caliane’s lips curved. “I walked with my mate on a night such as this many an eon ago. We had come to a grand ball thrown by an archangel whose name I can no longer remember, were still new lovers then. He took me by the hand, and said he had something to show me, and he walked me to a hidden night garden.”