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)
So many wounds, Aodhan thought, hearing the raw pain in his archangel’s voice. So many scars created by two vicious beings who’d wanted without reason or conscience. “They’re the only ones to blame,” he said. “I’ve come to accept that. Now you and Illium and the rest of the Seven who were there at the time have to accept it, too.”
They drew apart, two men who at this instant weren’t archangel and warrior, soldier and liege, only people who had indelible places in each other’s hearts. Because as Raphael would consider him his even should he fly from the Tower, Aodhan would consider Raphael an integral part of his family for all eternity.
“You always were wise,” Raphael murmured. “Do you remember the sketch you gave me the year after Aegaeon’s abandonment?”
Aodhan cocked his head in a silent question.
“An image of people wearing festival masks. It was excellent work for a child, but what has always stuck with me is your frustrated little face as you told me that you couldn’t draw all the masks.” A glow of power in his wings. “ ‘Some of them you can’t see, Rafa. They’re there but they look just like faces.’ ”
Aodhan felt his lips curve. “What an odd little child I must’ve been.”
Throwing back his head, Raphael laughed. “A most fascinating conversational companion.” But his gaze was serious when it locked with Aodhan’s again. “What happened knocked your confidence in your ability to spot those masks, but you’ve always had it. It’s good to see you trust in yourself again, Aodhan.”
“It feels good from the inside, too…Rafa.”
This time they laughed together, and if a passing wing of angels did a double take at the sight, well, Aodhan was starting to be all right with that kind of ordinary attention.
* * *
* * *
Navarro was waiting for Aodhan outside his home in the forested interior of the Enclave. A gracious dual-level building of warm golden brick, it was quiet, with no hint of staff moving about inside. The drive out to the road was a long and gently curving line shadowed by trees older than many a young angel in the Tower.
Navarro, too, had a sense of age and maturity that Aodhan had noticed from the very first time they’d met, his handsome face with its high cheekbones and angled jaw framed by long dark hair that went down to his waist. He often wore beads in that hair, or—as today—had a thin braid on one side around which was wrapped an intricate stack of threads in shades of red and black.
It should’ve made him look young, but his mien was too serious for that, his muscles used to being held with utmost control. In battle, he wasn’t a showy fighter, rather a man who made every motion count—and once, long ago, he’d trained both Illium and Aodhan close to the start of their journey as warriors. He still returned to the Refuge for a decade every century to do the same for each new intake.
Navarro was a teacher patient and calm.
“If you don’t mind,” the angel said, “I’d like to walk along the drive rather than go inside. That’s what I was doing prior to your arrival, but my wings are yet cramped from stuffing myself into that plane.”
He flexed his upper body, the wings he’d referenced akin to those of a red-shouldered hawk, the topmost feathers a distinctive reddish-brown shade that morphed into a repeating black-and-white pattern lower down that was breathtaking in flight. “The healers were stern in saying that I shouldn’t risk jostling them, and the trees on my land grow close to one another—else I’d suggest we walk among them.”
Despite the pragmatic words delivered in a gruff tone, his expression held both sorrow and anger.
“Thank you for making the effort,” Aodhan said, warrior to warrior, the two of them having long moved past the student-teacher relationship. “I’ve had the same wing injury—I know how much it must have pained you to sit for the journey, quite apart from the feeling of confinement.”
Navarro gave a clipped nod. “I’d already given my staff leave prior to my decision to return home early, so I can’t offer you much hospitality.”
“There’s no need.” Aodhan caught sight of an eagle sweeping in to land among the trees, but his attention was on the other angel. “That you came so far while injured tells me you valued Marco.”
“I would have come regardless. While under Contract, he was under my protection.” Then Navarro exhaled, his eyes focused into the distance. “But yes, Marco was a favorite.”
The angel took several quiet breaths before continuing. “He had a stable nature that’s rare in young vampires, a kind of innate balance. I saw him going far, and was much saddened when I first heard of his death, but then I thought him a casualty of war. A sorrowful thing, yes, but in a sense to be expected. War does not spare anyone.”