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)
Illium swore a couple more times, then walked over to cup Aodhan’s face. “No, because that’s what the asshole wants.” The gold of his eyes was alive with power. “To get at Mother by making her the reason for a war.” He gritted his teeth. “It’s acid on his fucking skin each time he sees how happy she is with Titus.”
Aodhan forced his fingers to flex, to release…and had a sickening thought. “He wouldn’t dare try anything with her.”
Illium’s eyes narrowed. “I think he has—and the only reason he’s alive is because Mother handled it and told Titus not to interfere.”
Not many people would dare say that to a furious archangel, but Eh-ma was a law unto herself. And— “Titus cares for her sense of personal honor. He wouldn’t go to war for her if she said she’d handled it.”
A dark amusement in his blood, Aodhan said, “I wonder what Eh-ma did to him if he’s so pissy?”
Illium barked out a sudden, welcome laugh. “Well, she does train with Ozias most days when the spymaster is in court, and with other warriors when Ozias is away. I hope she put a knife to his balls and told him she’d cut them off. Better yet, I hope she did cut them off.”
Once, Aodhan would’ve worried for Eh-ma’s safety, but that was before he’d come to understand how Aegaeon’s mind worked. As Elena had said, he was a chauvinist. It would prick his pride to have it whispered that he’d murdered Eh-ma because she’d managed to provoke him into losing his temper.
“Ellie was right.” Aodhan slid one hand around Illium’s neck to haul him close enough to kiss. “You’d definitely be in the middle of a firefight if I was the one who walked in.”
Illium smiled into the kiss, the taste of him dazzling heat and primal want, and when their lips parted on a soft lick of sound, said, “She acted like the most flutter-headed creature I’d ever seen, and he bought it.” A roll of those extraordinary eyes. “He has no excuse for that, not when he’s seen her in battle.”
“It’s a good thing you inherited your brains from Eh-ma.” Aodhan fixed Illium’s messed-up hair—after taking another long kiss, their bodies pressed tight, warrior blood to warrior blood. “Let’s get back to the party so you can charm everyone in sight and gain us even more allies.”
Illium squeezed his hip before they stepped apart. “This party needs some dancing. Wonder if we can talk Marduk into showing us his moves?”
Even as Aodhan grinned, he was cognizant of the deep anger that continued to simmer inside his Blue. Aegaeon had succeeded in pushing the most even-tempered member of the Cadre too far.
This would end in blood, if not today, then soon.
19
Caliane and Nadiel never lost one another, Elena. My parents loved even in the madness.
—Raphael to Elena (Once, in Amanat)
Raphael walked his mother away from the lights of the stronghold and through the cool air of the moon-washed desert, while she told him stories of her courtship with Nadiel. “He was so young that I didn’t take him seriously at first.” A smile that held a thousand unspoken memories. “But he was not one to give up, your father.”
Only once they were far from the other guests and she’d fallen silent did he say, “You lied, didn’t you, Mother? You’re not giving your body and mind the rest they need.”
A long pause, her steps hitching a little before she picked up her smooth glide again. “Do not fuss so, Rafi.”
His back grew stiff. “Stop. Listen to what you just said.” No one but Nadiel had ever called him Rafi. Not even Caliane. She had especially avoided any reference to that childhood pet name after Nadiel’s death, as if understanding how much it wounded Raphael to hear it.
Caliane halted, sucked in a breath. “Did I just say…?”
“Yes.” He turned, faced her. “Mother, something is very wrong with you.” He would not dance around this, would not allow it to get to the stage where she engaged in wholesale slaughter. “You are losing yourself again.”
Pain in the lines flaring out from the corners of her eyes, in the crack in her voice as she said, “Do not tell me to go into Sleep, Raphael.” It was a plea. “I have had but a moment in time with you.”
It had been near to a thousand years since her waking, but at Caliane’s age, that truly was a droplet in time. “I have to,” he said, his own voice a rasp, and it was only at that instant that he realized he’d been looking forward to introducing his child to his mother…and that her continued sanity had given him hope for his own future.
“My mother when she is sane,” he said, holding the moonlit blue of her gaze, “is honorable and kind—she doesn’t lie or forget her past trespasses, and she doesn’t hurt me even by accident.” All she’d wanted since she’d found her sanity again was to protect him, love him.