Letting the white-haired pair take a seat at a nearby table with their food in front of them, Elena and Raphael placed an order of their own. When the food came, she glanced at the couple and felt relief kiss her skin like a cool rain. The man no longer appeared full of terror. Instead, he was looking at her with thoughtful eyes, as if seeing what his wife already had.
Lighting up as she caught Elena’s gaze, the man’s wife waved her and Raphael to the two spare chairs at the table.
“Elena!”
She’d just taken a seat, glanced over her shoulder at the call to see Riad . . . whose eyes bugged out of his head at seeing Raphael in the chair beside her. But when she angled her head in welcome, he came over nonetheless.
The elderly woman chattered at him, making hand motions.
“My great-grandmother says I am to sit and speak English to you.” It came out a squeak.
Elena noticed every hair on his arm was standing up. “Grab something to eat first.” She put some money into his hand. “Get what you want, then come join us. I want to talk to your great-grandmother and I need a translator.”
The teenager nodded jerkily before running back toward the bun seller.
“This family has courage,” Raphael murmured, his eyes on Riad’s great-grandmother. “And I think it comes from this woman.”
“Yes,” Elena said, “I think so, too.” She wasn’t really interested in the food but she ate a few bites to make everything appear normal while waiting for Riad to return.
The teenager returned within minutes, his chest heaving.
Dragging over another chair, those hairs on his arms still up and his hair starting to crackle, too, he gulped from a bottle of water. His great-grandmother seemed to chide him for his manners.
Raphael, all their hair is beginning to crackle.
I’m afraid my power is surging. A Cascade effect, I believe. It has an impact on mortals in close proximity, but it should do them no harm.
Having been speaking to his great-grandmother between bites of his first bun, Riad now told them what Tasha had already translated about Majda having been the daughter of a cherished friend. “She says Majda’s baby had the same hair but lighter skin. Like the other lady said to you, my great-grandmother also says light hair was very strong in the girls in the family, but still it was . . . I don’t know the word.” He bit down on his lower lip.
“Unpredictable?” Elena suggested. “Sometimes the coloring appeared and sometimes it didn’t?”
“Yes! Unpredictable. But Great-grandmother says Majda’s husband—who she loved like he was the stars and the moon—had golden hair and pale skin like milk with just a little honey, so the baby had a good chance of moonlight hair like yours.”
Elena’s blood ran hot. “Was Majda’s husband mortal?”
A rapid-fire transfer of information before a white-faced Riad whispered, “We’re not supposed to talk about this. I told—”
It was his great-grandfather who spoke now, his voice unexpectedly strong.
Riad’s lower lip shook, the second bun he’d bought forgotten. “He says that they are old anyway, about to head out on the final journey. What can the angels do to them now? They take only the young—the prettiest women and the most beautiful men.” Eyes wet, his distress unhidden.
Touching his shoulder even as fury tore through her, Elena said, “You love them both very much, don’t you?”
A quick nod. “I don’t want the angels to hurt them.”
The angels. The Luminata.
“No one will.” Raphael’s voice silenced everyone at the table. “Tell them this: they are under my protection. I will make certain no one dares lay a finger on them.”
Won’t Charisemnon be an obstacle? Elena asked as a breathless Riad translated.
Charisemnon doesn’t care about a small town. This is Luminata business and that’s who we have to deal with. His jaw set. If need be, I’ll leave Aodhan here to watch over these people until we can return and dig out the rot at the heart of the Luminata.
Elena hadn’t thought she could love Raphael more, but at that instant, her heart overflowed with love and pride both. For this archangel who had compassion enough to treat such fragile mortals with care. Thank you for being you.
Eyes of endless blue met hers. You made me remember myself, Elena. Without you, I might’ve turned as cold as those who would prey on the weak.
Elena thought of the scar on his wing, of why she’d shot him, and felt a chill ripple through her. Never again, Archangel.
You live in me now, hbeebti. He touched his hand to her hair. I cannot ever return to who I once was, no matter what eternity brings.
Quiet words spoken in a feminine voice that quavered drew her attention back to the table. Riad’s great-grandmother was saying something as more tears rolled down her cheeks.
“She says Majda’s husband loved her, too, even though she was mortal and would die while he’d keep living.” Riad listened, then spoke, his eyes huge. “He didn’t want to live without her, but he couldn’t find any angels to make her a vampire like him.”
Another kick to Elena’s heart, another jolt in the bloodstream at the unambiguous statement that Majda’s lover had been a vampire. And he hadn’t simply been her lover. He’d been her husband.
“My great-grandmother says Majda’s husband was strong, but he was just a young soldier who didn’t know anyone so powerful like Raphael.” The last word came out an awed whisper, Riad only daring to look at Raphael through the corner of his eye.