Archangel's Shadows

“Deal,” she said just as her phone buzzed.

Holding the moss and sunlight of his gaze, one hand on his nape, she reached into her pocket with the other. “I have to check the caller ID.” It could be Banli House.

“I know,” said the man who understood her, accepted her.

Eyes burning, she leaned into him as she looked at the name on the screen. It wasn’t Banli House, but it was a call she had to answer.

“Tanu is Tanu tonight,” Arvi said, his voice holding a smile. “She’d like to see you.”

42

Elena walked out to a Tower balcony with Raphael. Dmitri had just left to handle an emergency situation with Sorrow, the young woman who’d been taken by a mad archangel and changed in inexplicable ways. Honor had been training Sorrow in how to handle herself in the dark, Naasir hanging out with them, when Sorrow had had one of her unpredictable violent episodes.

Everyone was physically fine, but Sorrow was near a mental breakdown. Since Dmitri seemed to be the one person who could get through to her, Honor had called him in. Elena would never forget finding Sorrow, covered in blood and naked, in the old shed meters from the chamber of horrors that had held the remains of her friends. It infuriated her that the young woman continued to pay the price for another’s evil; she hoped Sorrow would find a way to fight the poison inside her, to make it.

The survivors of Giorgio’s and Cornelius’s crimes would have a road as difficult to travel. Of those found in the crates, it appeared Brooke alone might be able to live a normal life and she was badly traumatized. The others had the bodies of infirm elderly people, their minds nearly broken. “Will you really let the victims choose the punishment?” she asked her archangel.

“It’s the only satisfaction I can give them.”

“What if they choose mercy?” Elena wouldn’t, but then, she liked her justice bloody.

Raphael faced the night winds. “I would honor their wish—and I would also lock both Giorgio and Cornelius in barren cells underground, so that they can live in mercy till their deaths.”

“That’s why I love you, Archangel.” She spread her wings, folded them back in. “Your mother seems happy.” Caliane had remained at the Enclave property since her arrival, content to spend time with Raphael and to speak to Keir, though she’d also taken a liking to Montgomery.

“Yes.” Turning to face Elena, Raphael held her close, their eyes locked together. “You make me proud to be yours, hbeebti.” Power in every word, his emotions a fury. “I know she is difficult, but you are treating her with grace and compassion.”

“She’s your mom, Raphael, and she loves you.” It was as simple as that. “Speaking of Caliane, we should fly back. She said she can only stay another day without putting Amanat at risk and you’ve already had to be at the Tower for hours to deal with Cornelius and Giorgio.”

His kiss was a storm inside her, making her body ignite. “We will continue this when we are alone.” With that, he fell backward off the balcony before twisting in midair and rising.

Show-off. Taking flight herself, she waved to her Legion escort, recognizing him now. The Legion were like identical twins, times seven hundred and seventy-seven. Each was the same, and yet once you got to know them, each was unique.

This one was a sweetheart and not the least bit creepy on his own.

He waved back, and when she went to her greenhouse after landing, he came with her. Go spend time with your mother, Raphael, she said when her archangel frowned at her. Caliane and I, we’ve made our peace. Or at least begun the process. That doesn’t mean we want to see each other any more than necessary.

His lips curved, the sea a crashing wildness in her mind. I will see you in our bed, Guild Hunter.

Count on it, Archangel.

•   •   •

Ashwini walked into Banli House to be told that Tanu and Arvi were in the winter-and-night-cloaked gardens. Stepping outside, Janvier by her side, she followed the sound of animated voices to find her sister sitting on a wrought-iron garden seat under the moonlight, Arvi by her side. Tanu had a thick blanket wrapped around her, while Arvi was wearing his coat.

They were both smiling, their conversation fluid.

“Ashi!” Tanu’s face lit up. “Come, sit.” She held her blanket open.

Heart breaking into a thousand shards of pain and hope, Ashwini accepted the welcome and leaned into her sister’s side. Arvi rose at the same instant, held out his hand. “We never met properly. I’m Arvan, Ashwini’s older brother.”

“Janvier.”

The men shook hands, then Arvi retook his seat beside Tanu, while Janvier located a metal outdoor chair, brushed off the snow, and set it up to Ashwini’s left in front of the seat. Then the four of them sat talking under the moonlight. Carl brought out coffee at some stage, and, warmed by the liquid, they remained outside for hours more.

Tanu was vivacious and intelligent and occasionally sharply sarcastic in her replies as she’d been before the degeneration. And Arvi, he laughed helplessly at several of Tanu’s retorts. But for that single incident five years past, Ashwini hadn’t seen him that way since she was a young girl. It made her realize just how much of her brother had broken when Tanu fragmented.

Throat tight, she looked helplessly toward Janvier. He reached quietly under the blanket to take her hand. The two of them were silent for the most part, Ashwini content to sit with her sister’s arm around her while Tanu and Arvi spoke, two pieces of a whole that had been torn apart and who’d found one another again for this single magical night.