Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 112287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
61
Illium woke flat on his back on the ground—to a sense of lightness he hadn’t felt since before the Cascade. “I think, Sparkle, I’m normal again.”
Aodhan continued to frantically pat him down in a search for injuries, the beauty of him a shower of light that was Illium’s eternity. “What?”
Illium ran his fingers through Aodhan’s hair, the strands so soft and fine for all that they appeared to be coated in crushed diamonds. “Whatever the Cascade shoved inside me, it’s gone.”
Finally satisfied that Illium was unharmed, Aodhan took Illium’s face in his hands, said, “Explain.”
“I’m in no danger of ascending.” Relief was a drug that bled into his veins, his entire self euphoric. “Whatever was out of whack in me has been put right. Balanced.”
“You’re sure?”
“Beyond any doubt. I could . . . sense power on the horizon that was too big for me before. I can’t even see a glimmer of it today.”
Aodhan’s hands trembled. “I’m going to sleep much easier now that I know you’re in no danger of being torn apart by a premature ascension, but how do you feel about the loss?”
Illium closed his fingers on the glittering beauty of Aodhan’s hair. “I’m happy that I have time to grow with you now, time to walk my own path, time to be part of Raphael’s Seven. Because I’m not done there yet and won’t be for a while. I plan to be his first general—he needs one, like all respectable archangels.”
Aodhan’s smile was affectionate and of the person who knew him best in all the world. “Of course you have to be first.” Laughter that ended in a kiss, their wings and legs entangled.
“You know it’ll still happen one day?” Aodhan murmured gently against his lips, the blue of Illium’s wings reflected in the crystalline shards of his eyes. “You’re the son of an archangel and Lady Sharine. There is a reason the Cascade chose you.”
“Yes. But it’ll be on my own natural timeline.” He had hundreds of years to be a lover, a friend, a loyal warrior to his liege before he ever had to worry about the Cadre and politics.
Thank. Fucking. Havens.
62
Six months later, and the world hadn’t suffered a natural disaster since the instant of the reset, the calm so pristine that it had been scary at first. Once they got over that, however, they’d put their backs into the cleanup.
Caliane had also been proved right. Articles about the “newly discovered” mountains had begun to proliferate when the Mantle started to drop. Those articles vanished overnight. They were still physically there if you searched for them, but the pages had no traffic.
People just weren’t interested.
It freaked Elena out that there existed power that could effectively control people’s minds from the other end of time. “Your Ancestors are flat-out terrifying,” she said to Raphael that morning as she pulled on her clothes. “Just in case you forgot.”
Raphael, already dressed, leaned against the vanity, watching her. “I don’t think I am in danger of ever forgetting. It has come as quite the shock to realize that archangels are not the most powerful beings in existence.”
“Well, the Ancestors seem to be happy Sleeping forever, so I wouldn’t worry too much about becoming dragon food.” The quip fell flat because her heart wasn’t in it.
“I can’t believe this is actually happening.” She ran a shaky hand down her simple gown. Of a pale and delicate green, it was held up by pretty diamond clasps at her shoulders, the waist encircled by a fine diamond chain.
It wasn’t her style . . . but it would’ve been her mother’s. And today was about her mother and her sisters. Which was also why she wore butterflies of sparkling silver in her hair and would carry a basket of daisies to throw into the ocean.
The butterflies for Belle, the daisies for Ari.
Raphael stroked his hand over the surface of her wings even as he spread his own to close them around her. “You are ready, hbeebti.”
Elena nodded, taking deep breath after deep breath. “The ceremony at the funeral home after the exhumations didn’t feel like the real thing, you know?” It had been solemn and quiet, and nothing like any of them. “Today, I say goodbye to them the way it should’ve always been—as a celebration of their lives.”
Raphael tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You will do them proud.” His belief in her was a sea storm inside her mind, crashing waves that went on forever.
It carried her on the flight to the remote ocean promontory where they were all to meet. Jeffrey had arrived first, stood on the cliff edge leaning on a cane. His health had improved vastly, but he still tired easier than he had before the heart attack, and the cane helped ameliorate that.