Archangel's Heart(37)

He’d turn up at Aodhan’s isolated home and refuse to leave until Aodhan sparred with him. In the end, Aodhan gave in and turned up to sessions at the weapons salle just so Galen would leave him alone otherwise—in the worst period, it was often the only time he stepped outside his home. They sparred nearly every day during Aodhan’s residence at the Refuge. It was always without any physical contact, but the social contact forced Aodhan to stay in the world at least partially.

Yes, there was a hell of a lot more to Galen than Elena had ever realized during her time under his instruction. If Aodhan was forced to hold his own against Galen for two hundred years, then he’s probably far more well trained than pretty much everyone else in the Tower. Raphael and the others, they had to set him free.

“Aodhan,” she said aloud. “Raphael just told me that Galen stalked you for two hundred years.”

“Galen is like a storm that you either battle, or surrender to,” Aodhan said. “And if you surrender because you do not care, the storm just gets stronger and stronger until the howling threatens to drive you insane and you must pick up the sword just to get a little peace.”

Elena’s shoulders shook at the bone-dry recitation. “Get flattened a few times?”

“Until I resembled the food your little hunter sister likes. Pancakes.”

A snort threatening to escape as she gave in to her laughter, Elena wiped her tears away. “But here you stand.”

“Galen would accept nothing less.” With that simple statement that held deepest respect, Aodhan paused, stared at the floor for three long seconds before nodding and carrying on.

Right when she thought he was done talking, he touched a hand to the dual blades he wore. “Galen gave me these when he deemed me fit for battle. My originals were . . . lost.”

Elena had no need to ask when or how, not with the shadows in Aodhan’s eyes and the sudden tension in Raphael. “Damn it,” she muttered sulkily, kicking at the floor. “Galen never gave me any weapons.”

Shadows fading, Aodhan’s eyes filled with a rare light. “It took me a hundred years of daily sparring to earn these. You have time yet.”

“Perhaps we should go to the Refuge if you are so eager to see Galen,” Raphael murmured.

“I warned you about that sense of humor, Archangel,” Elena said darkly while Aodhan struggled to hide a smile.

They walked for an hour but didn’t get anywhere near the library, where Jessamy had told Elena she’d find the historical archives; neither did they discover what had happened to the art. Back at their suite, Aodhan sat down and began to draw out the designs so they could all learn the map.

His hand moved strong and sure, the lines that flowed from his pen without flaw.

“This should give us a good start,” he said after he was done. “To get back to the suite if you get disoriented, follow this symbol in this grouping.” His eyes met Elena’s, shattered pieces of green and blue glass spiking out from a jet-black pupil. “There are further symbols I don’t yet understand. We will explore Lumia together, unearth their secrets.”

Elena nodded, hoping once again that hidden within Lumia would be some small piece of knowledge that might solve the mystery of her ancestry. And if it felt as if she was searching for a way to find her mother through time . . . was that such a terrible thing?




“I want to shower,” Elena said after Aodhan left to return to his own room until dinner. “I feel dusty from the flight over the mountains.” Despite his consort’s words and though she’d already removed her weapons and boots, she hesitated to undress.

Raphael held out a hand.

When she took it, he led her to the bathing chamber and shut the door. There was no shower, but someone had already partially filled the large stone bath with cold water, minerals swirled into the clear liquid. It was a normal angelic courtesy to ensure guests didn’t have to wait too long for their bath to fill.

Finding the handle—old but functional—that made the hot water start to gush out from a spout in the wall, Raphael turned it on.

By the time it filled to the top, it would be the correct temperature.

Then he threw his glamour around them both; they were now effectively invisible from any eyes that might seek to watch. His instincts didn’t prickle in this particular space in the suite, but regardless, no one was going to see what was his and his alone to view.

“Did we go poof?”

Cheeks creasing because she did that to him, made the capacity for fun come alive inside him, he nodded. “But you must stay close to me for the glamour to encapsulate you.”