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)
It was the morning after Marduk’s awakening.
He and Elena had only then returned home after having spent the night hours helping people in another part of their territory who’d been hit by a windstorm severe enough to topple houses. She’d gone ahead, while he’d joined her after the Cadre meeting, it clear to him that Marduk had no aggressive intentions toward his city.
Hard to explain how he knew, but he knew.
Knowledge born of their bond of blood? Perhaps. But it had given him confidence enough to leave Marduk in the city while he went to assist his people. His lands had thus far escaped the major catastrophic events that had hit the others, but only by a matter of degrees.
“Sivya?” he said when the angel remained silent.
A blush of color on her cheeks, she kept her eyes a touch lowered as she said, “Sire, if I may speak?” The delicate coronet in which she’d braided the pale blonde of her hair shimmered in the sunlight that poured through the library windows.
“You do not ever have to ask for permission for that in this home. It is a given.” Sivya had come to him from an archaic court, one in which a majordomo drunk on his own power had enforced the hierarchy of the court with vicious intent. Raphael had long ago taught her that he far preferred his residence be a comfortable home, not a stuffy court; but the lessons of youth, he thought, lasted long.
When Sivya shot Elena a quick glance, he nudged his hunter with his mind. Elena, she needs your permission, too.
An exhausted Elena, egalitarian in her hunter ways, stared at him for a second from the armchair where she was cleaning her knives—she found the act soothing. When she turned to their cook, it was to say, “Sivvi, if I ever turn into one of those stuffy old angels who wants everyone to bow and scrape, please do stab me with a sharp kitchen implement so I come to my senses.”
A snort escaped Sivya’s lips, her hand flying to her mouth in the aftermath of the startled response. But her eyes were bright with laughter when they met Elena’s, and she smiled at Raphael after dropping her hand. “I would not damage one of my chef’s knives by using it in such a way.”
Raphael was so surprised by the joke made by the soft-spoken cook that it took him a second to get it—it was Elena who’d gifted Sivya the set of coveted chef’s knives handcrafted in Japan. By then Elena was laughing, her hands coming together in an appreciative clap.
Grinning, he raised an eyebrow at their cook. “What is it you wanted to say?”
“Sire, if I have it right, this meeting of the Cadre is not about war or any type of aggression? Rather, it is about introducing Archangel Marduk and—even more so—attempting to find a way to protect the world against the ravages we are all suffering.”
“Correct.”
“To be welcomed into the home of another and offered sustenance is a gift precious,” Sivya said. “A symbol of friendship and trust. It begins the meeting as you wish it to go on.”
Raphael considered that with a scowl. He’d never feel friendly toward Aegaeon, but he could see Sivya’s point. If the Cadre had ever needed to work as a unit, it was now. War was one thing, cooperation in peacetime quite another.
“The house is built to accommodate larger gatherings,” the blonde angel added, “though I know at the time, you thought only of friends, not the Cadre.”
“Yes,” he murmured with a slow nod, then glanced at Elena.
Who made a face, but said, “Hard to be impolite and hostile when welcomed into someone’s private home. Isn’t there something in your guesting rules about that?”
“Elena”—he widened his eyes—“is that you, hbeebti? I could swear you just referenced the Rules of Guesthood.”
While Sivya made a heroic effort to not burst into laughter, Elena pointed her dagger at him. “Ha ha, Your Archangelness. I’ll have you know I remember all kinds of things from my politics lessons with Jessamy. She gave me an A+, so there!”
Laughing at this moment of joy stolen from the seriousness of what they were all dealing with at the current time, he thought over Sivya’s suggestion all the way through. “It does mean the meeting will begin on a foundation of good behavior.”
So it was decided.
The Cadre would be coming to the Enclave and into their home.
44
Come the second night after Marduk’s awakening and Raphael could sense him nearby. A single query to Dmitri and he discovered the archangel stood on the Tower roof watching the city.
He did that last night, too, then spent all of today on other high vantage points. Dmitri’s mental voice was powerful and clear. Don’t think he’s been in his suite except to clean up. I’d be worried he was casing us for a strike, but he reminds me of the Legion. As if we’re all animals in a zoo and he’s a fascinated bystander.