Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 118699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 593(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 593(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
“You can believe him without question,” Alexander confirmed. “Titus is as open as the sky. He doesn’t do cunning—and he truly does wish for a rational archangel as his neighbor.”
“That was my feeling as well.” Zanaya shook her head. “I continue to be astonished at this friendship, lover. You, with all your political wiles, and this blunt hammer of a man.”
“He keeps me honest. Back when I was itching to start a war with Raphael, Titus wrote to me to tell me he’d heard rumors of the same—and he respectfully called me an idiot.” His lips kicked up. “I should’ve listened to my friend.”
“You have much to tell me of your life while I Slept.”
“I’ll tell you all, anything you ask. For now, I can confirm that if Titus trusts the people he has offered to send you, they won’t betray you. Of course, they shall be cheerful spies for him, but that’s to be expected.”
Zanaya’s shoulders shook. “There’s another thing—he looked suspiciously gleeful when I mentioned that you’d offered to second squadron leaders Zuri and Nala. Is there something I need to know about the two?”
Alexander chuckled. “The twins are his older sisters—two of four—and forever ready to tell their younger brother his business. So he is likely delighted at the idea that you’ll keep them busy with the innumerable tasks that come with setting up a new court. And there you could have no better help—Zuri and Nala are powerful and experienced warriors who can stand in for your second for the time being.”
Zanaya’s eyes widened. “An archangel with four older sisters? Titus begins to make more and more sense to me.” Lifting her hand, she touched her fingers to his cheek. “I must go now, my consort. But I’ll see you again soon.”
Taking her hand, he pressed it to his cheek. “Will you come to my territory? Now that we’ve confirmed that Antonicus Sleeps, I shall like to introduce you to Xander, this bright young piece of my heart.”
Open joy in his Zani’s expression. “I’ll come as soon as I’ve stabilized the situation in my new land.” A kiss passionate before she turned to the right, her wings homeward bound. But she looked back several times to where he hovered, watching after her.
His heart tore in two at seeing her move away from him, his mind bombarding him with memories of how he’d lost her the last time.
Move, lover. A martial order . . . that held a caress. The sooner we can both complete our duties, the sooner we can meet again.
Giving a curt nod even though she was now too far away to see it, he turned and headed to his own territory. It wasn’t a long flight in the grand scheme of things, and he arrived before nightfall . . . to find Xander flying toward him from the very edge of his lands.
“Grandfather!” His grandson waved, his grin huge and his face so reminiscent of Rohan’s that Alexander’s scarred heart threatened to spasm with the agony of it.
“Xander.” Alexander swept down so he flew wing to wing with his grandson, and he wondered if he’d ever been this young. “What are you doing here? Are you on patrol with your squadron?”
“No, Grandfather. I came to meet you.” His gaze was open, his heart on his sleeve.
The child had been hesitant and quiet when he first met Alexander, but Alexander couldn’t blame him for that. He’d been nothing but a memory of Rohan’s to Xander—and the boy had been grieving for the loss of his parents.
Alexander wasn’t a gentle man, but he’d made an effort to be so for this boy. Until one day, Xander had broken down during a private sparring session. Alexander had taken his sobbing grandson in his arms and when Xander tried to apologize, Alexander had said, “Never apologize for loving, Xander. That capacity is what keeps us from becoming monsters.”
The boy had splintered that day, and then he’d rebuilt himself.
“Oh?” Alexander said now. “How did you know exactly where I’d be coming from? Surely my spymaster isn’t leaking my whereabouts?”
Laughter from his grandson at the mere idea of Alexander’s tight-lipped spymaster breathing so much as a word. “I’ve been learning how to use the mortal device that tracks their flying craft. Angels can’t be tracked the same way because—”
“Just as well,” Alexander interrupted, his tone granite. “We are not playthings for mortals.” On this he would never budge—there was a hierarchy in the world for a reason.
“But,” Xander continued, “every time I was on the device, I watched for any hint of a ‘shadow’—that’s what the mortals call angels glimpsed on the system. And I particularly watched for a shadow with your speed. It was difficult in the extreme—you were invisible but for a split second.”
Alexander wanted to be infuriated that the mortal devices could track angels at all, even in so fleeting a way, but he couldn’t bear to rain on Xander’s joy. “Come then, Grandson,” he said, awash in love for the son of his son. “Since you’ve found me, let us race home. I’ll go at half speed.” Otherwise, it’d be no race at all, the boy a stripling yet.