Chapter 18
…my father went to Sleep an asshole, woke up an asshole.
—First General Illium to Andromeda, Archivist of Angels (Once, at the First Amber Revel)
It had taken all of Aodhan’s considerable self-control to remain in place even after Elena made her very rational argument for it.
He’d known she was right; his presence would inflame an already tense situation—he didn’t know if it was jealousy because Illium loved him and didn’t give two fucks about Aegaeon, or simply because Aegaeon saw Aodhan as an impediment to his access to Illium, but the man who’d once been Illium’s father hated Aodhan with a vengeance.
Had he been the consort who walked into that clearing, Illium and Aegaeon would be in the air right now, throwing angelfire at each other with deadly intent. Because one hint of violence against Aodhan, and Illium would snap. His Blue would not allow anyone to ever again hurt Aodhan.
Aware of Ellie slipping away even as he landed, he said, “What set you off?” Illium had been in an excellent mood when they’d left their suite tonight.
He was rare to anger as a rule—and he never really became this enraged, even with Aegaeon.
He was happy enough to needle his father now and then and leave it at that.
“Rage requires passion,” he’d told Aodhan two hundred years ago. “I’ve realized that I don’t actually care enough about him to be angry.”
Wings still aglow, Illium paced the small area several more times before saying, “He had the audacity to blame Mother for his decision to go into Sleep.” Rage so hot it scalded.
“I can’t recall all of his asinine accusations because my blood began to boil at that point, but he was saying something about how she wasn’t enough for him, and so he had to recover his energies another way. ”
Aodhan’s own hands fisted. “I will kill him.” It came out as cold as Illium’s anger was hot.
He would burn down fucking empires for Eh-ma, the woman who’d held him in his darkest hour, and who had shared her love so generously that he felt as if he had two mothers most of the time.
One who didn’t understand him but loved him in her own quiet way, and one who just knew him when it came to art and how it drove their spirits, her love a bright flame.
Illium swore a couple more times, then walked over to cup Aodhan’s face.
“No, because that’s what the asshole wants.
” The gold of his eyes was alive with power.
“To get at Mother by making her the reason for a war.” He gritted his teeth.
“It’s acid on his fucking skin each time he sees how happy she is with Titus. ”
Aodhan forced his fingers to flex, to release…and had a sickening thought. “He wouldn’t dare try anything with her.”
Illium’s eyes narrowed. “I think he has—and the only reason he’s alive is because Mother handled it and told Titus not to interfere.”
Not many people would dare say that to a furious archangel, but Eh-ma was a law unto herself. And— “Titus cares for her sense of personal honor. He wouldn’t go to war for her if she said she’d handled it.”
A dark amusement in his blood, Aodhan said, “I wonder what Eh-ma did to him if he’s so pissy?”
Illium barked out a sudden, welcome laugh. “Well, she does train with Ozias most days when the spymaster is in court, and with other warriors when Ozias is away. I hope she put a knife to his balls and told him she’d cut them off. Better yet, I hope she did cut them off.”
Once, Aodhan would’ve worried for Eh-ma’s safety, but that was before he’d come to understand how Aegaeon’s mind worked. As Elena had said, he was a chauvinist. It would prick his pride to have it whispered that he’d murdered Eh-ma because she’d managed to provoke him into losing his temper.
“Ellie was right.” Aodhan slid one hand around Illium’s neck to haul him close enough to kiss. “You’d definitely be in the middle of a firefight if I was the one who walked in.”
Illium smiled into the kiss, the taste of him dazzling heat and primal want, and when their lips parted on a soft lick of sound, said, “She acted like the most flutter-headed creature I’d ever seen, and he bought it.
” A roll of those extraordinary eyes. “He has no excuse for that, not when he’s seen her in battle. ”
“It’s a good thing you inherited your brains from Eh-ma.” Aodhan fixed Illium’s messed-up hair—after taking another long kiss, their bodies pressed tight, warrior blood to warrior blood. “Let’s get back to the party so you can charm everyone in sight and gain us even more allies.”
Illium squeezed his hip before they stepped apart. “This party needs some dancing. Wonder if we can talk Marduk into showing us his moves?”
Even as Aodhan grinned, he was cognizant of the deep anger that continued to simmer inside his Blue. Aegaeon had succeeded in pushing the most even-tempered member of the Cadre too far.
This would end in blood, if not today, then soon.