Chapter 28
I’m different, Ash. Deep inside. I’ll never be like other men.
—Naasir to Ashwini (One Night during a New York Block Party)
The lights of the Refuge glowed warm against the night as the two of them flew in, the fine white marble of the buildings closest to the edge luminous from within.
Snow sat heavy on the mountains that rose up in the distance, but the Refuge itself was clear of white.
Hardy mountain flowers emerged from the rock and stone, undaunted by the cold night air.
The scouts who’d greeted them on their way in had laughingly agreed to keep their imminent arrival a secret. The only person on their team who knew of their plan to visit was the steward of Raphael’s Refuge stronghold, Yana.
Now, Raphael reached out to her with his mind. Yana, we are but minutes away.
Small and quick on her feet, she was in the courtyard when they landed. “Sire. Consort.”
Her smile huge, she bowed, her brunette curls a halo around the soft curves of her face and her pale brown skin flushed. “I have prepared your suite, and will bring up a tray.” Her wings, held neatly to her back, were a lovely rust orange with streaks of an unexpected deep blue.
“Our thanks, Yana,” Raphael said to the angel who had been with him since near the start of his reign; she’d begun young and untried, risen through the ranks to her current position—and though she’d done stints in New York, the Refuge was her home base.
“Where’s Trace?” Of all the people they needed to see, Trace was the only one who lived at the stronghold, with both Galen and Naasir keeping separate homes.
Yana’s dark brown eyes danced. “Keir asked him to run an errand.”
The healer, of course, had known of their flight.
“Venom and Holly are upstairs in their suite,” she added in a conspiratorial whisper. “They arrived a quarter of an hour ago and are refreshing themselves after their journey.”
“It’s only about eight,” Elena said with a grin, bouncing on her toes before the silver fire of her mind touched his. I won’t be able to sleep if we delay this till tomorrow.
“As you say, Consort,” Raphael replied with a grin of his own. “Will you gather our people together?” he asked Yana. “Jessamy and Andromeda, too.” Though neither woman belonged to Raphael’s court, they were family nonetheless. “You must also attend. Do not tell the others of our arrival, however.”
The steward was clearly curious, but said, “I will gather them an hour hence. Will that suffice?”
Raphael glanced at Elena, who said, “Forty-five minutes.”
As it was, they were ready within forty minutes.
Hair damp, Raphael had pulled on black pants and a cream-colored tunic with a laced neckline, which he left open.
His consort had chosen a simple blue ankle-length gown with clasps at the shoulders and ties on either side of the waist that could be used to cinch it in.
While she remained far more comfortable in leathers, or in the fine armor that was now worn by most guild hunters, his hunter had, over time, collected a small array of dresses that she enjoyed wearing when at home.
Now, she stroked her hand down her belly. “This dress will still fit when I get bigger. No real waistline if I don’t tighten the waist.”
Moving behind her, he put his chin on the damp thickness of her hair and his hand over her own.
“Elena-mine, do you not realize that Montgomery has most assuredly begun to plan an entire maternity wardrobe for you? I beg you do not shatter his dreams and say you intend to wear your normal clothes. I have no wish to see my butler cry.”
Her laugh was startled, her eyes sparkling as her shoulders shook. “He must be bursting, being unable to talk to his tailor friend about it.”
“We shall permit it soon enough.” He used his lips to caress the curve of her neck. “Do you think our spark is a girl or a boy?”
“Keir can probably tell us.” A look up. “Shall we find out?”
“Hmm.” He considered it. “I don’t know. Let’s decide later.” He shifted so he could kiss her lips, plump and soft. “A fierce little hunter or a wild little boy, either will run us ragged; of that I’m certain.”
“Hey, we could have a nice calm child.”
They stared at each other before bursting into laughter, were still smiling as they headed downstairs to surprise the others.
“Yana, you ever going to tell us why we’re here?” Galen’s deep voice flowing out of the great room of the stronghold. “Not that I don’t appreciate the evening snacks.” A pause. “Venom? Holly? You drop by for a surprise visit?”
The other couple must’ve entered the great room from the kitchen end.
“The sire and Elena are here, too.” Naasir’s voice. “I scented them.”
Drat. We should’ve realized he’d bust us.
We still have one surprise for him.
“They didn’t send word,” Trace said, even as Jessamy said, “It’ll be a joy to see them after so long. It’s been a year, I think.”
“Why are they here?” Galen asked with the shrewd alertness of a weapons-master, no longer anything casual in his tone. “Is Aegaeon finally declaring war on Illium?”
“Nope,” Elena said from the doorway. “I’m pregnant.”
The room went utterly silent before Naasir leaped at her, gathering her in his arms and spinning her around, the thick silver of his hair flying. “You are having a cub!” His delight made her laugh even as she told him to put her down.
Galen, meanwhile, was already pouring mead for everyone except Elena—for whom he poured a glass of milk from the jug Yana had put on the table at Elena’s earlier request. “We must toast this,” he said, his smile as huge as Jessamy’s hug once Naasir had set Elena free.
Trace, suave as always, shook Raphael’s hand, then kissed Elena on the cheek. “Should I pen a poem celebrating your fertility?” he asked with his usual sly humor.
“Do it. Make me a hunter goddess.”
His grin was sharp before he made way for an excited Holly, then Andromeda to hug her tight.
“I’d offer to share information about pregnancy but mine wasn’t exactly angelic-normal,” Andi said.
“Neither, I think, will yours be.” She squeezed Elena’s hands.
“But if you need or want advice on newborns, that I can do.”
“I, for one,” Holly said, “will be using my seamstress and design skills to make your baby tiny cute outfits.” She clapped her hands, no longer a sophisticated CEO but a friend excited for Elena. “Boy or girl, this child is going to be a trendsetter if their Aunt Holly has anything to do with it!”
Venom’s embrace was far warmer than his viper’s eyes would indicate.
Yana was the next to congratulate them, her cheeks wet. “This will set the entire stronghold alight,” she said. “It has been many years since the triplets ran through its halls.”
* * *
Later, after the initial excitement had died down, Elena and Raphael talked about their plans to relocate to the Refuge for a short period following the birth, but to otherwise raise their child in New York.
While Yana looked worried, Galen’s square-jawed face was contemplative. “I grew up in Titus’s court. It’ll be easy enough until the child is mobile—it’s at that point that you’ll have to decide how much freedom they’ll have to roam.”
“I don’t want our child inside walls,” Elena said, and Raphael knew she was fighting her hyper-protective urges to do so.
It was Jessamy who said, “Walls aren’t necessarily bad things, Ellie. Not when a child doesn’t know quite how to control themselves—that’s why the Refuge has scouts at the borders. Not only to warn us of intruders, but to shoo in any wayward children who get disoriented and manage to fly that far.”
The angelic librarian’s lips twitched. “We all of us well know the biggest culprit—and he wasn’t disoriented, just wanted to go exploring even though he didn’t have the energy or strength for the return journey.”
“I have no idea how Archangel Illium survived to adulthood,” Yana murmured from her seat. “I once saw that child attempting to drag off a war hammer because he needed to bang in a nail for a fort he and Aodhan were building.”
Jessamy shared a speaking look with the other woman. “Oh, Yana, Lady Sharine’s child is surely responsible for most of my wrinkles.”
“And mine.” Yana pointed at the corners of her eyes. “You see?”
“Jessamy is right.” Naasir’s lips kicked up, but his voice held the edge of a growl as he said, “Cubs need boundaries—that paradoxically gives them the freedom to roam in a range that is secure and safe.”
They give us sage advice, Elena-mine. Think not of walls, but of a space akin to a playpen for a winged babe.
She nodded slowly. Honestly, I’m relieved. It’ll give me time to get used to our baby being away from me before I have to set them truly free.
He knew how much she was afraid of getting things wrong and hurting their child. He also knew she wouldn’t. She loved too well. “We can work out the mechanics of it,” he said to the room at large. “Perhaps sound wave fences or another solution akin to them.”
“Invisible but effective.” Galen nodded, his tankard in hand. “I’ll talk to Jason and Dmitri, come up with viable answers.” Eyes as pale as peridot met Raphael’s. “Your babe will be safe, sire. We’ll all work together to ensure it.”
“I never thought otherwise.” Raphael knew his people. “You’ll have a few years regardless.” Angelic infants didn’t begin to fly until around the fifteen-to-eighteen-year mark, the exact age dependent on each child.
Any earlier would be a recipe for disaster.
His heart expanded at the thought of a small child in first flight, their eyes going to Raphael’s in trust that he’d catch them if they fell.
As Nadiel had caught Raphael when he first learned to fly—he didn’t remember those times, had been too small, but his father had told him the stories, as Raphael would tell their child.
He couldn’t wait for every step of this journey with the hunter who leaned her head against him just then, while digging her spoon into a bowl of stew that she’d snuck into the kitchen to fetch.
Yana, as fussy about caring for her people as Montgomery and Sivya, had followed her in only to shoo her out, then brought Elena not just the stew, but thick slices of fresh crusty bread.
More bread and stew, along with a fresh array of snacks, lay on offer for anyone else who was hungry.
Holding his consort against him, Raphael sat and enjoyed being with these members of his family—each and every one of whom would join with the others in protecting that which was most precious to him and Elena.