Chapter 43
I would bite him if I had sharp teeth.
—Small Sparkles to Naasir, on the Problem of Aegaeon (Once, before Blue and Adi became Archangel and Second)
Illium stood on a turret of his main border fort and took in the activity on both sides of the dividing line that had no wall, no barrier. There was no point—in an archangelic war, a single strike could destroy any such border.
That didn’t mean the border wasn’t there.
“They’re staying on their side,” Xander told him, his dark brown hair cut military short and his wings held with precision. “No increase in the numbers stationed at the border at any one time—Aegaeon’s generals just refresh their troops every so often.”
Xander had been with Illium since his ascension. Illium knew that, back at the start, Alexander had thought his grandson would eventually return to his court. However, these days, the Ancient seemed proud that his grandson had made his own way, was now a first general in his own right.
“Vivek hasn’t picked up any dangerous signs, either,” Illium told the other man. “Seems like the news of the upcoming births has mellowed my father for the time being.”
They both knew it couldn’t last.
How could it when this simmering tension was fueled by arrogance and bloated entitlement on one side and cold, hard anger on the other?