Chapter 63
…if you do anything to hurt our son, I will find a way to end you…I’ll be cunning and stealthy in my vengeance, and I’ll find you when you believe yourself safe.
—Lady Sharine to Archangel Aegaeon (A Reckoning in Lumia)
A week after the Cadre meeting, Illium backwinged to a landing beside Aodhan on the roof of the border fort where his consort was currently based. “Any change?”
Aodhan’s jaw was all hard angles. “He’s amassing more ground troops—Eve is countering with the same on our side.
” He pointed out locations on a three-dimensional map that popped up on the flat screen in his hands.
“Vivek managed to slip in behind enemy lines, has confirmed that these four supply stations are all but operational. Two more days and they’ll be at full capacity. ”
Illium hissed out a breath. “This is it, then. He’s going to strike.” In a way it’d be a relief from the tensions that had never quite gone away since Illium’s first day in his new territory.
“Given the extent of his preparation, he’s planning for a long siege,” Aodhan pointed out. “That’s something.”
Arms folded, the sun glinting off his metal bracers, Illium stared out at his father’s lands. “Yeah, the asshole’s learned I’m not easy prey.” They’d had more than one skirmish by now, both of them in the air while their troops stayed stationary per their orders.
Just father against son.
Aegaeon had got in his hits—but so had Illium.
“Our supply lines are secure,” Aodhan said. “Dulcie’s been working on that in the background the entire time. We won’t be caught shorthanded. Zoe’s primed our battle resources—and managed to get a jump on our weapons stockpile, thanks to both her own contacts and Lady Katrina’s.”
Illium wasn’t surprised. His entire senior team was made up of highly intelligent and lethal people who knew how to do their jobs.
Zoe, for one, while she remained a weapons-maker at heart—and still reverted to that in times of peace—had turned into a first-class strategist when it came to the best use of their troops and weapons.
She’d also somehow cracked the code to enter Lady Katrina’s inner circle.
“Should we ask Raphael to head this way?” Aodhan said.
Illium shook his head. “No—that’ll give the asshole an excuse to blame us for starting the war with a show of force. Fuck that. If he’s going to do this, then he wears the responsibility for fucking eternity. The archangel who declared war against his own son.”
His wings glowed, his veins turning gold.