Archangel's Storm

crossbow in hand, the bolt notched and in position to fire.
    He almost smiled. He knew the dangerous whip of anger in the tawny brightness was for him, for the way he’d left her, but it changed into shock as her gaze alighted on Nivriti.
    *  *  *
    T he dull thud of the crossbow hitting the ground snapped Mahiya out of her stunned motionlessness. Bending reflexively, she picked it up without ever taking her eyes from the woman who walked toward her, dressed in what appeared to be fighting leathers of black, her wings the template from which Mahiya’s had been cast.
    “Daughter.” A whisper-soft word, the woman’s fingers alighting on her cheek as her expression overflowed with a depth of emotion that ripped at Mahiya’s heart, her soul. “Forever beloved of my heart.”
    This time, Mahiya didn’t worry about the crossbow when it dropped. Tears streaking down her face, she went into her mother’s arms and let those arms hold her safe. It didn’t matter at that moment that Nivriti was a monster, one who had torn out a man’s internal organs and brutalized a woman for no reason but that it would hurt her twin. Nothing mattered but that for the first time in her life, she was being held with love.
     

40
    N ivriti murmured to her, her voice a lilting melody. “She thought to torment me by telling me of how you suffered, but the affirmation my precious child lived was the greatest gift she could’ve given me.”
    Cupping Mahiya’s face as she drew back, Nivriti pressed her lips to Mahiya’s forehead. “I fought to stay alive and to stay sane, even as my wings rotted and my memories threatened to fragment, because of you. I
never forgot you
.”
    “Neither did I,” Mahiya whispered, for no matter what she’d told herself over the centuries about her mother, whether good or bad, the one thing she had not done was forget. “You don’t have to go to war with Neha.”
    Her mother’s expression changed, all softness erased. “Yes, I do. Or she will never allow me peace—my dearest sister needs to see I have grown fangs.” A smile Mahiya couldn’t read. “It is strange what grows in the dark underground, even as other things rot.” With that enigmatic statement, she snapped her head toward Jason. “I charged you to get her out of here.”
    Jason stood unmoved, a dark sentinel. “I serve neither you nor Neha.”
    Nivriti’s response at that plainly worded statement of loyalty was not anger, but a laugh of pure delight. “I see why you are drawn to him,” she said to Mahiya. “But remember, he is only a man and not to be trusted.” Her eyes glittered hard as diamonds as she spread her wings. “I shall see you soon, daughter.”
    Mahiya stared up at the sky as her mother rose with flawless grace, her body showing no sign of her long captivity. “My mother has had years of freedom,” she said at last. “Her wings would’ve taken at least a year to regenerate.”
    “Perhaps.” Jason’s tone held an unexpected note.
    “What have you seen that I have not?” Blinded by emotion as she was, she knew she couldn’t trust her own judgment. But Jason’s? Always.
    “Nivriti is too confident for an angel about to go into battle against one of the Cadre.” He looked out over the fort, tracking Nivriti’s army. “And she flies with too much strength and skill for someone who suffered centuries of imprisonment below the earth.”
    “How would the ones who saved her,” Mahiya said slowly, “even have known where she was?” She didn’t bother to keep her voice low—the noise at Guardian was overwhelming as troops filled the air.
    “Not all loyalties are what they seem.” Loose strands of Jason’s hair blew back softly from his face in the cool night wind. “Were Nivriti smart, she would’ve seeded at least one of her people in Neha’s inner court when that court first formed.”
    And even archangels, Mahiya thought, touching her fingers to his, could make mistakes of trust.
    Jason’s hand closed over hers. “Look.”
    Following his gaze, she saw an angel rise to hover directly above Archangel Fort. From the glow of lethal power that surrounded her form, it could only be Neha. Mahiya twisted her head to the right, hoping that her mother was protected in the mass of fighters, but no, she hovered at the forefront of her troops.
    Neha began to fly toward Nivriti as she flew toward Neha, Neha’s troops amassing above the fort. Those troops were an insult, a bare squadron. As the twins