Guild Hunter 03 - Archangel's Consort

said, speaking to herself as well as to him, “and we’re stronger than we were then.”
    Perhaps. He turned to Aodhan before she could question him on that ambivalent assessment. “Speak to Dmitri. Organize the transport. We’ll fly out with the first break in the storm.”
    Waiting only until Aodhan had left the library, Elena closed the distance between them. “Raphael,” she said, stomach twisted into painful knots, “your strength ... are you still more susceptible to injury, less quick to recover?”
    “Yes.”
    Guilt clamped steel claws around her. It was her. Somehow, she’d done this to him. “How bad is it?”
    “My ability to heal others continues to grow, Guild Hunter. It is not a bad trade.”
    Not in the Cadre. Not if he was going to survive. “Tell me.”
    A small curve to his lips, an immortal’s dangerous amusement. “It matters little, Elena. Even were I at the peak of my strength, my mother would be a lethal adversary. She may well be a hundred times more powerful than Lijuan.”
    Frigid cold in her veins. “I—”
    “Stay here, Elena. This is no hunt for an immortal barely-Made.”
    She knew that. But she also knew something else. “Logic doesn’t have anything to do with this, Archangel. To ask me to sit in safety while you walk into a nightmare. No.” A shake of her head. “I can’t do it. It’s not the way I’m built.”
    “If I leave you behind?”
    “You know the answer.” She would simply follow.
    Brushing back her hair with one hand, he curved his lips in the faintest of smiles. “Are you sure you do not wish to be more like Hannah?”
    “If you ask nicely, I might be up for learning some calligraphy.” But the laughter faded all too soon. “Will the others in the Cadre help you against her?”
    “Elijah and Favashi, yes, but as to the others—uncertain. Astaad’s behavior has remained erratic, Michaela is no longer answering anyone, and I’ve just had word that Titus and Charisemnon are both showing violent outbursts of temper. Favashi says Neha is stable, but the Queen of Poisons has the ability to strike without warning.” His next words were in her mind. My mother is the monster that scares other monsters.

29
     
    The storm continued to be a wild squall the next morn ing but was forecast to pass within two hours. “I need to go speak to Evelyn,” Elena said as they landed on the Tower roof, the rain driving their clothing into their skin. Raphael could’ve protected them using his abilities, but she’d argued for him to conserve as much of his strength as possible for the battle that might well await.
    “Your sister lives at the family home,” he said, raising his wings to shelter her from the needlelike stabs of rain. “It is inevitable you’ll meet your father.”
    “I know,” she said, pitching her voice so it would carry above the pounding sound of the water hitting the metal and concrete of Manhattan.
    “You will not go alone.”
    “I need to.” Her father would try to crush and demoralize her, and she didn’t want her archangel to see her hurt and broken.
    Raphael caught the pain in his consort’s eyes before she could hide it, felt his anger turn into an unsheathed blade. “No.”
    Shaking her head, Elena pressed her hand against his chest. “You’ll hurt him when he hurts me,” she said with blunt honesty, blinking the rain from her lashes. “You won’t be able to stop yourself. And no matter everything else, he’s still my father.”
    Raphael closed his hand around the side of her head, tangling his fingers in the wet silk of her hair. “He doesn’t deserve your protection.” Jeffrey deserved nothing from his oldest living daughter but her contempt.
    “Maybe not.” Elena acknowledged, leaning into his touch. “But he’s also Beth, Evelyn, and Amethyst’s father—and they seem to love him.”
    “You ask the impossible.”
    “No, I ask for what I need.” She held her ground where even other angels would’ve backed down. “What I need , Archangel.”
    He had allowed her freedom beyond anything he might’ve imagined, but this he would not do. “I will come with you.” He gripped her chin when she would’ve argued. “I will not land. That is the only concession I’m willing to make.”
    She folded her arms, her eyes silver in the storm-light. “It’s not much of a concession, but we don’t have time to argue.”
    He spoke into her mind as they flew out into the tempest of wind and rain once more. Hear