Archangel's Enigma (Guild Hunter)(117)

“Alexander is an Ancient.” Charisemnon poured himself a drink from an opaque bottle. “If we can gain his favor, Lijuan becomes less important.”

Andromeda didn’t fool herself that her grandfather was taking her into his confidence. “Of course, sire.”

Charisemnon’s lips flattened after he put down the glass, his eyes chips of ice. “Lijuan should never have taken a child of my bloodline, and she should’ve informed me of her plans for Alexander.”

Ah. Andromeda knew she meant nothing to Charisemnon as a person, but as a symbol of his rule, yes. Lijuan had crossed a line there. But even that, she suspected, wouldn’t have been enough without the latter transgression.

Tightening the robe of his belt, Charisemnon sneered. “I would have been able to ensure the success of the mission. She was a fool to disregard me.”

“Yes, sire.” Andromeda waited to see if there was anything further, but Charisemnon dismissed her after stating that Alexander would be at her parents’ home the next day and she was to fly there today in readiness.

Fighting not to throw up in relief at the temporary stay of torture, Andromeda left at once, turning down an offer of an escort from the Master of the Guard. She was a warrior scholar and the mate of a wild chimera; she could get herself from one side of the territory to the other without guards.

Taking off, she stayed below the white cotton-candy clouds, low enough that she could see the lands over which she flew. It took about thirty minutes to get out of the city at the center of which stood Charisemnon’s sprawling stronghold, and into the wilderness of this awe-inspiring territory. A herd of antelope ran below her for at least a mile, as if racing her shadow, and she saw elephants walking with regal pomp, hippos swimming in the rivers, groups of baboons chattering and fighting below the widely spaced trees.

Her heart swelled.

It seemed so unjust that all this bounty lay in Charisemnon’s disease-causing hands. If life were fair, he would have a land as barren as his soul, and Lijuan’s black rain wouldn’t manifest with the beauty of black diamonds glimmering with water.

Sweeping along an updraft, she forced her mind off that dark path, instead filling her thoughts with Naasir’s love for her homeland. He’d told her he snuck in as often as he could, just to run with the animals. She loved that, loved that someone so courageous and honorable and pure found pleasure in this land. He should be the one in charge of this territory—though he probably wouldn’t want the job.

She stopped for a while on the shore of a small lake that rippled with sunlight, loathe to spend any more time in her parents’ home than necessary. It was better than Charisemnon’s court, but better was a matter of degrees. Her sympathy for Lailah and Cato’s childhood didn’t extend to the vileness they meted out.

Night had fallen by the time she finally arrived, and though she tried to sleep, she spent the night on the roof, staring up at the stars. “Naasir,” she whispered, her faith in his love the foundation of her new existence. “I miss you, my heart.”

He didn’t appear out of the savanna this time, didn’t tumble her to the earth.

There was only the night and the silence.


*



Early the next morning, she flew out to perch on a hill and watched the skies turn from whispering gray to light-shattered dawn, then to a dusty, soft blue seen nowhere else on this earth. If she could, she’d meet Alexander out here. But when the archangel appeared in the sky ninety minutes later, his wings glinting in the sunlight in a way that brought Naasir vividly to mind and choked her throat with longing, he dipped his wings to show he saw her, but carried on to her parents’ stronghold.

Andromeda forced herself to do the same.

Unlike Andromeda’s simple sea-green tunic and tapered black pants, Lailah and Cato had come out dressed in formal clothing. Andromeda made the introductions, hoping she was following the correct protocols. She’d never had reason to learn how to introduce an Ancient to other powerful angels, but since no one censured her, she must’ve muddled through it.

“Please,” her mother said, leading Alexander into the formal receiving area, elegant and hung with priceless artworks.

It took Andromeda a few minutes to realize both Lailah and Cato were intimidated by Alexander.

“Your daughter put her life on the line to save mine,” Alexander was saying, his body clad in the clothes of a warrior, the colors charcoal gray and stark black. “I’m not a man who forgets such things.”

“She has always been strong, always had a will more formidable than many an adult.”

Astonished and startled at the pride she heard in her mother’s tone, Andromeda stared at her, but Lailah had already returned her attention to Alexander. Her face was fine boned in profile, her smooth skin of dark honey flawless, and her tightly curled hair worn in a graceful updo.

Beside Lailah, Cato appeared ghostly pale, his skin having never held the warmth of the sun and his eyes a washed-out blue that were nonetheless haunting in their beauty. Fine blond hair fell to his shoulders, his face one that many an artist had sketched. They always drew him as an innocent.

“Yes,” Alexander said into the small quiet that had fallen. “Your child is strong for one of her age and has enough courage to shoot a crossbow at one archangel to save another.” A faint smile. “It is for that reason I would like her in my new court.”