Archangel's Resurrection (Guild Hunter #15)(71)

“Frankly yes.” Titus folded his muscled arms over the shining gold of his breastplate—into which was embedded a hummingbird formed of amber. Titus wearing his devotion to Sharine, the Hummingbird, in a way that couldn’t be missed.

Alexander had stopped wearing amber a millennium or two into his relationship with Zanaya. It hadn’t been a conscious decision. His ring had shattered during a battle with another archangel, and when Zanaya replaced it, he’d taken to not wearing it where it might become damaged . . . until he hadn’t worn it at all.

I have loved you more than I have ever loved anyone or anything in my entire existence . . . But you still love power more.

The echo of Zanaya’s accusation stung. He hadn’t worried about wearing the amber because he loved her so damn much. The entire world knew that Alexander belonged to Zanaya, would never be truly available to any other. What need was there to announce it?

She’d asked about it once and never brought it up again after he explained his reasoning . . . but she’d also never stopped transferring his amber from one sword hilt to the next. And she only used those swords, carried that amber, when they were together. The original Firelight had long since fallen to battle and time, but whensoever she transferred his amber to a sword hilt, that sword became the new Firelight.

Eons of time, and she had the first piece of amber he’d given her—along with the memory of how he’d done it. In a sword designed for her by Alexander and crafted by a master, then held precious and safe by Alexander until he could give it to her . . . while they stood kissed by sunlight, he and his Zani so startled and overwhelmed by the gift of amber.

I never expected amber in my life.

The symbol mattered to her. How could he have been so blind? So certain he was right? How could he have forgotten the tenderness and vulnerability of that moment where both their hands had trembled? Or the wonder of the instant she’d given him his most extraordinary ring? He knew he was arrogant, but to have it go so far? Have it hurt his Zani? It would’ve been one thing if he was ignorant of her history and what wearing amber meant to her, but he wasn’t.

“Forgive my words, my friend,” Titus said even as Alexander staggered under the weight of his realization, “but it appears you two fought as much as you loved!” He threw up his hands. “Where is the joy in that?”

Struggling to find his feet again as his head spun, Alexander looked at his young friend. “When we loved, my friend,” he said, his voice rough with the emotions that roared through him, “it was for thousands of years. And when we fought, it was for hundreds. It is a thing of magnitudes.”

Titus was silent for a long time before giving a slow nod. “I see your point. I can’t quite comprehend it, but then, by your measure, I’ve only just this second fallen in love. Still . . . I can’t imagine being apart from Sharine.” He stared at Alexander. “How did you spend all that time apart from Zanaya?”

“We’re both as stubborn as the other, and our anger can fuel wars.” It was no boast, just fact; the two of them had the same faults. It was why they loved each other—and why they’d broken so many times over the eons.

Having managed to contain his emotions so they wouldn’t leak out among the Cadre, he clapped Titus on the back. “I wouldn’t worry that the same will happen to you and Lady Sharine, Titus.”

“Oh? Why do you sound so certain?”

“You, my friend, are incapable of holding a grudge against anyone except for the malevolently evil, such as Charisemnon; and Lady Sharine has more wisdom in her smallest finger than either I or Zanaya have ever managed to accumulate.” Dry words that were unfortunately true, he and his Zani were both far too hotheaded.

“You are hard on yourself,” Titus said, then grinned. “One day I promise to hold a grudge against you. For at least the span of a moon. First, you must insult me. Then I will stew in righteous anger.”

Alexander felt his shoulders shake. “The problem is that you find most insults spoken against you hilarious, you malodorous sore on the foot of a dung beetle.”

Throwing back his head, Titus laughed that big booming laugh that had always made Alexander laugh with him. It did so, today, as well, and he walked into the meeting chamber with a smile on his face.

What’s so funny, lover? Zanaya stood on the other side of the old and starkly unmodernized stone chamber deep in the core of the fort. For once, Alexander agreed with a choice of Charisemnon’s. This place was timeless and should remain that way. Built to stay cool in the hottest months of the year, it had no natural light, but Zanaya glowed in the firelight thrown by the torches against the walls.

His Zani, tough and battle hardened . . . but with a softness she permitted him alone to see. And he’d hurt her. Unknowingly so, but that was no excuse. He was an intelligent man, and she’d never hidden her own amber. He’d just been too self-righteous about his decision to accept the evidence of his eyes.

At least he could redeem himself somewhat. He had her amber, too. Not the first piece, for that had turned to ash in a strike of angelfire that had been deadly lightning under his skin as it traveled up his fingers and along his forearm before he halted its progress by literally chopping off his own arm.

Arms grew back.

But there was no coming back from angelfire that managed to reach the heart or brain.

So that piece was forever gone, and he knew Zanaya had never blamed him for it. He had the second piece, the one she’d given him to replace his lost ring. He might be an ass but he loved her. To have discarded that most precious gift? No. Never. He’d gone to Sleep with it, and it lay safe in the chamber from which he’d been so rudely awakened.