Laughter. “It is a treasure map, of course, chérie.”
A birthmark in the exact same place as that indicated by this woman. “How long ago?” she asked the woman in front of her, a woman who wasn’t that far apart from her in years. “Was Majda your grandmother’s age?”
A nod after Riad translated . . . and Elena knew Majda must’ve been her grandmother. She’d be cautious, investigate everything, but there were too many pieces that fit for it to be otherwise. Majda’s age. Her Moroccan origins. Her unusual coloring.
“What happened to her?”
The response had Riad scowling. The other woman spoke other words, her tone sharp. Rolling his eyes, the teenager said, “She says this is not for my ears.” His tone made it clear what he thought of that. “She will tell it to you and you must ask the English from a grown-up you like.”
“I understand. Go talk to Xander again. I think he’s bored with all the adults at Lumia.” She’d deliberately used the name of the Luminata stronghold and she was watching for his response—so she saw the ugly fear that choked Riad before he turned and ran back to the others.
Shifting her attention to the woman who’d confirmed Majda’s residence here, Elena nodded.
And the woman began to speak.
Thank you, Jessamy, Elena thought, as she memorized the words without understanding them. Elena’s memory had always been good, but it was the angelic Historian who’d taught her memory tricks designed to help her absorb and recall the vast amounts of political and etiquette data she was expected to know as Raphael’s consort. As if she’d gotten a damn download into the brain the instant she fell so hard for her archangel.
“Shokran,” she said afterward.
Smiling openly now, the woman turned to press a kiss to her daughter’s cheek, her tone chiding when she spoke. The little girl laughed and waved her feather with delight. It made Elena think of Zoe; affection in her heart, she hunted out a few more loose feathers.
Unexpectedly, Valerius came to join her, handed her a number of his feathers before leaving in silence. “Here,” Elena said, giving all the feathers to the woman. “For those children.” She indicated the big-eyed kids hiding behind their parents’ legs a few feet away.
Her smile impossibly deeper, the other woman moved to pass out the treasures. The adults stayed silent—at least until Elena’s back was to them. Then they began to whisper so furiously she knew they were grilling the woman who’d spoken to her.
Light shattered high in the sky the next second, so bright that Elena caught it with her peripheral vision.
Guessing what was about to happen, she quick-stepped her way to a relatively clear section near the tree. Aodhan landed two seconds later, with enough room around him that he wasn’t forced into unwanted physical contact. “A large squadron is headed this way. Uniforms are dark gray with red markings.”
Lijuan’s colors.
“Valerius! Xander!” She pointed up.
To their credit, they didn’t question her, just stepped back, opened their wings, and took off. Elena gritted her teeth and made a vertical takeoff, Aodhan right behind her. The others of their party must’ve spotted the four of them, because they rose into the air not long afterward, Magnus heading out on his stallion beneath them.
It didn’t take long for everyone to figure out why they were airborne.
Lijuan’s squadron was a growing smudge on the horizon.
Elena, I am on my way. Raphael’s voice, the sea dark and stormy.
I’m very glad to hear that, Archangel. Because if that squadron was hiding Lijuan in its midst, they were all going to be in bad, bad trouble.
* * *
Raphael had broken up the meeting the instant he got Aodhan’s message. For once, no one argued, the entire Cadre lifting off in a rush of violent power that had the Luminata staring up at them.
Raphael didn’t bother to tell those of the sect what was going on—if Lijuan was coming this way, everyone would know soon enough. He flew at archangelic speed, spotted Elena within minutes. She and Aodhan were in the middle of the group heading toward Lumia, Xander and Valerius leading. Get behind us.
Raphael—
I know. That she’d never let him go into war against Lijuan alone. I need you safe until I know if it’s Lijuan we’re facing. And the Archangel of Death isn’t the only threat in the air. It’d be easy for one of the other archangels to “accidentally” send Elena tumbling from the sky.
Shit, yeah, I get it. She and Aodhan dropped in preparation for passing under the Cadre.
Xander and Valerius dropped a second later, with the others following like dominoes. The two parties passed each other a minute later, going in opposite directions. But Raphael knew Elena and Aodhan would be turning to stay on the Cadre’s tail. Not only because they were stubborn and loyal, but because of a truth no one else in the Cadre could ever know: that Raphael’s power to hurt Lijuan was rooted in how Elena had made him “a little bit mortal.”
He carried a piece of his hunter in his blood. And while the wildfire was too powerful to truly live in Elena, touches of it burned through her blood nonetheless, for it was a creation of life and his hunter burned so very bright. Elena, Aodhan, tell me if the members of the Cadre behind me make any unexpected movements.
Got it.
Sire.
The Luminata’s protective squadron had risen into the air ahead of them, dropped so suddenly Raphael knew one of the other archangels had ordered them down. The leader of that squadron had a brain that he’d obeyed so quickly and efficiently; he’d taken his squadron down but kept it in battle-ready formation on a low flight path to the left of the Cadre.