Archangel's Prophecy - Nalini Singh

PRAISE FOR THE GUILD HUNTER NOVELS OF NALINI SINGH

“Paranormal romance doesn’t get better than this.”

—Love Vampires

“Intense, vivid, and sexually charged.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[A] remarkable urban fantasy series.”

—RT Book Reviews (Top Pick)

“World-building that blew my socks off.”

—Meljean Brook, New York Times bestselling author

“[A] heart-pounding, action-packed story line of love and loss; death and destruction; family and friends; intrigue and suspense.”

—The Reading Cafe

“It’s dark and edgy, and so atmospheric.”

—Book Chick City

“Mesmerizing . . . Fascinating world-building.”

—Bitten by Books

“The Guild Hunter series is not set in a peaceful world and Singh doesn’t pull any punches.”

—The Book Pushers

“Completely awe-inspiring.”

—Fallen Angel Reviews

“Stunning, original, beautiful, intriguing, and mesmerizing.”

—Errant Dreams Reviews

“[Ms. Singh] has a knack for writing characters that are truly believable, and admirably strong and resilient.”

—Dark Faerie Tales

“One of the most immersive and consistently creative works in urban fantasy.”

—Grave Tells

“[A] fabulous addition to the paranormal world.”

—Fresh Fiction

“[A] powerful, riveting novel. I found myself wholly absorbed.”

—Dear Author

“Dark, lush urban fantasy, steeped in violence and power.”

—HeroesandHeartbreakers

Berkley titles by Nalini Singh

Psy-Changeling Series

SLAVE TO SENSATION

VISIONS OF HEAT

CARESSED BY ICE

MINE TO POSSESS

HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE

BRANDED BY FIRE

BLAZE OF MEMORY BONDS OF JUSTICE

PLAY OF PASSION

KISS OF SNOW

TANGLE OF NEED

HEART OF OBSIDIAN

SHIELD OF WINTER

SHARDS OF HOPE

ALLEGIANCE OF HONOR

Psy-Changeling Trinity Series

SILVER SILENCE

OCEAN LIGHT

Guild Hunter Series

ANGELS’ BLOOD

ARCHANGEL’S KISS

ARCHANGEL’S CONSORT

ARCHANGEL’S BLADE

ARCHANGEL’S STORM

ARCHANGEL’S LEGION

ARCHANGEL’S SHADOWS

ARCHANGEL’S ENIGMA

ARCHANGEL’S HEART

ARCHANGEL’S VIPER

ARCHANGEL’S PROPHECY

Anthologies

AN ENCHANTED SEASON

(with Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy, and Jean Johnson)

THE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS CAT

(with Lora Leigh, Erin McCarthy, and Linda Winstead Jones)

MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS

(with Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook)

BURNING UP

(with Angela Knight, Virginia Kantra, and Meljean Brook)

ANGELS OF DARKNESS

(with Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Sharon Shinn)

ANGELS’ FLIGHT

WILD INVITATION NIGHT SHIFT

(with Ilona Andrews, Lisa Shearin, and Milla Vane)

WILD EMBRACE

Specials

ANGELS’ PAWN

ANGELS’ DANCE

TEXTURE OF INTIMACY

DECLARATION OF COURTSHIP

WHISPER OF SIN

SECRETS AT MIDNIGHT

A JOVE BOOK

Published by Berkley

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

© 2018 by Nalini Singh

Excerpt from Silver Silence © 2017 by Nalini Singh

Penguin Random House supports . fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

A JOVE BOOK and BERKLEY are registered trademarks and the B colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

Ebook : 9780451491657

First Edition: November 2018

Cover art by Tony Mauro

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Version_1

For Ashwini, who is one tough beta reader.

And who puts up with late-night calls from a certain writer who keeps vampire hours and wants to talk out the stories in her brain.

Also, who sat next to me on a plane and let me interrupt her every five minutes saying, “Read this and give me your opinion,” while I was working out a particularly tough scene.

Thanks for helping to make this book so awesome.

Contents

Praise for the Guild Hunter Novels of Nalini Singh

Berkley titles by Nalini Singh

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

The Legion

Chapter 47

The Legion

Chapter 48

Excerpt from Silver Silence

About the Author

A time of death

A time of life

The drinker of blood lost

The agony of rebirth

The last feather to fall

Such eyes of wild fire, Such broken dreams

One must die for one to live

And the birds, ah, the birds always know

—Archangel Cassandra, Ancient among Ancients, lost to an eons-long Sleep

1

Elena noticed the sparrows with the periphery of her mind.

The small birds were dipping and dancing beyond the Tower windows, their wings nearly brushing the glass. For a second, she felt a chill on the back of her neck, but then the sparrows flew off to do sparrow business and she realized she was being paranoid. Just because the city’s birds had gone all creepy and otherworldly once didn’t mean every sparrow was a harbinger.

Sometimes a bird was just a bird.

She returned to her Scrabble death match with Vivek.

Ten minutes later, the two of them were taking an insane amount of pleasure in arguing over a word when Sara called to ask her to track a young