Archangel's War (Guild Hunter #12) - Nalini Singh Page 0,193

miss the energy wings?”

Elena’s eyes were wet when she turned to him. “They were amazing and they took me to the sky . . . but Raphael, I’ll have proper wings again, feathers you can stroke, feathers I can give Zoe and Maggie.” She cried then, in joy rather than sorrow.

Later, they looked out over their ruined city. At least seventy percent of the buildings had been badly damaged or fully destroyed. Even the Tower hadn’t escaped unscathed, but the Legion building hadn’t suffered a scratch.

It hurt Elena’s heart to look at it, but she would keep her promise. She would keep it safe for when the Legion returned. Beings that ancient couldn’t simply cease to exist.

Raphael’s hand closed over hers, warm and strong.

“What happens now, Archangel?”

“We walk into the future.”

“Together.”

“Always.”

Aftermath

Elena took to wearing capes to protect her sensitive stubs. Illium—still so angry underneath his joie de vivre—thought it a grand idea and bought a rhinestone-covered silver one that threatened to turn them all blind. He just laughed and swirled it around like a B-movie villain.

Elena stuck with hunter black.

Capes were suddenly all the rage in their battered city.

The itching made her want to crawl the walls, but there was too much to do. Raphael rubbed in the oil and they carried on. Life carried on. They’d been lucky, so fucking lucky. All of their closest friends and family had made it out alive. In honor of their victory and because it was a name from Nyree’s family, Ransom and Nyree finally settled on a middle name for their son: Viktor.

Hudson Viktor Winterwolf.

Big name for a little dude, but Elena had a feeling the kid would grow into it. As for the other newborn in their world, Riker told them Michaela had named her son Gavriel, after her father. Little Gavriel was safe with Keir, loved and protected, his parentage hidden. So many angels had died in battle that no one questioned it when Keir said he was raising a war orphan.

In other news, Galen and Naasir had returned to the Refuge, while Aodhan was with Suyin as her temporary second.

“I must give him this chance to spread his wings,” Raphael had said.

Every so often, as time passed, a kind of dawn-colored lightning would arc through Elena’s growing wings, far weaker than the Cascade power, but lightning all the same.

No one had any idea what that meant, though Keir had a theory. “You are the only living angel whose heart is formed of archangelic cells. A piece of you is an archangel. And when it ended, the Cascade left behind gifts in all of the archangels who were not already Ancients.”

Elena truly didn’t care as long as her wings kept growing. Illium outpaced her, but she’d expected that. Bluebell might not have ascended at the end of the Cascade, but his power was growing so strong that it frightened her for what it augured for his future.

When it came to her, Lucius told her that her cells were “almost” back to angel-normal. “Except for the odd glowing one. But Raphael has a few, too, so you’re still compatible.”

The meaning of his words didn’t really penetrate until Nisia called them into her office a month later, after Raphael had returned from helping Titus deal with the reborn problem in his massive territory. It wasn’t an issue that would be solved quickly, but all of the Cadre who were up and functional were helping each other out.

“Do you remember what I said about the super-parasite?” the healer asked.

Elena’s hand flew to her abdomen, all thoughts of wings momentarily forgotten. “Don’t even mention that.”

“Super-parasite? What horrors have you been amusing yourself with this time, Nisia?”

Poker-faced, the healer said, “Fetuses, sire.”

“I see.” Her archangel’s lips twitched. “You have such maternal ways.”

“Don’t encourage her,” Elena muttered. “She told me that the child of an archangel would be a super-parasite. But we don’t have to worry about any of that for a loooong time. I’m too young.”

Nisia coughed into her hand. “Yes, about that . . .”

Elena swallowed. Hard. “No more parasite fetus jokes.”

“The chrysalis changed you.” Nisia’s gaze was steady. “You heal faster, are more resilient, with stronger bones. No longer a newborn.” She smiled an evil smile. “I tested compatibility. It’s perfect. You could conceivably fall pregnant to Raphael.”

A strangled eek of sound escaped Elena’s throat. Raphael, the fiend, gave her a sad look. “Are you so terrified of our adorable little parasite?”

“Don’t make me stab you.” Folding her arms across her chest, she