Archangel's War (Guild Hunter #12) - Nalini Singh Page 0,87

blue hoodie—both designed with wing slits. The hoodie boasted a sparkly silver unicorn on the left breast, while on the back were printed the words: Wait, I have to park my unicorn.

“I miss the time when unicorns roamed the earth.”

“Very funny, Archangel.” She knew that glint in his eye by now. “Beth got this for me after Maggie picked it out.”

“Talking of gifts.” Wearing only a pair of faded sweatpants that hung precariously on his hips, Raphael plucked out a small box from inside their private weapons locker.

Elena’s breath caught. Slipping a hand under her pillow, she withdrew her own small box. “I was going to spring it on you in bed.”

Raphael’s wings began to glow.

Opening his box, he held it out. The last time, it had been small amber hoops appropriate for a working hunter. This time, it was studs: one an amber crossbow bolt with a heart of white fire, the other a tiny crossbow that must’ve taken an artisan days to craft. She held her breath as he inserted first one, then the other through ears she’d had pierced a couple of weeks ago.

Neither of them spoke as she opened her own box. A ring because Raphael wasn’t much for other forms of jewelry. A heavy titanium band scored with a pattern that echoed the gunshot scar on his wing, a roughly square chunk of amber in the center. An explosion of white fire had been caught in the amber, the edges pale gold.

The one thing that wasn’t new was the word inscribed on the inside: Knhebek.

Raphael held out his hand and she slipped it on.

A sigh whispered out of her. She hadn’t known how much she missed this small sign of their entanglement until now. “I saved the rest of the amber.”

“For the next time we blow up ours?”

“The rate we’re going . . .” That was when she caught a glow on the horizon out of the corner of her eye. “Don’t look now but I think something’s happening.”

Of course, they both headed outside. Elena hugged her arms around herself as they stepped out into the cold. Her hoodie wasn’t meant for outdoor temperatures. Raphael, bare chested, tugged her against that chest and the two of them stood in the winter cold night while an eerie light came to life over the water, the colors of it blood red.

“Illium told me that at least the sea wasn’t turning blood red.”

“Now he’s jinxed us.” She watched transfixed as the light came closer and closer. “Shall we—”

“No, your Bluebell has already taken a squadron out for the initial reconnaissance.”

Raphael kept thinking he should know about this light, a faint whisper of memory at the back of his mind.

Sire, Illium said. The water around the light is clear and I just saw a bird fly into it and return with no apparent ill effects. The light isn’t coming from the sky but rising from the ocean.

Continue to watch. Raphael trusted nothing about the Cascade. Do not enter it.

Elena’s owls are dancing around in the colors of it.

“Guild Hunter, you will have to unpark your unicorn. It appears this is for you.” He told her of the owls.

“Cassandra?” A quiet tension in her voice. “Let’s go find out.”

It took them only a short time to get into gear more suitable for a night flight and head out. Elena took only minimal weapons—which for her meant her crossbow, the bolts, and enough throwing blades to set up a knife shop.

When Raphael saw how many other curious angels were heading toward the luminescence, he ordered everyone but the squadron to fall back.

Obedience was immediate.

Wow.

Raphael had to agree with Elena’s awed whisper. He’d been alive an eon longer than her and he’d never seen such a sight. What had seemed blood red from the Tower proved to be a complex blend of colors, true red only at the very top edge. Even there, it wasn’t blood red but a deep pink red.

That shade faded into a softer pink; the colors that rippled below it were blues and greens and golds and so many other hues that he didn’t have names for all of them. It is like an aurora on the ocean. A lovely vision thrown up from the depths.

How high does it go?

Raphael flew up, and up. As high as the Tower. Arrowing back down to hover beside Elena, he watched the owls dance over and through the light and, despite his suspicions of the Cascade, could find nothing threatening in