Page 92 of Archangel’s Lineage

“Oh, that boy blushed bright pink when several of the nurses smiled and waved at him. A few even forgot they got men waiting on them at home.”

No one had dared ask for his number, but Elena didn’t think the distance would last should Izzy become a repeat visitor—poor Izzy despaired of it, but he just didn’t give off a scary vibe.

“It’ll come,” Dmitri had said to him one time, his hand gripping Izak’s shoulder. “I wasn’t the least bit scary as an infant, either.”

“I am not an infant.” Izzy had scowled.

“Clearly not. I must be mistaken to remember you in diapers.”

Dmitri was an asshole, but he could be fucking hilarious. Elena’d had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop from bursting out in laughter at the appalled look on Izak’s face. “You do not remember me in diapers!”

“Oh, no? Ask your father sometime who babysat you when they had to fly from the Refuge for two weeks for an emergency family matter.”

“Well, it can’t have been you!” Izak had protested. “You were Raphael’s second back then, too! Seconds don’t have time to babysit!”

Dmitri had left him with nothing but an enigmatic smile.

The memory should’ve made her smile today, but her mind kept going around in circles. Especially after Vivek forwarded her a news update. The calm in the wider world had broken—Caliane’s territory had just been hit by a massive quake, as had Alexander’s, with an uninhabited section of Suyin’s completely devastated.

Time was running out.

But where else was there left to search for Raphael’s part of the Compass? Together, the two of them had gone through every level of the Tower, subterranean and surface. They’d also searched their home from top to bottom, because though it was new, they’d outfitted it with items from storage—including from Montgomery’s hoard of precious things.

The butler had been delighted to have an entire home in which to showcase his treasures. Elena kept finding new artworks and gems every other week—but he wasn’t filling the house. No, he loved rotating items so each got its time in the sun, before he returned it to his Aladdin’s cave of a warehouse until its turn came again.

He hadn’t minded at all when they’d asked to search the warehouse for a special item, though he hadn’t understood when they’d told him he couldn’t assist them by leading them to it—because Montgomery knew every piece in his hoard. Their search had been fruitless. While Montgomery possessed many unique and lovely items, he had nothing even close to the strange bladelike object Raphael had described seeing in Alexander’s hand.

Raphael had even flown to Jason and Mahiya’s home to check if it might’ve ended up in the safekeeping of his spymaster—for surely the power that allowed the objects to home in on an archangel would also understand that every member of his Seven could be trusted with the item.

“There’s nowhere left,” she muttered under her breath.

“Left for what?” her father murmured, lifting his eyelashes.

“An old relic,” she said, helping him sit up and only then realizing that she’d been sitting there wracking her brain for over twenty minutes. “We’re having trouble finding it.”

Jeffrey drank from the bottle of juice Maynard must’ve brought for him; it still had condensation on the sides. “Have you tried the garden building?”

“The garden—oh, you mean the Legion’s home?”

“Yes. They liked to collect things. I saw one of them in Central Park once. The being had found what looked like a broken metal bracelet, appeared fascinated with it.”

Elena sat back, her heart a staccato beat.

What if it wasn’t about an old place, but old beings?

She jolted to her feet. “Sorry, Dad. I have to go now. I’ll come back later.”

Jeffrey’s smile was faint. “You’re welcome for the idea.”

Grinning past her nervous excitement, she shot back a “Thank you!” as she made her way out of the hospital. Archangel?

His mental voice was breathless when he responded. A moment, hbeebti. Dmitri is in a bad mood.

She withdrew; she’d seen those two spar and they treated it like a blood sport. Of course Dmitri could never beat Raphael if Raphael used his archangelic powers, but he never did in these sessions. That was the whole point. It put them on equal footing. And equally deadly to each other.

She was close to the Legion building when he got back to her.

We have come to a détente, Guild Hunter.

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