His wings were white where they grew out of his back but by the time his feathers reached his primaries, they were a delicate deep pink. Before that came myriad watercolor shades, Qin’s wings a “soft focus photograph” according to Elena. By contrast, his cheekbones were razors, creating hollows in his cheeks, but he was not a hard archangel. His face held a sorrowful softness, especially the eyes that were always on Cassandra.

“Eli will recover, as will Caliane and Neha,” Raphael said. “If you will stay, Lady Cassandra, we will have a full Cadre of Ten until we know whether Astaad or Michaela will survive and rise again.” Michaela should’ve been facing the same recovery time as Elijah, but whether it was because she’d given birth so recently or because of where Lijuan had injured her, she’d shown no signs of even minor healing as yet, while Elijah’s body had begun to knit itself back together.

As for Astaad and Zanaya, no one had any idea of the recovery process—or if recovery was even possible—for those archangels from whom Lijuan had fed; that no ordinary angel had survived was a bad sign, but archangels were archangels because they had magnitudes more power. The worst possibility was that Astaad and Zanaya’s power meant they wouldn’t die . . . but wouldn’t wake either, caught forever in a horrific limbo.

By that same token, was it possible Antonicus wasn’t dead and would lie in his half-decayed state for eternity?

Shaking off that ugly prospect because it did no good to dance in the unknown, he caught Cassandra’s gaze. “Will you stay?”

73

Cassandra, whose eyes were a haunting seafoam green melded with indigo and blue when she wasn’t clawing them out, smiled sadly at him. “The knot of chaos has untangled. I see clear paths again.” A tear rolled down her face. “I will be a mad archangel should I stay.”

Moving forward, she touched her hands to Elena’s cheeks. “Such glory you are, prophecy of mine. I will wake again when you next change the world.”

A kiss pressed to Elena’s cheek before Cassandra came to Raphael. “Child of flames, how strong you have become. And yet . . .” She pressed a hand to his heart. “Your heart is a little mortal.” She smiled, as if that pleased her, but the smile held a terrible sadness. “It is time for me to Sleep. Do not disturb me, children, for at least a thousand years. Perhaps then, I will be ready.”

She turned to walk to Qin, wiped the tears that ran down his cheeks. “My Qin.”

Raphael and the others all looked away as she laid her head down on the silent archangel’s chest and he put his arms around her. Beside Raphael, his hunter’s eyes shone wet.

Cassandra’s skirts stirred the air and when they looked up, she was no longer in Qin’s arms. “I will take with me the broken ones,” she said. “They cannot find a safe place to Sleep. I will find it for them.”

“Will they wake?” Alexander asked, grooves marking the sides of his mouth. “Zanaya, Michaela, and Astaad?”

Cassandra’s lilac hair blew back in the breeze coming through the balcony doors. “This, I do not know,” she said. “Some futures are not yet written.”

Raphael met her haunted eyes, wondered if they would be bloody holes when he next saw her. “I will ask my people to prepare to escort Michaela, Zanaya, and Astaad.” He sent the instruction even as he spoke.

Not long afterward, they watched Cassandra walk to the edge of the balcony. Her white owls took off in a symphony of silence. A single look back, the brush of an old, old mind, then Cassandra followed. Behind her came Jason, with Astaad in his arms, Aodhan, with Michaela, and Andreas, with Zanaya. An honor guard flew behind them.

Alexander ran to the balcony edge without warning, wings of silver spread for flight. He took Zanaya from Andreas before they’d reached the city limits. The squadron commander dropped out to return to his other duties.

I need to take her to her resting place, Alexander said to Raphael, but do not consider me gone from the table.

I will ensure your voice is heard.

“Nine then,” Raphael said afterward. “Three of whom are incapacitated.” With Eli, it might be for months, while Caliane would rise again within days or weeks, depending on how much damage she’d taken. Neha would be up even sooner.

“I do not know who I am.” Favashi held up her hands and on her skin played the slow, sinuous glow of lava. “I do not know what I have become.”

“You’re an archangel,” Aegaeon said flatly. “You do not get to rest while the world burns.”

Raphael didn’t agree with how the message had been delivered, but Aegaeon was right. The Cadre needed Favashi to step up.

Her face pulled taut over bones that were too prominent, but she inclined her head. “I will not go back to China.”

“I will visit China,” Raphael said. “No other of the Cadre will be expected to go there until Elena and I confirm it is uninfected.”

Curt nods all around.

“I will hold my territory, and Eli will hold his,” Raphael continued. “I will maintain a watch over Eli’s territory in the interim, so that bloodlust does not rise among the vampires.”

No one argued with that, either. They had bigger problems.

“I have just asked Alexander and he will continue to hold his, and he is willing to assist whoever takes over Michaela’s until her return. There is also Astaad’s territory. Neha’s and Caliane’s generals will manage theirs for the short duration the two will be in anshara, though Neha’s people will need our assistance to wipe out the reborn scourge.”

“I will take Michaela’s lands,” Aegaeon said. “I do not wish to be awake, but to leave the world with only eight archangels at this time is unacceptable—and I am honorable enough not to steal Astaad’s lands when he has fallen in battle.”

Raphael looked to Qin, this Ancient who had not said a word to any of them since his arrival. “Will you accept a watch over Astaad’s lands?”

Qin’s face twisted. He looked out to where Cassandra had disappeared. “I do not wish to live in a world without her,” he said in a mellifluous voice that was like music. “But this is a duty of archangels. I will stay only until another rises to take my place.”

Raphael inclined his head. “Titus, Favashi, can you work together in Africa?”

“I would be honored to work with an archangel who cares for her people,” Titus said with a nod aimed at Favashi. “Africa is a large land and that boil on humanity left things a putrid mess. Your city is in ruins, Raphael, but you are luckier than I.”

“I will assist you and anyone else who needs it.” They had come to his aid at the critical time, and he would never forget that. “Favashi?”

Favashi, her eyes a flow of lava, smiled. “Yes, I would be pleased to have Titus for a neighbor.” Then she collapsed, her bones liquid.

Cassandra’s voice filled their minds even as Elena caught the former Archangel of China. I am sorry, children. She was too weak to rise but this was her battle and her time. She must return to her Sleep.

Raphael could see Favashi’s bones through skin gone translucent, fire under her skin. The others saw the same. Aegaeon’s face grew tight but even he knew there was no fighting this. Scooping her up in his arms, Raphael called Andreas and told him to head in the same direction as Cassandra and the others. “Cassandra is waiting for you.”

“She’s too light,” was all the warrior angel said before he took off with Favashi.

“Eight in the Cadre?” Aegaeon growled. “At this time? Five until the three who are in healing sleep return? The vampires will run amok across the lands.”

Raphael knew that was a valid concern. “We don’t have to worry about China,” he told them. “Most of the vampiric population is dead.” Very few of Lijuan’s ground troops had survived the war. “We’ll have to roster archangelic flights over India and Japan. Titus, you’ll have to handle Africa on your own for now, but we will assist as required.”

“I will need it,” Titus said bluntly. “It is a large land and it is riddled with reborn.”

“It is decided,” Raphael said two minutes later, after receiving Alexander’s agreement to their decisions. “The Cadre has spoken.”

The sky broke with a sparkling black rain only a quarter of an hour later. It washed away the smell of death, made destroyed buildings beautiful for long moments and collected in glittering puddles on city streets.

And it destroyed one wall of the Tower infirmary as an injured Suyin smashed through it to rise into the sky. Raphael caught her bewildered eyes as she rose upward but there was nothing he could do.

Suyin, too gentle, too untried, was ascending.

Energy danced over her skin, in the gleaming ice of her hair, flowed into her body.

“The Cadre will eat her alive.”

“Not just yet, Guild Hunter. The world is in too much chaos. She will have time.”

Ascension was unpredictable. It could take hours or days. Suyin landed in front of the rest of the Cadre that night. Her rain yet fell across the world.

“You have Northern Africa,” Aegaeon said with no moment for Suyin to breathe in her new reality.

But Suyin showed her spine. “No. I will take China.” Unflinching determination in her eyes. “My bloodline broke it. My bloodline will heal it. I will not discuss this.”

“It seems a fitting choice,” Titus said. “I have no disagreement with it.”

No one did, though Raphael warned Suyin about the possibility of lingering poison. Her lips twisted. “If poison remains, it will not harm me. I am her blood.”

* * *

• • •

Titus and Qin left soon afterward, flying off into Suyin’s rain. Alexander had already stated that he’d depart straight from Cassandra’s lava sinkhole. Aegaeon turned to Raphael and Elena when only he and Suyin were left. “I wish for my son to come with me. I believe he is in your service.”