Archangel's Storm (Guild Hunter 5)

His lips twisted in a reflection of the putrid inner self she hadn’t seen until it was too late. “She is grieving.”

Ah. “Is that why you’re here? To offer solace?”

“It is a friend’s prerogative.”

“A friend who wishes to take Eris’s place.”

“I am stronger than he ever was.” Arrogance backed by fact; Arav was one of Neha’s generals. “When I am consort,” he said, gripping her jaw between thumb and forefinger before she could flinch away, “I will ask Neha to give you to me as my special pet.”

Fool. Mahiya twisted out of his grip, heedless of whether it might attract Neha’s attention. Because if there was one thing the archangel had never done, it was to overlook the mistreatment of women in her court. Any man found to have forced, beaten, or coerced a woman was summarily punished by having parts of his body amputated—the worse the assault, the more he lost, until some didn’t survive to regenerate.

It did not matter if the woman was in favor or not, rich or poor, peasant or courtier. The rule was absolute and part of what made Neha such a beloved queen. But that Neha, Mahiya thought suddenly, a prickling of cold along her spine, might not be the one who ruled now . . . at least not where Mahiya was concerned.

“Some would say I am being punished for what I did to you and your mother.”

Stifling the chilling realization, she favored Arav with a scalpel-sharp smile. “Neha values loyalty in a man above all else. If she ever thinks you have plans to touch another while bound to her, Eris’s torture and disemboweling will seem a gentle punishment in comparison.”

Paling until the loss of blood was obvious even under the darkness of his skin, Arav took two quick steps away from her. Mahiya was already gone, having used his momentary shock to skirt past and down the pathway toward the stables—petting the horses she so loved would go some way toward calming her. She felt Arav’s eyes boring between her shoulder blades until she disappeared around the corner, and knew that where he had previously seen her as a toy, he now saw her as something he wanted to break. She’d made an enemy this day.

* * *

Three hours after the discovery of Shabnam’s body, and having completed a number of other crucial inquiries, Jason had intended to interview the ladies-in-waiting, but found he had need to speak to Neha. “Venom asks permission to enter your territory.”

Neha’s lips kicked up a notch where she walked beside a large outdoor mural of a lissome maiden carrying a water pot on her head. “So, the prodigal returns,” she said, the grief and anger in her voice leavened by warmth. “Is he on his way to the Refuge?”

“He says he would not dare pass by without paying his respects.”

Neha’s laugh echoed off the marble around them. “Though he did dare run off to Raphael as soon as his Contract was complete.”

“I think you would’ve been disappointed had he not shown spine enough to forge his own path.” Though she would not be pleased to know exactly how powerful the vampire had become in the years since.

Smile deepening, Neha said, “I assent to his visit, so long as he accepts the vow that binds you also includes him while he is here. Let us hope he has brought a gift that will soften my anger at his defection.”

What Venom brought was nothing expected. No exotic snake or a necklet in the shape of a cobra, no jeweled comb or rare wine.

“Explain this,” Neha said in a cool tone when he unveiled the mechanical monkey that beat drums and crashed cymbals with manic glee as it walked in circles on the sapphire-hued silk carpet in front of Neha’s throne.

Venom turned off the toy. “It is a smile, my lady.” Glancing up from his crouching position, he allowed the sunlight pouring in through the windows to hit the shocking green of eyes that were not human in any sense, the slits contracting against the brightness. “I thought you needed one more than jewels. Especially on this day.”

Neha said nothing for a long minute before she sighed and gestured for him to rise. “Put that in my private chambers,” she said to the servant who stood discreetly to the side, and Jason knew the danger had passed, Venom’s gamble at referring to Eris’s funeral paying off.

“Tell me,” she said once the servant had departed, “of what you have been doing in Raphael’s Tower.”

It was a loaded question, one that asked Venom to divide his loyalties, but the vampire fielded it without lying—and without betraying any secrets. “Learning to be stronger, better. Now I go to work under Galen.”

“Yes, that one is a man who understands patience, as you have never done.”

“It’s in my nature.” Venom shrugged, and Jason knew he referred to the impulses that had been seeded in him by the Queen of Snakes, of Poisons.

A faint smile curved Neha’s lips, the calculated gleam of her earlier question replaced by amused affection. “When does that barbarian weapons master expect you?”

“I am early. If I may beg your indulgence, I would stay and talk with friends I have not seen for many a year.”

Neha’s eyes shifted in that quicksilver way, now brown, now a jagged, slitted green, the speed such that Jason could almost believe he’d imagined it. “So, Raphael thinks to plant a second spy in my court?”

“You insult Jason, my lady.” Disarming charm. “I would be a great thumping elephant to his sleek cobra.”

An exasperated shake of Neha’s head, the archangel appearing more indulgent than Jason had seen her with anyone but Eris and Anoushka. “Stay, play your games, but, Venom? Do not forget who I am.”

Venom bowed over her hand, pressing his lips to her knuckles. “My lady, never will I forget who you are—you did not Make a fool.”

* * *

Later, when Venom and Jason walked up onto the wall above one of the magnificent fort gates, Jason saw the vampire sigh as he looked out over the city below, the homes hugging the earth for the most part, but even the smallest with a door painted in a bright shade, or shutters of red, a roof of blue. “You miss this place.”

“At times,” Venom said, his hair lifting in the breeze that tugged at Jason’s queue. “This land is where I was born, this fort where I was Made. It’ll always have a claim on my heart, though it is Raphael who has a claim on my loyalty.”

Jason thought of the palm-edged sands of the Pacific, of the remote island that was his own, where he went when he wanted to disappear from the world. Though it wasn’t the place where he’d been born, it was close enough that it made his heart ache. “I understand.”