Archangel’s Ascension (The Guild Hunter Series)

Because they make people happy…

Of course Blue would say that, Illium’s heart the biggest of anyone Aodhan had ever known. Even now, when he was a seasoned first general who’d led troops into battle with gritty focus, Illium had managed to hold on to his heart with a stubbornness unparalleled.

Today, as he stood in the doorway, the wind riffled through the blue-tipped black of his hair, a lover as intoxicated by him as Aodhan. Sometimes, he felt so much for Illium that he was tempted to pull back, retreat from the power of it—such a tide could sweep a man under, bury him as Aodhan had once been physically buried by those who would own him.

But that was the thing with Illium.

He’d never wanted to own Aodhan. Only to love him. That changed everything.

His heart sighing at the feeling of being home now that Illium was nearby, he began to walk toward his warrior. Though Illium’s body had gained another layer of muscle over the centuries, his biceps cut, he remained streamlined in form under the sleeveless leathers that had been a gift from Raphael a long time ago.

The black had faded under the sun, rain, and constant wear, and it bore more than one small tear, but it still fit Illium like a glove. The sword over his shoulder, however, was new. Thunder, to pair with the swords that made up his line of Lightnings. Aodhan had designed the hilt of Thunder—to Illium’s exact requirements. Including a grip that mirrored the precise shape of Illium’s fingers.

The woven metal of the design glinted in the rays of the sun that speared through the doorway just as Illium smiled…and burst into light golden and violent enough to shove Aodhan back with explosive power. Yet he hit the wall with far less force than he should have, and knew that Illium had managed to protect him even as he couldn’t protect himself.

Because the love of Aodhan’s life had blasted through the roof of the studio to become a blazing golden star in a sky gone the intense, unmistakable blue of his wings.

Debris cascaded around Aodhan, dust coating his tongue as he shoved away a fallen beam with a bleeding hand to run outside. “Illium!” He emerged into a world filled with a driving rain that was droplets of molten gold. It pooled in his palm like metal gone liquid in the forge, rippled off his wings in tiny balls.

The cut on his hand vanished under a line of gold that was a kiss.

Aodhan knew he should stay on the ground, that it was madness to get in the way of an ascension, but he tried to rise up anyway, tried to get to the man who was his heart, his chest painful with the pressure of not knowing if Illium was all right. The last time the power had tried to force itself into him…

Illium!noveldrama

No reply to his panicked call.

Driven by fear for his lover, Aodhan managed to rise far enough up to see that the Hudson had turned liquid gold, a glittering beauty that wasn’t natural except for this single moment in time when the entire world became attuned to this one being. For the gold wasn’t shiny and new. It was aged with a haunting patina, the same dark shade as Illium’s eyes.

Then Illium’s power shoved Aodhan back to the earth.

And Illium, he was a supernova of gold against a sky suddenly devoid of clouds and turned the distinctive blue of his own wings riven with veins of glittering silver and gold. The shields around the floating habitats blazed a dazzling gold as they dropped to the lowest possible altitude in full emergency mode; their world was built for power that broke the skies…but still, no one had expected this, not after seven centuries.

This wasn’t like before, Aodhan told himself, when the golden light had poured out of Illium’s mouth and cracked his skin, bending his back almost in half.

This wasn’t death.

This was…ascension.

Wet on his cheeks, but it wasn’t from the startlingly beautiful rain. The wet was Aodhan’s tears. Because while many dreamed of ascension and of power limitless, Illium had dreamed of being by Raphael’s side through the eons, a first general loyal. Heart-friend to Elena, treasured member of the Seven, beloved by all in the Tower and adored by the citizens of the city, Illium had wanted nothing more. He’d been happy, had intended to stay true to his purpose through eternity.

But that could never again be his place.

As being one of Raphael’s Seven could never again be Aodhan’s.

Today, Aodhan became to Illium what Dmitri was to Raphael: second to…the Archangel Illium.