Burning Skies (Guardians of Ascension #2)(42)
Author: Caris Roane

However, right now, he didn’t care. Havily deserved better because she was loyal and long-suffering. But the deeper truth was much simpler—everyone deserved to be treated decently.

Endelle lifted a brow. She crossed her arms over her chest. She folded a tall-back, throne-like chair into the room and sat down. “So you want an apology,” she said, her tone clipped. “Well, unfortunately, Warrior Marcus, if I can even call you that anymore, you’ll be waiting a long time for it, but be my guest. Fucking wait.”

Marcus drew in a breath. His protectiveness was in high gear, but the hell if he would let anyone talk to Havily that way. “Then I’ll take her back to Mortal Earth with me right now until you get this situation figured out. She doesn’t need to listen to this kind of shit from you or anyone. I’ve known you a long time, Endelle, and I admire the hell out of you, but this needs to stop. Belittling your subjects won’t fly with me.”

She huffed a sigh. “Jesus H. Christ, who put the clamshell up your butt.” She narrowed her eyes. “It’s the f**king breh-hedden, isn’t it? I have to say this is some crazy-ass shit. Very well. No more talking to Morgan like she’s a flea’s knob.”

At that, some of the stiffness left his shoulders and he dropped back to stand beside Havily. She was staring at him, and he turned to meet her gaze. Her green eyes glittered in the dim rotunda light. “Thank you,” she murmured. “That was … gentlemanly.”

He was taken aback. Had she just approved of something he’d done? For whatever reason, her approval did him in. He felt the growl forming in his throat as he turned toward her, but she caught his elbow and gave him a jerk in Madame Endelle’s direction. “Hold that thought,” she whispered. To Her Supremeness she said, “So, exactly why did you bring us here?”

Endelle rose from her throne and scowled. “Thorne came to see me just a few minutes ago. His sister delivered a Seer’s prophecy from the Creator’s Convent, you know that shithole in Prescott. Apparently, the prophecy indicates that there’s a mortal-with-wings, a female, and that we have to find her, as in right now, because if Greaves gets ahold of her he’ll be able to start Armageddon, and no I don’t know how or why.”

“A mortal-with-wings?” Havily murmured.

“Has there ever been such a thing?” Marcus asked.

“Only once to my recollection,” Endelle said, her voice low, her gaze suddenly fixed on nothing as though she looked deep into the past. “Luchianne.”

Marcus whistled. Luchianne was the first ascender, the first vampire, the one who led the way, eleven thousand years ago, to Second Earth.

“The first ascender had wings before she ascended?” Havily asked. “I didn’t know that, but it kind of makes sense.” She shifted her gaze to Endelle. “So where do we look for her? I mean she could be anywhere on Mortal Earth, right?”

“Lucky for us, she’s in the Metro Phoenix area.” Endelle’s expression grew a little distant. From where he stood, Marcus could feel the ripples of her powerful thoughts flowing through the empty space. She continued, though in a more subdued voice, “I just wonder what the hell is going on.”

She turned and moved toward the side of the rotunda that was open to the air. The space faced south with a view of a long stretch of the McDowell Mountains as well as the Valley below. The palace was at least a thousand feet from the foothills. In the winter, with a storm out of the north, snow would occasionally cloak the palace.

He caught Havily’s hand and drew her with him to follow in Endelle’s wake.

Endelle continued speaking as though to herself. “Alison had the ability to fold even before she ascended, and now she’s a Guardian of Ascension with the self-proclaimed vision that she will be the instrument by which the pathway to Third Earth is finally opened. Now we have a mortal-with-wings. Shit.”

She was silent for a moment as he drew close, still in possession of his woman’s hand. She added, “I want you both to work from Medichi’s villa and don’t ask me why. It’s just my gut telling me that’s the best place for all of this right now. Between Havily’s situation—whatever the hell that is—and now a mortal-with-wings, looks like the war is about to heat up … again. Don’t worry. I’ll cast a shield of mist over the villa so that even Greaves can’t find it.”

Actually, Medichi’s villa made sense. Even before Marcus had exiled himself to Mortal Earth, Medichi had built a vast estate on the east side of the White Tank Mountains. Under the century-old COPASS laws, because Medichi was a Guardian of Ascension, his property was protected from attack.

So Havily would be infinitely safer at the villa than in her town house. Once … or rather if … they found this mortal-with-wings, they could bring her to the villa as well and afford her the same level of protection, at least for an hour or so. Mortals couldn’t survive in the second dimension, not for very long. If trapped on Second Earth, an unascended mortal would die within twenty-four hours. The two-hour mark was usually more than most mortals could bear. But an hour would give all of them enough time to figure out a strong course of action.

There would also be plenty of room for privacy, and as he gave Havily’s hand a squeeze and glanced at her, he knew he would be needing some privacy with her … soon.

Okay, he didn’t need to think about that right now. He looked back at Endelle. “Did Thorne say in what part of the Valley we would find this mortal?” With a population of three million, the Phoenix area on Mortal Earth was one helluva haystack to sort through, especially with a critical time frame.

No doubt Greaves’s war room was already on the task.

Endelle looked over her shoulder at Havily. “No, but ask her? She’s the go-to woman right now. She’s always got some plan for solving problems, getting shit organized. See, I don’t think she’s completely useless.”

Havily laughed. “Was that a compliment, Madame Supreme High Administrator?”

Endelle stepped toward her and met her gaze. “Was that sarcasm, my little organizer?”

Marcus once more put himself physically between the two women. He thought he might have a conversation later with Havily about not baiting scorpions in general. He addressed Endelle. “There’s something else you need to know.”

She shifted her lined, ancient gaze to his. “What?” she snapped. “I don’t have all night.”