Angels' Flight by Nalini Singh Read Free Book Online Page A

Beaumont?”
    “He asked me to stay on, join the Fox kiss.” His body brushed hers as they walked.
    She wanted to get even closer, touch, be touched. Feel human. “I thought he’d know you aren’t the joining type.”
    “I will fight for what’s important,” he said, his voice missing its usual amusement. “But this—petty politics— non .”
    “Is that what you told Callan?”
    “Of course. Anything else would’ve made him suspicious.” He nodded left and, seeing the lily pond in the distance, she acquiesced. “But now he accepts that I will not take sides.”
    “Too bad he forgot the biggest player.”
    “Only a fool forgets an angel.” Going down on his haunches by the pond, he put one hand on the back of her calf when she came to stand beside him.
    Aching for contact that demanded nothing from her except the most human of sensations, she didn’t shift away, didn’t remind him of her rule against dating vampires. She simply stood there and let the warmth of him soak into her bones. He was an enigma, Janvier. She’d seen him ice-cold, a predator, and she’d seen him bathed in sunshine. Some might’ve asked which was the real man—she knew he was both.
    “Do you love her still?” she found herself asking.
    “Who?”
    “The vampire. Shamiya.”
    His hand squeezed her calf in gentle reproof. “A silly question, cher . You know love cannot survive where there is no light.”
    Yes, she thought, he was right. “What was she like?”
    “Why so curious?”
    “I just wonder what kind of a woman would’ve captured a man like you.”
    “But I wasn’t this man when she knew me.” He leaned his body against hers. “I was a callow youth. I’ve learned since then.”
    Accepting the answer, she turned her eyes to the pond, where the sickle moon made the lilies shimmer with midnight shadows. For the first time in years, her mind was completely quiet, completely her own. The peace of it was extraordinary.
    When she ran her fingers through Janvier’s hair, he sighed but held the silence.
    T hree hours later, the peace was a memory as they found themselves in an alcove in the corridor leading to the bedroom where Monique was being held. “You sure Callan’s still in his study?”
    Janvier nodded. “I saw him return to it not long ago.”
    “Good, but even if we manage to sneak Monique out of her room,” she murmured, peering around the corner, “how do we get her past the guards?”
    Janvier fiddled with the lock pick kit he’d produced out of nowhere. “This would be much easier if we could use Nazarach’s name.”
    “Games.” Seeing who’d come out on top. “He’s pitting the two vampires against each other, us against Callan. We matter nothing except for the weaknesses we expose in Callan’s operation.”
    “Nazarach has grown old fast.”
    “He looks in the prime of his life.”
    “No. Here.” Janvier put a fist over his heart. “I’ve met Favashi, the archangel who rules Persia. She is over a thousand years old—but Favashi still has her heart, still has a humanity that is utterly lacking in Nazarach.”
    Ashwini gave a slow nod. “There are vampires like that, too.”
    “If I ever become one, my darling Ashblade, consider it a mercy killing and take me out.”
    “Shh.” Spying Perida’s petite form coming to relieve the guard on duty, Ashwini motioned Janvier to step back with her. “We take Perida hostage, use her to get Monique out.”
    “Callan will shoot Perida to keep Monique,” Janvier told her. “Perida would let him—she knows she won’t die unless Cal turns out to be a very bad shot.”
    “And people call me crazy.” Squatting in the alcove, she blew out a breath. “Trigger the smoke alarms, cause a panic?”
    “Vampires are immune to smoke,” Janvier murmured, eyes the green of the bayou at night, “but not to fire. Set something on fire if you really want panic.”
    “I don’t want to kill innocents.”
    “No vampire over fifty is innocent, cherie