Free Sword of the Gods: Agents of Ki (Sword of the Gods Saga) by Anna Erishkigal Page B

not know what it was like to embrace my own offspring."
    "You were never given any choice," Raphael said softly. "Not until Uriel almost died."
    "I think," Jophiel's wings fluttered with frustration, 'that that was Abaddon's point!" She resumed her solemn pace, glancing back only once at the painted testament of a species that had ceased to exist. "It is said that even as Abaddon moves his armada to the Sata'an-Alliance border, that his human wife goes with him. That even in battle, The Destroyer cannot bear to be parted from his mate."
    "He flaunts his newfound power," Raphael said. "According to Mikhail's partial vectors, Abaddon searches in the wrong location. Parliament has plunged us into a war we cannot win!"
    Their footsteps echoed on the marble like the drumroll of a military firing squad.
    "Abaddon is a good man," Jophiel sighed, "if a bit of a war hawk. Maybe the Emperor should have elevated him to Supreme Commander-General when he returned from the Ascended Realms instead of me?"
    Raphael pulled her closer with his free arm, ignoring her squirms of protest until she melted into his golden wings.
    "The Emperor must have had his reasons." Raphael kissed the top of her head. "Perhaps he sensed Abaddon had grown too supportive of Lucifer in his absence?"
    "Lucifer is dead," Jophiel hissed. "Parliament's authority to exist became null and void the moment Lucifer died without an heir."
    "We don't know that for sure," Raphael said. "They found no wreckage, nor were they able to recover any bodies."
    "Shay'tan destroyed the Prince of Tyre while it was orbiting the borderlands," Jophiel snapped. "The old dragon won't let us into his territory to gather evidence of his crime! He refuses to budge even with the Jehoshaphat moving into position to engage!"
    "Lucifer's crimes?" Raphael asked. "Or Shay'tan's?"
    "So you side with them now?" Jophiel tried to pull away.
    Raphael curled one large, golden wing around her and used his free hand to tilt her chin up so that she had to look him in the eye.
    "I'm an intelligence officer," Raphael gave her an apologetic grin. "Remember? I'm only pointing out what the news outlets are saying."
    "What does that matter?" Jophiel pushed against his chest to break his hold. "Hashem is their Emperor and god!"
    The withdrawal of her affection hurt him. Physically. As though she had cut off the supply of his own life's blood. Mated pairs. Being this close to somebody emotionally would take a period of adjustment, coping skills the Emperor had deprived his species of learning when he'd forced his armies to pretend a soldier had no need to understand any love except for a love of him .
    "The Emperor has lost the people's trust," Raphael sighed. "Whether or not we find Lucifer's body, until the Emperor acknowledges he needs to win back his subjects' hearts and minds, he shall make no headway getting back control of his empire."
    Jophiel burst into tears. Uriel chose that moment to awaken and entangle his fingers in his mother's long, white-blonde hair, delighted she no longer kept it coiffed in a regulation bun. Jophiel forced a smile as she carefully untangled their baby's fingers from her tresses.
    "Gi!"
    Uriel gave them a broad, pink smile. He was a beautiful infant, with bright red hair, auburn wings, and a smattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks. Instead of blue like most Angelic eyes, Uriel's were a deep shade of jade. Raphael had faint red stripes running through the underside of his buff gold wings, but not for thousands of years had the recessive gene for red manifested into his bloodline's plumage.
    "Gi!"
    Uriel reached past his mum with a chubby little hand.
    Said 'gi,' Uriel's name for his pet gorock, wiggled at hearing his name and rammed its long, slender body between Raphael and Jophiel. Gorocks were supposed to grow no larger than a small canine, but at six months old, Raphael swore the miniature water dragon had grown large enough to ride to work if one day his shuttlecraft