Hell's Ascendant (Mantles of Power Book 3) Read online

  “I see. And just what did they have to say to me? I’ve been denying audiences with others while I determine what involvement I wish to have with other angels,” Anna replied calmly, folding her hands in front of her.

  “From what I understand, you’re healing an angel who might be someone with… misinformation about the group I’m working with, so they didn’t dare wait any longer. I’m truly sorry to force a meeting like this, but that’s why I came to speak with you,” May told her, standing up a little straighter, almost looking proud as she continued. “The group who I’m working with calls themselves the Society of Golden Dawn. From what I’ve heard, they have a number of archangels among their number, though I obviously haven’t met any.”

  It took every ounce of control that Anna had to keep from reacting to that, mostly in disbelief. Instead she arched an eyebrow at the woman, murmuring, “Is that so? A lofty name, as well as impressive rumors of their membership, but what do they have to do with me? I’ve been gone for a very long time.”

  “That’s precisely why they wanted me to contact you. See, the society believes that the Holy Council has grown complacent and corrupt. In the past millennium, the faith of mortals where battling the hells is concerned has waned, while the Holy Council has done nothing to combat it. With every passing day the hells appear to grow stronger, and that… that isn’t something that can be tolerated. You’ve seen the horrors that the hells can unleash, so you should know better than anyone how terrible they are,” May said, her eyes shining with zeal, and her conviction that she was right was obvious, to Anna’s quiet dismay. “Since they won’t act, though, the society has been working to take matters into their own hands. They would love to have your support, as you did more to face them than anyone else in the heavens, but they didn’t want you to be misinformed.”

  Anna looked at the woman skeptically, a hint of rage beginning to burn within her, but she tamped it down to keep it under control. She’d never made the best decisions when enraged, so had tried to keep herself calm. Instead she spoke quietly, her voice almost unruffled. “I see. I don’t see why I should involve myself with this group, not based on vague descriptions of what they want to do.”

  “Yes, they thought you might feel that way. That’s why they told me to tell you something,” May said, taking a breath as her enthusiasm grew. “Apparently, they’re going to give a demonstration of their conviction and power tomorrow. What that entails, I don’t know, but they told me it would be impressive.”

  Estalia would probably try to play along longer, Anna knew, just to get more information out of the woman and their organization. Estalia was good at deception and flattery and was far more focused on the end goal. Anna, on the other hand… she was not Estalia.

  The thought flickered through Anna’s head at the same time that she acted. One moment May was standing there, smiling hopefully at Anna, and the next her eyes bulged out in her head as she hit the ground, the air blasting from the woman’s lungs, one of Anna’s hands holding her throat.

  “Unfortunately for you, I know significantly more than that, May. In fact, after your society attempted to murder my daughter, I’ve been searching for them myself. That’s what brought me out of hiding, not simply the fact I’d been gone for so long,” Anna said, resisting the urge to smile, since she knew it wouldn’t be a pleasant smile. Instead, as the woman paled, Anna shook her head and added, “Oh, I’m not going to kill you. No, we’re going to go speak to Cyclone, and then we’ll see what your deity has to say.”

  “B-but… they’re trying to do the right thing!” May protested weakly, barely having caught her breath. “You’re an archangel!”

  “They think they’re doing the right thing. There’s a difference between that and doing what’s right,” Anna said, bodily picking the woman up as she called on her mantle, looking around as she tried to sense where Cyclone was. “Now, then, where is he?”

  When Anna found him, her wings snapped out and she took flight.

  “I really don’t understand why you’re so upset about this, Anathiel,” Cyclone said, glancing at the door which led to the room where May was imprisoned. It was a very nice prison, Anna had to admit, but the priestess wasn’t being allowed to leave, even if Cyclone was a little skeptical.

  “I’m upset because her so-called society tried to murder my daughter to keep any word about them from getting out. The only thing she knew was that a few members of the Holy Council had been meeting in private, and about some rumors of an angelic god, yet they decided she had to die,” Anna said flatly, deliberately making it sound to others like she was meaning Isalla instead of Kitania. She stared the deity in the eyes, or tried to as he avoided her gaze, which told her a fair amount about his lack of confidence. “I was trying to keep from dragging you into all of this, since Uthren is such a staunch ally of the heavens and you don’t need to be dragged into the heavens’ internal problems, but they sent your priestess to me.”

  “She has a point. I don’t want to admit it, but she has a definite point,” Sanguine said, the goddess’s arms crossed in front of her as she frowned unhappily. “I’ve noticed that Lady Anathiel has been very careful not to try to drag us into whatever she’s been investigating since she got here, at least until now.”

  “And the idea that a group of angels has been recruiting our priesthood without telling us… well, I don’t know about you, but that makes me uneasy,” Krath said, shaking his head slowly.

  It’d been the better part of an hour since May had approached Anna, and she hadn’t been present as Cyclone questioned the priestess, to her annoyance. Not that she suspected the woman knew much in the end, but the unhappy look on Cyclone’s face had been telling. Somewhat to her surprise, the two younger deities seemed far more accepting of Anna’s claims, and more worried about the potential consequences.

  “Perhaps so, but it isn’t like May knows much. She’s just passed along information about demon movements and the occasional bits of information about other deities,” Cyclone said stubbornly, crossing his arms as he took a slightly more defensive stance. “I don’t see what she can do to help you, even if you question her.”

  “The easiest thing would be if she told me who it was that contacted her. Then I could track down these miscreants myself,” Anna said calmly, trying not to corner the deity. That wouldn’t end well, she knew that for certain. No one really wanted to take on a deity on their home ground.

  “No. Oh, I’m going to ask, but I’m not telling you immediately, not without making some inquiries of my own. Besides, if they’re going to make some sort of demonstration tomorrow, it’ll be obvious to us as well,” Cyclone said, his eyes narrowing even more. “If it’s obviously bad, then I’ll tell you. If it’s bad enough, I’ll even let you do what you want, assuming Krath and Sanguine agree, but I’m not letting you hustle me into a decision.”

  Krath nodded, obviously reluctant as he looked at Anna apologetically. “I can’t say as I blame him, Lady Anathiel. This is too complex and came at us all at once. If we had evidence they were trying to do something bad to us, maybe I’d be singing a different tune, but I need to at least sleep on this.”

  “As if you could carry a tune in a bucket,” Sanguine murmured, prompting a flush from Krath, and the faintest hint of a smile from Anna.

  “As you wish. I just desperately hope that this demonstration isn’t too destructive. I… worry about what they may have planned,” Anna said, trying as hard as she could to keep her disappointment hidden. She doubted that she succeeded, but it was worth the attempt. Even so, she paused only a moment before inclining her head and continuing. “In any case, I believe I need to go speak with the others and let them know what happened. Whatever happens, I want to be ready.”

  “Very well. Would you care for company on the trip to your room?” Krath asked politely, though Anna could tell he didn’t expect her to agree.

  “Thank you, but there’s no need for that. I’m sure the three of you have things to d
iscuss privately,” Anna replied, nodding to them, then turned to leave. She could feel their gazes on her back, which wasn’t comfortable, but she could handle it, at least until she was out of their sight.

  Anna headed back to her room, where she knew Kitania would be waiting for her. The others wouldn’t be, but soon enough Kitania would be heading back to the inn, and she could let the others know whatever she found out. Still, it wasn’t exactly an ideal situation, from Anna’s perspective. For a moment she’d hoped that she’d found a way to crack open the conspiracy, only to be brought up short.

  As the door opened, Kitania’s voice rang out softly. “Welcome back, Lady Anna.”

  “There’s no need for that. I’m on my own, this time,” Anna replied, closing the door and glancing at Rose as she asked, “Any change with her?”

  Kitania was sitting in a chair next to Rose, a book in her lap as she rested in her guise as a dragon-blooded human. The disguise amused Anna, even if she wished that Kitania could look like she was supposed to. Her daughter wasn’t as far into the book as Anna had expected, though she belatedly realized that was probably because Kitania wasn’t truly fluent in angelic, let alone in reading and writing it. A medical text in angelic was probably difficult for her to parse, when Anna thought about it.

  “Not really. Oh, she breathed a little more quickly for a little while, which made me think she might be about to wake, but she didn’t,” Kitania replied, setting the book aside as she reached out to take Rose’s hand gently. The demoness paused as she looked at Anna and frowned, then asked softly, “You… look out of sorts, at least slightly. Is something wrong?”

  “I’m mostly frustrated, because…” Anna paused, then smiled wryly at Kitania as she admitted, “The Society of Golden Dawn just tried to recruit me, not even an hour ago.”

  “They what?” Kitania demanded, almost shooting to her feet, and if the book hadn’t been sitting on the nightstand next to her, it’d probably have fallen on the floor. Kitania stared at Anna with shock and excitement in her eyes. “What did you do? Did you catch them?”

  “Slow down, dear. You’re getting ahead of yourself, and I don’t want that,” Anna said, then stopped to wait as Kitania visibly took a breath and let it out.

  “Well, if you’re acting like that, obviously we don’t have a target yet,” Kitania murmured, her voice calmer as she glanced down at Rose, adding, “I wish they weren’t being so damned careful.”

  “Yes, we all can wish that. If they weren’t, Estalia’s spies would have already ferreted out something. Believe me, she has more agents than you think, even among the heavens,” Anna said, sighing as she glanced at the door and scowled. “They were careful here, too. They’d recruited one of Cyclone’s priestesses, and she was the one who carried their message. He’s being… difficult.”

  “Unsurprisingly,” Kitania murmured, prompting a nod from Anna.

  “Indeed. He’s old and set in his ways. It sounds like she didn’t have much information to begin with, but even what little she could tell me was incredibly worrying,” Anna explained, frowning as she did so, wanting to pace a little. “She said that tomorrow they’d be giving a demonstration of their ‘conviction and power’. That is a poor sign.”

  “You’re telling me,” Kitania said, chewing her lip nervously as her eyes narrowed. “Do you think they might attack here?”

  “I doubt it. I’m far more concerned for Estalia and the Forest of Sighs. I was going to message Estalia with a warning, which hopefully she can pass on to Alserah,” Anna explained, rolling her shoulders and half-stretching her wings in an attempt to relax the knot she felt forming in the middle of her back. She scowled, murmuring unhappily. “I hate being on the defensive.”

  “I think they think the same thing. That’s why they’re attacking us,” Kitania said, reaching down to stroke Rose’s cheek as the demoness’s gaze hardened. “In that case… why don’t you go warn her, then? I think we’ll need every advantage we can get.”

  Anna nodded, reaching over to ruffle Kitania’s hair before she added, a bit more pointedly, as she looked at Rose and Ember, “Agreed, which is why I’m sure Rose will be healed by morning, hm?”

  There wasn’t a response, but Anna was fairly sure she saw the flames around Ember flicker just a bit more quickly at her words.

  Alserah froze with the teacup halfway to her lips as light flashed in front of her and a tiny, bird-like creature of blue fire appeared. She tensed briefly, then relaxed as she recognized the creature as a magical construct, and a weak one at that.

  Phillip sat up in his chair curiously as he asked, “What’s this?”

  The bird spoke before Alserah could decide how to respond, though, its voice that of Estalia, though there was no humor in the demoness’s voice. “Alserah, my apologies for contacting you this way, but it’s urgent. Anna, who I sent to assist Kitania and the others when they were attacked, was indirectly approached by the conspiracy this evening. They attempted to recruit her and said that there would be a demonstration of their power tomorrow. I don’t know what that will entail and neither does she, but both of us have been targeted by them before. I recommend you reinforce your defenses.”

  With its message delivered, the construct collapsed into nothing a moment later, and Alserah frowned, then looked at her fellow deities in concern, replying simply. “Trouble, obviously.”

  “So I heard,” Gandar said, frowning slightly as he leaned forward in his chair. “Do you believe her?”

  “I don’t see any reason not to believe her. Besides, I’ve been hearing a few rumors from the north that indicated something was happening in the heavens, but I haven’t gotten any solid information yet,” Alserah said, shrugging slightly. “I mean… what harm does reinforcing my defenses do?”

  “True enough, I just had to ask,” Gandar said, raising an eyebrow as he asked, “Would you like some help with that? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d rather be safe than overconfident.”

  Phillip nodded, smiling slightly as he agreed. “Oh, most certainly! I’m also interested to meet whoever it is that casts those fascinating spells of hers… while not unique, there’s a certain flair to them, and communicating messages like that in the heart of your palace is impressive.”

  “Mm…” Sidina said, slowly climbing to her feet, and Alserah couldn’t resist rolling her eyes. Phillip had been a problematic guest since he arrived, in part because of how he’d harassed the magi about their spells, along with significant amounts of flirting. She was sure he’d managed to seduce at least some of them, but at least he appeared to have kept it quiet. More annoying was how much he’d begged to study Sindria’s Light, but that request had been quite firmly denied, since she had no way of knowing that he’d be able to resist the urge to make off with it. Alserah might trust Phillip with her life, but she didn’t trust him with her things. Particularly not valuable magical artifacts.

  “I will go rest,” Ire said, pushing back his chair to stand, taking a moment to bow to them before he straightened. Alserah resisted the urge to sigh, as she’d like his company, but it wasn’t as though he could do much. Ire wasn’t the best with wards, after all.

  “If you would, could you let Ratha know? She’s in the field, and it’d be good to have her back early, if possible,” Alserah suggested and smiled as Ire straightened more and nodded.

  “Of course. I will be back shortly,” Ire agreed, looking more enthusiastic as he headed for the doors.

  “I wonder when the lad is going to admit his feelings to her,” Gandar muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he watched Ire go.

  “Lad? I’m fairly certain that he’s older than you are,” Phillip said, grinning broadly as Gandar raised an eyebrow.

  “Age doesn’t have anything to do with maturity. Why, you’re living proof of that!” Gandar retorted, grinning evilly in return.

  Phillip stopped, blinked, then glowered at Gandar, his expression briefly so comical that Alserah couldn’t suppress a c
huckle, which prompted laughter from Gandar as well, and a smile from Sidina. Phillip looked at her in betrayal, spreading his arms.

  “Alserah, is that any way to treat an old friend? You heard what he said!” Phillip exclaimed dramatically.

  “That doesn’t make it any less true,” Alserah replied, then nodded toward the door. “Come on, let’s get to work. There isn’t much daylight left, so let’s make the most of it.”

  Phillip slumped slightly, but Alserah knew it wouldn’t last. While Phillip’s ego deflated easily enough, it always recovered.

  She was far more worried about what the angels might have planned.

  Chapter 37

  “You know what to do?” Yimael asked impatiently, tapping her foot as she watched the angel adjust the harness. Ordath resisted the urge to sigh at the woman’s attitude when she wasn’t the one taking an immense risk.

  “Of course, My Lady. I fly over the portal while invisible, and when I’m certain I’m close enough the wind won’t blow the device off-course, I drop it into the portal,” Phina replied, the freckled angel looking up with a smile as she patted the harness. “Then I fly back up through the portal to give a report.”

  The young blonde was an enthusiastic, relatively new addition to the society, which gave Ordath some pause about giving her such an important mission, but Yimael had insisted that the woman was ready for it. He wasn’t about to argue with her, so instead he examined the gatecrusher again, resisting the urge to frown, as it wasn’t particularly impressive. Of course, this was the prototype, not the ones which the artificers had been spending most of their time on for the past months.