Archangel's Ascension
May 2025
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Advance Excerpt from Archangel’s Ascension
Author’s Note: Archangel’s Ascension is a hard book to excerpt without inadvertent spoilers, so I’ve made some small edits to the text below to keep it as non-spoilery as possible. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into the second half of Illium and Aodhan’s story.
Advance Excerpt from Archangel’s Ascension
by Nalini Singh
Illium loved Adi for being so content in his skin and in his being.
His warrior-artist’s shoulders pushed against the linen of his tunic as he twisted to better see the sculpture, his thighs rigid against the canvas of his pants, and his hair—that pale hue coated with what appeared to be shattered diamonds—falling out of its rough queue to tickle his cheek. It almost reached his shoulders this season, and Illium knew he’d lose patience with it soon, but for now, Illium enjoyed playing with the softness of it when they kissed . . . or when they just lay on the grass together under the stars, their wings overlapping and fingers interlinked.
He’d never understood the perfection of a moment until he’d spent hours just watching the stars emerge overhead on a dark night in a hidden forest with Adi by his side. His entire being had been happy in a way that was the universe contained in his skin, the energy inside him in no hurry to be anywhere else.
Illium couldn’t imagine life without Aodhan.
Who looked up just then, his extraordinary eyes—shards of translucent blue and green shattering outward from a pinpoint black pupil—filled with storm clouds. “Tell me again why I’m making these ridiculously tiny fairies?” His skin was starlight, the beauty of him a wonder of muscle and power and hands careful enough to handle the delicate lines of the whimsical creature in his hand.
“Because they make people happy—and they always seem to find their way to the person who needs them most.” The two of them had never discussed the whys and hows of that, but it was understood that Aodhan had an unknown power that he was able to impart into these artworks he made once every decade or two.
Tiny statuettes that brought wonder even in the heart of darkness. “Where’s Shadow?”
“In the house.” Aodhan put down his work in progress with infinite care, then shoved a hand through the diamond-bright strands of his hair. “She can sense that there’s a storm coming, doesn’t like how it feels on her fur.”
The sky was a piercing blue topped by fluffy white, but Illium knew Aodhan wasn’t talking about that. It was the energy that had begun to gather in an invisible tempest over the past few days, a prickling that made the tiny hairs on Illium’s arms rise, his senses on high alert. “Someone’s going to ascend.”
It wasn’t always forecast this way, with a rising tension in the air. The last ascension—Suyin’s, straight after the end of the War of the Death Cascade—had been a sudden, violent thing, Suyin’s injured body smashing through a wall of the Tower’s infirmary to spear into the sky.
No buildup of power in the air that was a heavy pressure on the skin.
No taste of a strange and lovely metal on the tongue.
No whisper of a mysterious scent on the breeze.
Only a sparkling black rain that had lasted hours—and that had started even as she ascended.
“When I spoke to Mother yesterday,” he added, “she said it happens this way sometimes. As if the world knows before any sentient being.”
Aodhan’s eyes met his, but there was no question in those astonishingly beautiful shards. Aodhan, more than anyone, understood that Illium hated the idea of ascension. He wasn’t in the least jealous of the person who’d have to play Cadre politics and leave the people he loved to set up a whole new territory.
He began to step through the door just as Aodhan turned to walk toward him.
A distant hum. A rising wind. A sun exploding in his chest.
No!
***
Because they make people happy . . .
Of course Blue would say that, Illium’s heart the biggest of anyone Aodhan had ever known.
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 time, 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!
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.
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.
Copyright © 2025 by Nalini Singh
“WOWZERS!!!!!! THIS BOOK WAS PERFECTION!!!!…I loved Illium and Aodhan in this one…we see so much growth in their relationship and the intimacy between them was so achingly beautiful! I can guarantee you all are in for a special treat!”
~ Lover of Romance (Goodreads)
“What is there to say about a book that had such high expectations and just nailed the landing on every single level? Can I give this book more than 5 stars? I sure would like to.”
~ Mel (Goodreads)
“I cannot do this book justice on the emotions it touched in my soul.”
~ Netgalley
“Archangel’s Ascension is a gorgeous story that filled my heart with joy. The completion of Aodhan and Illium’s romance was worth the wait and their love story is one I can’t wait to be swept away by again and again.”
~ Wit and Sin
“A stunning read! Singh’s blazingly bright and colorful mind keeps giving.”
~ Tanja W, Netgalley
Click here for the complete chronological reading order.
1. Angels’ Blood
2. Archangel’s Kiss
3. Archangel’s Consort
4. Archangel’s Blade
5. Archangel’s Storm
6. Archangel’s Legion
7. Archangel’s Shadows
8. Archangel’s Enigma
9. Archangel’s Heart
10. Archangel’s Viper
11. Archangel’s Prophecy
12. Archangel’s War
13. Archangel’s Sun
14. Archangel’s Light
15. Archangel’s Resurrection
16. Archangel’s Lineage
17. Archangel’s Ascension
Guild Hunter Novellas
1. Angels’ Pawn (available as an e-book on its own, and also as part of Angels’ Flight)
2. “Angels’ Judgment” in Angels’ Flight (originally part of the Must Love Hellhounds anthology)
3. “Angel’s Wolf” in Angels’ Flight (originally part of the Angels of Darkness anthology)
4. “Angels’ Dance” in Angels’ Flight
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us back to her breathtakingly passionate Guild Hunter world, where an impending transformation will be both an ending and a beginning…
Aodhan and Illium. Adi and Blue. Sparkle and Bluebell. Friends become lovers, their future a wild unknown.
Finally reunited in New York, they must now learn to navigate the monumental shift in their relationship. But for these two members of Archangel Raphael’s legendary Seven, there is no time to rest. As they investigate a case for the Tower that echoes the darkness from Aodhan’s past, they will be forced to confront not only the scars that mark them both, but the promise of a vast power that flickers in Illium.
The threat of ascension has haunted and troubled Aodhan’s Blue for too long, the forces of change immutable and without mercy…and uncaring of Illium’s fierce wish to remain part of the Seven. Change is a constant in an immortal’s life, and this new horizon will bring with it both terrible heartbreak and a joy extraordinary enough to reverberate through time…
