“A compelling argument, Colonel, except she is not an angel yet,” Nyx said. “She must still prove herself, just like everyone else.”
“She will.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Nyx’s mouth. “Colonel, you’ve had a long and distinguished career at the Legion, so just this once, I’ll forego the usual punishments.”
The way she said ‘usual punishments’ made me wish I never found out how the Legion punished misbehaving angels. Angels can take a lot of damage, so the punishments must have been truly horrendous.
“Really, Nero,” Nyx continued, her tone lighter now. “You should have just slept with her, not wooed her. Feelings make things messy. Especially when those feelings are for someone under your command.”
I resisted the urge to point out that Nyx, as head angel of the Legion, reported to the gods, one of whom was her lover.
Nero shot me a hard look.
“What? I didn’t say anything. You can’t punish me for something I didn’t say.”
“When angels are involved, I can,” he replied. “We can read thoughts. You need to learn to control what you think.”
“Sorry, I’m still working on controlling what I say.”
“I fear that work will never be done.” Nero bowed his head to Nyx. “I apologize for her inappropriate thoughts.”
“No, it’s quite all right. She is right. Everything just goes out the window when love enters the picture, doesn’t it?”
I could have sworn Nyx winked at me, but it had happened so fast.
Nero didn’t say anything, and I didn’t ask him if that was how he felt. I wasn’t even sure what I felt.
“Now, just a few more orders of business. Nero, you’re coming with me, at least for a while. I have an important mission for you.”
“What about me?”
“Yes, I did say I would get to you, didn’t I?” said Nyx. “You will continue your current mission, though it’s changed somewhat after recent events. Colonel Fireswift will be overseeing the mission now. It turns out his mission and yours are very much connected.”
Colonel Fireswift’s mission? I thought back to what Jace had told me before he’d left with his father.
“Colonel Fireswift is tracking down a rogue angel. Osiris Wardbreaker,” I said.
Nyx’s dark eyebrows arched. “I’m not going to ask how you know about that. Trouble seems to follow you wherever you go, Leda Pierce.” Nyx folded her hands together. “Yes, Colonel Fireswift is after Osiris Wardbreaker. I believe you’ve met him.”
I’d only ever met three angels: Nero, Nyx, and as of a few minutes ago, Colonel Fireswift. If you could count exchanging icy glares as ‘meeting’. But none of those three angels was Osiris Wardbreaker.
“You know him as the hooded bandit,” Nyx told me.
“That was a rogue angel?” I asked, remembering how he’d moved. How fast he’d been. How strong.
“Yes, a rogue angel is after the holy relics, and if he gets to them first, no one on Earth will be safe, not even the angels.”
10
Legion Legacy
Nyx followed up her doom-and-gloom warning with a bit of good news.
“For your unwavering determination to protect the Pilgrims and some very resourceful monster extermination technique, as well as your dedication to your continued magical development, I am promoting you, Leda Pierce, to the third level of the Legion. There’s just the small matter of surviving the ceremony, and then it will all be official.”
That ‘small matter’ was drinking the Nectar that would boost my magic to the third level—unless it killed me. My body took right to Nectar, so as long as I was ready, everything would be all right. And Nyx thought I was ready. I had to take comfort in that.
“You are ready,” Nero assured me when we were standing again outside of Nyx’s office. “The way you compelled those Pilgrims proves that. Don’t worry.” He glanced toward the door. “I have to go back in and speak with Nyx about my new mission.”
“Right.” I started walking. “So. Have fun.”
“Leda.”
I stopped and looked back at him.
“It’s always more fun with you,” he told me.
I winked, then continued walking. My destination: Demeter, the Legion canteen. They were just about to open their doors for dinner, and I was famished. The chocolate bar from Nero hadn’t been nearly big enough. And, unfortunately, a girl couldn’t live on chocolate alone.
I met up with Drake at the pasta counter. We carried our full trays over to the table where Ivy was already sitting with her boyfriend Captain Soren Diaz.
“So, Soren was just telling me that you guys had an exciting adventure on the Black Plains yesterday,” Ivy said as Drake and I slid into the chairs facing them. “Did you really fight a dinosaur?”
“I’m not sure if it was an actual dinosaur, but it did bear a striking resemblance to a tyrannosaurus rex. And there were four of them,” I added, impaling a tomato on my fork. I looked at Soren. “How did you know about that?”
“I was talking to Claudia and Basanti earlier, and they told me all about it.” He arched his dark brows at me, inviting me to speak. He probably wanted to hear all about how Nero had dove into the chasm after me.
I gave him monster details instead. By the time I’d told him about all the bizarre and terrifying monsters we’d encountered on the Black Plains, we’d all moved on to dessert. My time with my vanilla pudding was cut short, however, when Colonel Fireswift entered the canteen. The room fell silent, and everyone watched in surprise as he crossed the room to the head table and sat down in Nero’s chair. Well, that was ominous.