“That bomb wasn’t supposed to kill us, was it?” I asked him.
“No.”
“It was a warning,” I realized. “Someone knows what we’re doing here, and they’re warning us to stay away. Who is even crazy enough to threaten the Legion of Angels?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But whoever it is, they will soon wish they’d killed us instead.”
Rather than spending my afternoon trying to sneak into those restricted access labs on the second floor as planned, I found myself heading back to the Legion. Nero and Captain Somerset were still back at the university supervising the hundred or so soldiers who’d arrived to investigate the bombing in the dining room. Even though Jace and I weren’t staying behind, that didn’t mean we were off the hook. Nero had instructed us to spend the afternoon training in Hall Six.
Hall Six was one of the Legion’s smaller gym halls. It didn’t have space for complex obstacle courses or large group exercises. It was better suited for one-on-one training. So that’s what we did. For hours, Jace and I dueled with swords and knives and sticks, each weapon in turn. And then we dueled hand-to-hand, or fist-to-face on my end. Though I’d improved a lot since joining the Legion, Jace was still a lot better than I was. I was a big enough person to admit that—but just not out loud.
“You’re getting better,” Jace commented when we took a break to sit on the floor and gulp down water.
“Are you just trying to make me feel better?” I asked, rubbing my sore ribs.
“That’s not my style.”
“Of course not.” I snorted. “I forgot. You hate me.”
“I don’t hate you, Leda.”
Leda was it? He’d never called me by my actual name before. He and the other Legion brats had adopted Nero’s nickname for me: Pandora, the bringer of chaos. So what had changed? What was going on with Jace?
“You don’t hate me,” I repeated with disbelief. “Right.”
“You saved my life,” he said. “I’ve been nothing but awful to you, but back in the Brick Palace when it was on fire, you saved me. You could have left me there to die, but you didn’t. Why?”
“Because you don’t just leave people to die, no matter how much of an asshole they’ve been to you.”
He watched me for a few moments, as though he didn’t know what to make of me. “You aren’t like other people.”
I laughed, and he frowned at me.
“I’m serious,” he said. “It’s not normal to care about people who’ve been mean to you.”
“Ok, so now I’m not normal?”
“That’s not what I meant. I just meant…” His usual hard arrogance cracked, leaking the uncertainty that lay within. “We’re competitors.”
“How do you figure that?”
“There are only so many spots at the top of the Legion. Some fail, some succeed. The more other people who succeed, the more competition you have for those spots. We can’t all be angels.”
“What makes you think I want to be an angel?”
“You wouldn’t push yourself so hard if you didn’t want to make it to the top,” he said. “You train harder than anyone, even me. And it shows. You’ve already passed most of my fellow brats.”
I looked at him in surprise.
A slight smile touched his lips. “Yeah, I know the term. Oh, did you think your friend Ivy came up with it herself? The children of angels have been called ‘Legion brats’ since there have been children of angels. And we don’t mind the term. On the contrary, we wear it as a badge of honor. Each and every one of us is proud of our family’s legacy.”
“Maybe pride is the problem,” I said. “You consider anyone outside your prestigious circle a potential threat. The paranoia must be exhausting.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “You’re right. We would be much happier if we weren’t so competitive.” He sighed. “But then we wouldn’t be who we are, would we?”
“You’re pretty philosophical for a brat,” I told him, smirking.
He returned the smirk. “And you’re surprisingly alive for someone who mouths off to an angel. Regularly.”
“It must be my infinite charm and wit that’s saved me from his wrath.”
Jace snorted. “One of these days, your luck is going to run out. You’re not afraid of anything, are you?”
“Oh, no. I’m not going to spill my secrets and give your competitive side the chance to use them against me.”
“Well, it was worth a try,” he said with an easy shrug. “You did a really brave thing back on the Black Plains, by the way. Brave but crazy.”
“That is Pandora’s favorite combination.”
We both turned toward the door. Nero stood there, his arms folded over his chest, his eyes hard.
“Colonel Windstriker,” Jace said, scrambling to his feet.
Nero looked past him, his eyes panning with me as I rose slowly from the floor. Mischief flared up in me, and I shot him a wicked smile.
“I ordered you to train,” he said coolly.
Jace didn’t respond, so I spoke for the both of us. “We’ve spent the last four hours training. I can show you my bruised ribs to prove it.” My hand lifted to my sore right side.
“There is no need to remove your clothing at this time.”