“Because your wedding made me, Leda. You’re all the rage. And so now are angel weddings. I’m getting so many bookings for them. All the brides want to be just like you. And they want their grooms to be just like Nero.”
“If a bride wants her groom to be a different person, maybe she should actually marry a different person,” Basanti said practically.
“A lot of women think they can change their man. But no one’s changing me,” Alec declared proudly. “If the Legion can’t change who I am, then no one can.”
“No one thinks they can change you, Alec,” Ivy assured him. “It’s universally accepted that you’re a hopeless cause.”
His whole face lit up with a grin. “Why, thank you, Ivy.”
“I’m glad your business is doing well,” I said to Tessa. “But couldn’t you have used another wedding in the magazine?”
“Oh, no. It had to be you. You’re an angel, Leda. You can’t feature an angel wedding without an angel.”
“Someone should tell that to all those brides buying angel weddings,” Drake chuckled.
Basanti grunted in assent.
I just sighed. “I thought Bella was coming with you today,” I said to Tessa.
“She’ll be along soon.” My sister didn’t even look up from the magazine, but she did snicker.
What could that mean? Maybe Tessa had played a practical joke on Bella, something like drawing a mustache on her face with a marker while she was sleeping. Tessa had pulled that silly prank on all of us back when we’d been kids.
It wasn’t long before I got my answer to the source of Tessa’s glee. Bella entered the canteen. There was no marker-mustache on her face, but she was with Harker. Like really with him. They weren’t holding hands or anything like that, but something had changed between them. I could sense it in the way they moved, and I could see it in the way they looked at each other.
“What brings you here, Harker?” Basanti asked him as he sat down at our table.
“I’m escorting Bella from New York,” he replied. “It’s a dangerous journey.”
The trip from New York to Purgatory was one hour by high-speed train through quiet, empty plains on the right side of civilization. It wasn’t any more dangerous than a trip to the local grocery store. So either Harker just wanted to spend time with Bella, or he was worried that something other than monsters would get her. I suspected the answer was a little bit of both. He was in love with Bella, and being the granddaughter of a demon did make her life dangerous.
“Escorting Bella?” Alec sounded disappointed. “And here I was, thinking you just wanted to steal Leda’s food.”
“He knows better than to try that one again.” I flashed Harker a grin.
He returned the gesture, his blue eyes twinkling. Though his smile had grown a tad harder, even wiser, since he’d been made an angel, there was still humor in that smile.
“I don’t know about that,” Basanti said. “I think Harker will definitely try to raid the parfait buffet.”
Like Basanti, Harker had been once a student of Leila Starborn, the Fire Dragon and Angel of Storm Castle. They’d been friends for years, and Basanti knew him better than anyone except for Nero.
“Parfaits?” I said, surprised. “Really? That’s your weakness?”
“Yes, really,” replied Harker. “Now you know my weakness. Don’t try to throw a parfait at me during training.”
“You know how I am, Harker. Everything that isn’t nailed down is fair game.”
“And even some things that are nailed down,” Ivy snickered. “I still remember how you got Jace Fireswift tangled up in some gym ropes when we were all initiates.”
I laughed. “Nero gave me such a chewing out over that. He claimed tangling up your opponent during training wasn’t dignified.”
“Well, what would you do if one of your initiates tangled up her opponent in gym ropes instead of performing the exercise that you’d set her?” Basanti asked.
“Applaud her for her stellar creative thinking skills?” I suggested.
Basanti buried her face in her hands.
Creativity can be a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands, Pandora.
My gaze zeroed in on the canteen’s doorway. Nero stood there, dressed in a fitted leather uniform that made me wish he was wearing nothing at all.
And creativity is dangerous in my hands? I asked him.
Everything is dangerous in your hands.
There was a light in Nero’s green eyes as they drank me in, a light that made me feel like I was the only woman in the world and nothing else mattered. His gaze caught on the necklace he’d given me earlier this morning. He looked pleased that I was still wearing it. Magic crackled, supercharging the large space between us. A slow, sexy smile twisted his lips. Oh, yes, he was pleased. Very pleased.
“Leda, your hair is blushing,” Ivy whispered to me.
The look in Nero’s eyes had left my body flushed and my skin tingling. Of course my hair had wanted to be heard too. I tried to calm it down. My hair was like a big mood ring, broadcasting whatever I was feeling to anyone around to see it. Controlling my hair was especially difficult when my emotions were running hot. Suffice it to say, Nero had a talent for making my emotions run hot.
At least I’d managed to stop my wings before they’d exploded out of my back. My wings were even worse than my hair. They also changed color with my changing emotions, but they had a much bigger canvas size to broadcast my feelings to the world.
I missed you, I told Nero.
Sure it hadn’t even been an hour since we’d been together, but it already felt like an eternity. My time with Heaven’s Army had kept us apart for a whole week. After that ordeal, I didn’t want him to ever again leave my side. I wanted nothing short of being with him every second of every day, from here on out to eternity. Because there was no better life than this.
Of course you missed me, he said. We are two hearts in one. And when you venture too far from me, it feels like a part of me has been ripped away.
I rose from my seat. No wonder you were so irritable with my soldiers, I teased him. I could hardly stop myself from running full-speed at him.
Nero stepped over the threshold, into the canteen. I was only steps away from him. I briefly considered throwing propriety to the wind and jumping into his arms, but the sight of his parents walking in behind him put those plans on hold.
Damiel stepped forward, his gaze focused on my new jewelry. “What a beautiful necklace, Leda.”
“Thank you. Nero gave it to me.”
“Destiny stones are exceedingly rare. And very, very expensive.” He glanced at his son. “I didn’t realize that you had accumulated that much wealth, Nero.”
Nero’s green eyes met his father’s blue ones. “Being a loyal Legion soldier is more profitable than faking your own death and going rogue.”
Damiel was already opening his mouth to counter, but Cadence was faster to the draw. “Leda, Damiel and I have come to help you on your demon errand.”
She looked different than the last time I’d seen her, on the night of my wedding. Damiel looked different too. I couldn’t quite put my finger on how they’d changed, but that change was undeniable. Even their halos seemed to have a different kind of glow to them.