Jinx set his hand over his heart. “Callista, I’m hurt that you see me that way. My kind is highly misunderstood. I’m actually quite noble at heart.”
“I’m sure.” She pulled him out of his seat. “Let’s go, Mr. Noble.”
“Wait.”
Calli turned to look at me. “Do you want to throw him out yourself, Leda?”
“No.” I sighed. “Let him stay.”
Calli’s dark brows scrunched up. “Are you sure? He’s aggravated you more than he has anyone else here.”
“I know. And, yes, I’m sure. Jinx is a hyena, but he did help me and Gypsy sort through some things earlier. He’s not entirely useless.”
“You heard her, Pierce.” Jinx peeled Calli’s hand off his arm. “I’m not entirely useless.” He smoothed out the wrinkles in his leather jacket. As he sat down, he grinned at me. “Why, Leda, I do think you like me after all.”
I scowled at him. “Don’t push it. I don’t trust you, Jinx, and I will be watching you. This isn’t some low and dirty job to make some quick cash. The whole Earth is at stake. So if you try to stab us in the back, I’ll string you from the wall by your ankles and see how long it takes the monsters to get you. Do I make myself clear?”
“Perfectly.”
His grin didn’t fade, but it did wobble. Maybe I was getting through to him.
“Good,” I said. “Then everyone follow me, and I’ll show you the way to my airship. We have a long flight ahead of us.”
Shortly after we boarded my airship, I retired to my cabin to get some sleep. I turned on the news—then quickly turned it off again. It was just more of the same, and all it did was shake my faith in humanity.
Humans rioting against supernaturals, irrationally afraid that the magic curse would spread to people without magic.
Warring supernatural divisions each blaming the others.
And, to top it all off, rogue supernaturals screaming that this was all a conspiracy, propagated by the Legion to control them, to rob them of their magic and make them weak. Apparently, we’d created this curse in order to make them ripe for conquest.
I drifted off to sleep, my mind still buzzing with these images of strife and calls for war.
“You shouldn’t listen to them.”
I was already smiling before I’d turned around. “Nero.”
He stood before me, lit up by white light, his dark wings fluttering in the breeze of my dreams.
“Fear has driven them to lash out at anyone or anything they can look to and blame,” he said. “Their screams are loud, but you must remain focused on what’s really important: ending this curse. Do that, and their fear will subside.”
I took a step toward him. “I’ve missed you.”
“I am always here, Leda. Always with you.”
“But are you really here, talking to me?” I asked. “Or are you simply a figment of my imagination, given life by my own wishful thinking?”
“Does it matter?” He spread his arms.
I shook my head. “Not right now. I just want you with me, in any way that I can.”
I stepped into his arms. They folded over me, holding me tightly. I sighed in contentment and melted into him.
“How touching.”
At the crack of Faris’s voice, Nero faded away. I reached out, trying to grasp at the dissipating smoke that had once been my husband, but it slipped right through my fingers. He was gone. Nero was gone.
I spun around and glowered at the God of Heaven’s Army. “What do you want, Faris?”
His gaze slid across the fading smoke, then focused on me. “He’s gone.”
“Thanks to you.”
“No, thanks to you, child. He’s gone because of you. I had nothing to do with it.”
A deep, penetrating chill took hold over my heart. He knew. Faris knew what I’d done.
“Windstriker is right to be angry with you for what you did,” he continued, his words giving voice to my fears. “I’m angry with you too. You’ve delayed my plans.”
I stared at him, allowing defiance to shine in my eyes.
“Don’t look so happy about it. You might be able to delay the inevitable, but make no mistake that it is inevitable. My Orchestra has seen it. You and Nero Windstriker will have a daughter. And she will be magnificent, all that I ever hoped for. These petty delay tactics are only hurting you, Leda. You might as well accept your fate. You may begin by repairing your relationship with Windstriker and fixing this mess that you made.”
“So Nero and I can get started making the baby you want to steal from us?” I shook my head.
His brows peaked. “So just to spite me, you’d rather deny your husband what he wants most: a child with you?”
“You really are an ass, Faris.”
“And you are an ungrateful child. I’m offering to help you.”
“Thanks for the relationship advice, but you don’t know a thing about relationships.”
“Go to Windstriker.”
“And then do what? Beg for forgiveness on my knees? You’d not approve of that either.”
“Of course not. A god does not grovel.” He rolled back his shoulders and lifted his nose. “All you need to do is compel Windstriker to forgive you.”
“Brainwash him with my magic?” I said drily.
“You do have the power. Do not underestimate your magic, Leda. An archangel is strong, but not as strong as you.”
“Don’t be so sure. Nero has Immortal blood, remember?”
“I forget nothing.”
His words cut a shiver down my spine.
“Even Windstriker’s Immortal blood is not up to your magic,” Faris continued. “I’ve witnessed just what you can do when sufficiently motivated. Like when you compelled a horde of beasts, for example.”
I was really getting sick and tired of Faris always knowing everything—and how he was forever ten steps ahead of me. At this moment, I had a fleeting thought that he’d unleashed this whole catastrophic curse on Earth to push me and Nero back together.
The more time Nero and I spent together, the more likely we’d surrender ourselves to the passion of the moment. We’d come pretty close to that tonight. I’d been amazed at how, despite our fight, we’d quickly settled back into our old rhythms. A day or two more of working together, and who could say what would have happened.
And the crazy thing was, a part of me didn’t care what Faris might be trying to do. I just wanted to be with Nero, for things to be back to the way they’d been.
No, Faris couldn’t be behind the curse. Even he was not that diabolical. Or wasn’t he?
I took a deep breath, steeling myself against heartbreak. If Faris thought he could manipulate me, he had another thing coming. For someone who was a self-proclaimed expert in manipulating people, he sure didn’t understand his own daughter at all.
“I will never use my magic to seize control of Nero’s will,” I declared.
“Why not?”
“Because that’s not how love works,” I told him. “You can’t force someone to love you. And you can’t force the one you love to do whatever you say.”