I really didn’t think a Legion prison could hold her once her magic returned. She was powerful enough to implant any idea in the guards’ heads, including the idea to let her go. I hoped Heaven’s Army could contain her. I thought they could. Gods did have telepathic magic, after all.
“What of the curse?” I asked.
“Now that we know how Faith created it, we can reverse it,” Jiro told me.
I smiled at him. “Even though that means interfering?”
He grimaced.
“Faith was using magic she had no right to use,” Eva told him. “We’re just setting it right. The guilty will be punished. And the champion will be rewarded. Isn’t that right, Nyx?” She glanced at the First Angel.
Nyx looked at me, a sigh heavy on her lips. “Looks like I’ll need to add a new pin to your uniform, Pandora. You know, it’s customary for the Legion to decide to promote the soldier, and only then does the soldier gain magic. You’re doing things backwards again.”
“What can I say?” I smirked at her. “I’m a different kind of angel.”
A few people in the crowd chuckled.
However, Alessandro, the King Demon bellowed, “I demand to know what the blazes is going on! Who is that young girl? And why are you all acting like we just averted the apocalypse?”
“It’s a long story,” I told him. “The short of it is all the gods and demons here nearly died tonight, but I saved you. You’re welcome.” I glanced at the demons, then at the gods. “I expect a statue of me in both of your council chambers promptly. Now, if anyone needs me, I’ll be camped out in front of the dessert table.”
30
Unstoppable Destiny
I stood at the gala’s dessert table, comparing and contrasting the culinary qualities of cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, and raspberry cheesecake.
“I just talked to Calli,” Gypsy said as she joined me.
“So you know everything now?”
“Yes.”
I pried my gaze from the dessert table to shoot her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry I ever suspected you.”
Gypsy shrugged. “I don’t blame you. I actually am a suspicious gal. I did a lot of bad things when I was younger, and I did serve a little time in prison.”
I didn’t press her for details, though I was really curious about that.
“Remember how I told you about my lost love?” Gypsy asked me.
I nodded.
“His name was Mars. I was sixteen, and he was a real bad boy, rough, tough, and intelligent too. So of course I fell hopelessly in love with him. He saw I had a talent for making people like me, so he pulled me into some of his highly illegal undertakings. For years, we were living high on love and adrenaline until…” She sighed. “Until I made one too many mistakes and got caught.”
She took a deep breath. “It was in a small Frontier town called Null. The sheriff tried to get me to talk, to name my accomplices in exchange for my freedom. I looked so young and cute, he probably thought he’d crack me within the hour. But I refused. That refusal cost me a week in the town jail. The sheriff wanted to keep me there longer, but he needed all the cells he had to hold the rogue shifters the paranormal soldiers had caught.”
“Lucky break,” I commented.
“I was lucky, but in a most unexpected way,” Gypsy said. “Anyway, I went free. Mars and his gang were always on the move, but I knew their style. I looked through crime reports and figured out which ones they’d been behind. I followed their trail all the way to them. I guess that was the first time I’d had to track down anyone who didn’t want to be found. It was pretty exciting.”
“That’s why you became a bounty hunter?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I became a bounty hunter because I really enjoyed the thrill of the chase. And because, well, when I saw Mars again after my incarceration, things had changed. Actually, I was the one who’d changed. He was the same person he’d always been, just as reckless and exciting and loose with the laws of the land. But that wasn’t the life for me anymore. As soon as I saw him, I just knew it wasn’t. He invited me to a meeting about a new job they were going to run. I never showed up. I just quietly left town—and left that life behind me.”
“Including Mars.”
“Yes. To this day, I regret that I didn’t have the courage to talk to him, to try to convince him that we could have a different life. But I was afraid of what he’d say to me, and of the look of disappointment in his eyes when he said it. So I just left without a word. I often think about him and wonder where he is today. I wonder what things would have been like if I’d just talked to him that day. I guess I’ll never know.”
“Why didn’t you ever look him up?” I asked her.
She shook her head slowly. “I guess I’m afraid. Afraid he’s still angry with me for running off. Or, worse yet, that he’s moved on with his life, that he hardly remembers me at all.”
She wiped the back of her hand across one wet cheek, then the other. She put on a smile as she met my eyes. “But enough sob stories. I just wanted to come over and say I hope we can still be friends. Even though I broke into your apartment.”
“Why did you do that anyway?”
She inhaled deeply, then declared, “Your shampoo smells great.”
“Uh, thanks.”
“It’s a new scent, isn’t it?”
“It is. My old shampoo smelled like cherry blossoms.”
“And this is angel lily?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“You found the bottle in your shower?”
“Yeah. I guess my assistant Lucy got it for me. I was out of my old shampoo. I was going to tell her to buy me some more, but I forgot. When I saw it there, I figured she’d anticipated my needs. She is always doing that.” My gaze snapped to Gypsy. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
She chuckled.
“Why go through all the trouble of breaking into my office to put a bottle of shampoo in my shower?” I asked.
“Not just any shampoo. Angel lily shampoo.”
“That doesn’t answer the question of why you broke into my office to give me shampoo.”
“Because angel lily is known to have a quite pronounced effect on male angels.” Gypsy glanced over my shoulder. “See you around, Leda.”
Then she hurried off.
“Everyone is praising you as a worthy emissary between heaven and hell.” Nero closed in behind me. “Yet here you are hiding in front of the dessert table.”
I leaned back into him. “I like dessert. And I’ve had quite enough of gods and demons for one day.”
“Leda…I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For hurting you. A few days ago, I told you that you’d created a rift between us by not involving me in your decision.” He sighed, and his chest rocked. “But I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about myself. This business with Faith…I didn’t involve you in it. I didn’t tell you what was going on.”
“You couldn’t. Faith was in my head, reading my thoughts. It was the only way.”