Harker—and Nero when he was around—had been training my psychic resistance by blasting me with telekinetic spells. I’d ended each and every session with broken bones—and I hadn’t felt any more resistant than I had on day one. There was always the chance that I’d survive my next dose of Nectar anyway, but I didn’t like playing the lottery. And neither did the two angels training me.
“Maybe we need to try a different approach,” I said.
“Like what?” Harker asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Less talking. More running,” Nero told me. “If you get stronger, your magic will get stronger too. You just need a little push.”
And with that said, he pushed me again with his psychic magic. I stumbled forward but recovered my stride. This wasn’t the first time he’d done that, and it wouldn’t be the last. I had two choices: I could either get more resistant to psychic attacks and not let his magic throw me off balance, or I could get faster so he couldn’t psychic-punch me. As far as Nero was concerned, either case was a win. In either case, I got stronger. He was practical like that. I wondered if he realized how much like his father he truly was.
Damiel was now Nyx’s advisor and private Interrogator. He questioned people she didn’t want anyone to find out about. He seemed happy to get out of the ‘gilded cage’ Nero had put him in.
Stash sometimes worked with Damiel and Nero on their missions. He was keeping his true identity a secret. It was safer for him. As long as the truth stayed buried, Faris couldn’t use him to play war with his brother Zarion. Nyx and Ronan were training Stash in secret, growing his demigod powers. As Nero gave me another psychic nudge, I wondered if they were torturing Stash as much as Nero and Harker were torturing me.
Finally, we completed our final lap. Nero glanced at the time on his watch. “Nearly a minute faster than the last time we all ran together.”
We hadn’t all run together in over a week, not since Nero had left for his last mission. I’d been training alone with Harker. He wasn’t easy on me either, but at least he didn’t blast me with psychic energy when I was running. Or when I was lifting weights. I rubbed my head, remembering the loaded barbell I’d dropped on myself thanks to Nero.
“A minute faster.” I grinned at them. “Pretty good, don’t you think?”
Harker shot me a blank look, clearly unimpressed. “You need to shave another five minutes off that time.”
Oh, great. Now there were two of them. All those people who fantasized about spending time alone with two angels didn’t know what it really meant: pain. And more pain. If they’d known the truth, they wouldn’t have made all those crude jokes to me.
I tossed Nero and Harker each a water bottle. Even angels needed to stay hydrated. I made a conscious effort not to aim the bottles at their heads. They were trying to help me. I had to remember that, even when it felt like they were trying to kill me.
I put on a big smile. “I’ll get there. Don’t worry. With you two by my side, how could I possibly fail?”
Harker took a long drink from his bottle, then said to Nero, “Haven’t you warned her about tempting fate?”
“Leda doesn’t believe in fate.”
“That’s right. I don’t. I believe we all have the power to make our own way and to choose our own destiny.” I set my hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze. “The power to do the right thing.”
“Everyone can be saved?” He looked highly skeptical.
“Yes.”
“What about Colonel Fireswift?” Harker asked.
I winced. “Ok, almost anyone.”
Nero snorted.
“I guess I should amend that to: anyone who wants to be saved can be saved,” I said. “Colonel Fireswift included.”
“Funny you should say that.”
I grimaced. “I don’t think I like where that sentence is headed, Harker.”
He draped a towel over his shoulders. “Because he’s coming to New York next week.”
“Do either of you have a mission that will take me out of New York next week?” I asked the two angels.
One of Harker’s brows arched upward at me. “What happened to redeeming Colonel Fireswift?”
“I’m going to concentrate on saving the younger Fireswift first.”
“Jace Fireswift. He’s good.” Harker looked at Nero. “Almost as good as you were. And he’s determined. He also has a thing for your girl.”
“That’s not true,” I told him. “Jace is my friend.”
Harker laughed. Nero’s eyes narrowed.
“His father had him go on a string of difficult missions during the past few months. Captain Fireswift has already gained psychic magic.” Harker shot me a meaningful look. “You’re falling behind your ‘friend’, Leda. He has the benefit of his natural magic and the fact that he’s been training since he was a baby. If you don’t get your act together, he’ll beat you to the prize.”
“What prize?”
“He’ll be the first of you two to become an angel.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not a competition.”
“Tell that to Jace Fireswift,” replied Harker. “He’s determined to become an angel before you.”
“That’s his father’s influence, pressuring him.”
“That might be part of it.” A devilish gleam shone in his eyes. “But I’m sure he’s also heard that you have a thing for angels.”
Nero’s water bottle burst inside his fist.
“Don’t listen to Harker,” I told him. “He’s just trying to mess with you.”
“I know. But that doesn’t mean what he says isn’t true.”
I shook my head at Harker. “You are smarter than this. Nero is going to kick your ass if you keep annoying him.”
Harker laughed. Nero glared at him, his face cold. Then, suddenly, he laughed too. I couldn’t hold back my smile. It was nice to see them like this again. Friends again.
Nero tossed the crushed water bottle into the trash. “I have some things to attend to in my office.” He set his hands on my cheeks, then leaned down and kissed me.
It was a quick kiss, but I had to admit it left me breathless nonetheless. And that wasn’t just from the fifty miles we’d just run.
After Nero left the gym, I looked up at the clock. “Basanti is arriving soon from Storm Castle. Let’s go greet her.”
Harker nodded in agreement, then we headed down to the garage. We found her there, arguing with a mechanic who was accusing her of ruining the truck she’d checked out.
“I got attacked by a herd of savage bison,” Basanti snapped. Her hair was coming out of her bun, and her face was smudged with dirt and oil. The truck parked behind her was splattered with blood. “Of course it’s damaged. But once you rub off the blood, it won’t look half as bad.”
The mechanic shot her a look of absolute horror.
She threw up her hands in frustration. “Well, then just paint over it again. It’s what you guys do anytime the slightest mark gets on any of our trucks.” She turned her back on him and grinned at me and Harker. “I’m gone for a few months, and everyone gets promoted.”
As the mechanic fussed over the truck’s unwanted bloody paint job, I swooped in and gave her a hug. “I’m glad you’re back.”
Harker kissed her on the cheek, then we left the garage.
“Hiya,” Alec greeted Basanti in the halls. “We’ve missed you. You get lost on the Black Plains?”
Basanti shot him a confused look, but he was already walking toward the gym, trailed by a group of initiates. Alec sometimes taught them how to shoot.
“Ok, why does everyone here think I’ve been on the Black Plains?” Basanti asked us later, after several other people in the halls had made similar comments to her. “I’ve spent the last few months at Storm Castle, helping with the repairs.”
“Talk to Nero,” I told her.
“How mysterious,” Basanti said drily, glancing at my back. “I don’t see any wings on you, Leda, but you’re talking more like an angel every day.”