“Sounds like a dull wedding,” Tessa pouted.

Calli had failed me, so I shot Bella a desperate, silent plea for support.

“Speaking of weddings, do you know who’s getting married soon?” she said. “Dale and Cindy. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Not as wonderful as an angel wedding,” Tessa said, refusing to be derailed. She looked at Nero. “What are they like?”

“Marriages of angels in the Legion are arranged. The goal is to make good magical pairings, which in turn produce offspring with a high magic potential to become angels one day.”

“Wait, what? So they tell you who you will marry?” Tessa looked horrified.

“Yes, every angel’s magic is tested, and then we are paired with a Legion soldier with a high magical compatibility.”

“Another angel?”

“Rarely. For some reason we don’t understand, angels generally have a low magical compatibility with other angels, so their spouses are chosen from the greater pool of Legion soldiers.”

“So you don’t have a choice who you get to marry?” Tessa asked.

“You can choose from the five or six soldiers whose magic is compatible with yours.”

“What about love?”

“Love doesn’t enter the equation,” he said.

“That really sucks, you know. So basically every soldier of the Legion doesn’t get to fall in love.”

“They can. These rules only apply to angels. The offspring of an angel is a hundred times more likely to later become an angel too.”

“So what if two people get married, then one later becomes an angel. Will the Legion split them up?” Tessa asked.

“It’s complicated.”

“So you’re like two hundred years old,” she said. “Why aren’t you married yet?”

How did I know that question was coming?

“The Legion hasn’t found anyone yet who has a high magic compatibility with me.”

“I wonder what your and Leda’s magic compatibility is.” She winked at me.

And I knew that one was coming too.

Calli’s phone chimed. She glanced down at the screen, then said to me, “Your distraction is ready. Ten minutes.”

“Saved by the bell.” I rose from my chair. “We have to go. Relics to find, villains to thwart.”

Nero patted his napkin to his mouth, then set it down, standing. “Thanks you for the meal. Mrs. Pierce.” He nodded to my sisters. “Ladies.”

Tessa and Gin put their heads together. Whispers and giggles rose from them. I thought I caught the word ‘wings’. Nero and I walked out of the dining room. Right before he passed through the door, golden swirls of magic slid down his back. Wings appeared where nothing had been the moment before, the full tapestry of black, green, and blue feathers spreading wide so the girls could get a good look. They squealed in delight. Nero tucked his wings against his back, then he followed me into the cellar.

“You shouldn’t encourage my sisters’ silliness,” I told him as we strapped on the weapons we’d brought along. We would need them to survive the monsters who roamed the Black Plains.

Nero’s eyes were laughing at me.

“What?”

“It was worth it just to see you so flustered.” His wings vanished. He’d put them away to leave more space for swords and guns. “I’ve never seen you like this. Well, except maybe that time you marched up to my apartment to confront me after you tossed your panties on the floor of my office.”

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself at my expense,” I said through clenched teeth.

“It’s only fair.”

“What do you mean?”

“After all those times you tried to incite me.”

“I never do that.”

“Purposely forgetting Legion decorum, tossing things in a fight…”

“Ok, so maybe I sometimes do that to get a reaction out of you,” I admitted. “But mostly I do it because it’s just who I am.”

“Wearing those skirts,” he added.

“Which ones?”

“You know which ones, so don’t play coy with me.” He cast a long, languid look across my body, and though I was dressed in long sleeves and pants, I suddenly felt very naked. “The ones so short that I can’t help but think about what you’re wearing under them. Or not wearing under them. Leda, do not walk around me with no underwear on if you expect me to behave myself.”

“Ah, I hadn’t thought you’d noticed,” I said coyly, just for him.

“Of course I noticed.” He inhaled slowly, deeply. “You knew I would. You tempted me after making me promise to take this slow. Leda, I cannot take it slow with you.”

My back hit the doorframe.

“And then there are these tops you wear. Designed to tempt me.”

He popped open the buttons of my jacket.

“Oh, you mean my uniform?”

“Yes. That.” As soft as an angel feather, his fingers slid below my tank top strap, teasing it aside. “When this mission is over, we are going to have a second date. We will eat dinner and dessert, and then I will bring you back to my apartment.”

His mouth dipped to my throat. He drew my hard, throbbing vein between his teeth and sucked. A harsh, unintelligible noise scraped past my lips.

“You don’t want to take it slow,” he told me.