Yes, I decided, thinking of Zane. I would change for him, to save him. I had to change to save him. With that decided, I uncorked the vial. I was about to drink it down when a rush of magic cut through the room, carrying Nero inside. His sword was drawn and flaming, his wings spread wide. His gaze flickered to the vial in my hand before meeting my eyes again.

“Leda, I can’t let you drink that.”

21

Secret

“Nero,” I said, struggling to keep my words civil. “I don’t need another lecture about proper procedures.”

“You can’t drink that,” he replied, undeterred by my icy tone. “If you do, it will kill you. It’s the gods’ Nectar, concentrated. It’s the most potent stuff they have. It’s what the gods themselves drink. It won’t just make you an angel, it will essentially make you a god.”

“And?”

“And within the week, it will kill you,” he added definitively.

I glanced over at Harker, whose mouth thinned into a stubborn line. But beyond that stubbornness lay a hint of something else: guilt.

“So it’s true,” I said.

“The Nectar of the gods is pure magic,” replied Harker. “What we soldiers of the Legion drink in the ceremonies is only a diluted version of the real thing. The first dose has only a drop of the Nectar. With each successive level, the dose is more potent. Until you get to this.” He pointed at the vial.

Nero gave him a hard look. “Only an angel of the highest level can drink this and survive.”

“Why would you give this to me?” I asked Harker.

He didn’t answer.

Nero answered for him. “Because he was told to.”

“What do you mean?”

“Harker has been taking his orders from a god,” said Nero. “Earlier today, I followed whispers of a plot to kill you. Only I didn’t find what I expected. This god doesn’t want to kill you. He wants to use you to find your brother. A telepath.” He paused. “That is your secret.”

Now I was the one not talking.

Nero’s eyes slid over to Harker, his voice dropping to dangerous levels. “You like her. Really like her. I know you do. And you are trading her for your wings.”

I swallowed the taste of betrayal, and it burned the whole way down. “You were promised wings?” I asked Harker. I couldn’t even look at him.

“I was.”

“How long?” I growled. “How long were you playing me?”

“It wasn’t like that, Leda. I do like you.”

I wasn’t interested in platitudes, only answers. “How long?”

“Since you joined.”

“That’s why you were helping me,” I realized, laughing bitterly. “You needed to get me strong enough.”

“You needed the gods’ first gift before you could take this without dying instantly.” His gaze flickered to the vial in my hands. “But I don’t think you’d die in a week.”

“A month then?” I snapped.

“Isn’t that what you were willing to do, to risk your life to save your brother?” he asked. “And, for the record, drinking the Nectar wouldn’t have killed you.”

I couldn’t guess if he really believed those words. And I wouldn’t try to. Apparently, I had the worst lie detector on the planet.

But Nero sure wasn’t buying it. “That Nectar kills anyone below level ten,” he told Harker. “It would kill me.”

“You didn’t see how fast she healed, Nero. And remember how she took right to the second dose of Nectar. There’s something about her. She’s different. My god told me as much. He guaranteed me that she wouldn’t die.”

“You used me.” I hurled the words in his face and hoped they hurt him more than they hurt me. I was petty that way. “You pretended to care about me.”

“I didn’t pretend.”

“You used me for your own personal gain. I will not help you enslave my brother.”

With that said, I threw the vial to the floor. The glass shattered, and the fluid spilled out, quickly losing its shimmer.

“It is the will of the gods,” Harker told me. “There’s no way around it.”

“It is not the will of the gods. It is the will of one god, a play he’s making,” Nero said.

“Do you know which god?” I asked him.

“No.” That appeared to annoy him to no end. “But I will find out and then report this to the Council of Gods.”

“You have no idea who you’re messing with,” Harker told us.

“No. You don’t know who you are messing with.” I punched him in the face.

It was a good punch, fast, crisp, powerful—but it never would have gotten through Harker’s defenses if he hadn’t been gazing wistfully at the liquid evaporating at my feet. As Harker straightened to fight back, Nero shot him with a tranquilizer much bigger than the ones we’d used on the vampires. Harker took a single, staggered step forward, then collapsed unconscious to the floor.

“I had it,” I told Nero as he bound Harker’s hands and feet.

“No offense, Pandora, but one lucky punch does not make you ready to take on a seventh level soldier of the Legion.”

“He’s still weak from the last fight,” I pointed out.

“And so are you.”

“I don’t like the way you argue.”