“Charming.”

“Oh, that’s not the best part,” he told me. “The blood wasn’t from the dead vampires. It was witch blood. It looks like there was a fight between witches and vampires, and the vampires lost.”

“How did they die?” I asked.

“They were poisoned, then burned. And get this: we found a powdery residue too. When we brought it to Dr. Harding, she told us it’s the same residue that you guys found yesterday at the Brick Palace.”

“Why did the witches kill the vampires?” Ivy asked.

Drake shrugged. “We don’t know.”

“That doesn’t bode well for the witches,” I said.

They gave me a curious look.

“The Legion believes it’s witches behind the mass poisoning yesterday, specifically the witches of the New York University of Witchcraft. We found two substances in the residue, both of which could only have come from the university. They are new experimental elements they’re developing.”

“Well, it looks like the witches are developing more than just new elements,” said Drake. “They’re developing a revolution.”

“Something wicked is brewing in New York,” Ivy agreed. Her gaze dropped to the book I’d opened beside my food tray. “The Basics of Magical Chemistry? Why are you reading that?”

“My personal trainer says I have to cram all of this knowledge into my head,” I told her.

“Your personal trainer? You mean Colonel Sexy Pants?”

I frowned. “He’s not so sexy when he slams your head against the wall. Repeatedly.”

“But whatever he’s doing with you, you’re getting better. I saw you take on Jace this morning. You were holding your own. No, more than that. You were kicking his ass.”

That was an exaggeration. I’d only beaten Jace because I didn’t have a problem using anything within reach as a weapon—and there had been a lot of things within reach in the gym.

“Nero says I still depend too much on my scrappy fighting. He says it’s not dignified.”

“But it is smart,” Drake said. “You’re resourceful, Leda. Learn all you can about dignified fighting from Colonel Windstriker, but keep your resourcefulness. Being a soldier of the Legion is about more than our bodies. It’s about our brains too. He knows that.”

“Yeah, he knows. Hence the homework.” I thumped the book. “I tried reading during our break this afternoon. After staring at all these formulas and swiggly symbols for like an hour, I can tell you I don’t feel very smart at all. I feel like the biggest moron on Earth. It’s giving me a headache, and I’m not even absorbing a fraction of the material.”

“How about a break to clear your head?” Ivy suggested.

“No time. I have to learn this.” A heavy sigh shook my chest as I glanced down at the book. “Somehow.”

“Just do your best and fudge the rest,” Ivy said.

“I don’t think that will work. Nero is going to give me a test. I know he is. There’s always a test with him.”

Like that ‘test’ last night in his apartment. He’d tried to prove I shouldn’t let my guard down in front of anyone by getting me drunk and then attacking me. Who even did something like that? Oh, a crazy angel, that’s who.

I’d always preferred to have faith in the humanity of people than write them off all as monsters, but Nero was right about one thing: trusting people had gotten me into a lot of trouble. Like what had happened with Harker. I’d trusted him, and he’d turned around and tried to sell me out to a god.

Nero was right about more things than I cared to admit to myself. I did have to study to get strong, to gain enough magic to help Zane. I stared down the fat book, silently promising it that I would conquer it.

“What you need is caffeine,” Ivy told me.

“What I need is to throw this gargantuan book at Nero Windstriker,” I muttered.

“I’m sure we can work additional weightlifting into your training.”

I glanced back to find Nero standing behind me. Of course he was. He was always right there to watch me when I put my foot in my mouth. I shot him a wide smirk, using it to cover my embarrassment at being overheard.

“Will I be throwing you or will you be throwing me?” I asked.

The look he gave me was dangerous and dark, devastating and delicious—all wrapped up into one deadly combination.

Ivy jumped to her feet. “Uh, we have to go…do some pushups together.” She grabbed Drake’s hand, pulling him along with her out of the canteen.

I watched with surprise as Nero sat down opposite me. I could almost hear the collective shock of several hundred soldiers of the Legion. Angels didn’t sit down here at this end of the room with the common foot soldiers. I was surprised the bench didn’t collapse under the weight of his profound holiness.

Nero didn’t seem to care that people were openly staring at us. He folded his hands together on the tabletop and watched me.

“Ok, what is it? Do I have something in my teeth?” I asked him.

His eyes flickered to the book. “You’ve learned the first four chapters.”

Well, learned was probably the wrong word. Made it through the first four chapters was more like it. I didn’t understand half of what I’d read. Not that I was going to let on about my inadequacy. I’d just reread the chapters again later. Surely, they had to make more sense the second time around.