He ignored my question. “And at that moment, he ceased to be the merciless soldier he is supposed to be. Between the two of you, he is the superior fighter. He could have beaten you many times over during the course of your duel, and yet you won. Because he didn’t press his advantage. You have made him weaker.”

“So basically you’re accusing me of ruining a perfectly good soldier.”

“No, I’m blaming him for letting you,” he told me, his eyes burning with emotion.

I still couldn’t help but think that we were really talking about Nero, but I said nothing. If he was afraid I made him too human, then any relationship between us was doomed from the beginning. That bothered me more than it should have. Didn’t I want to avoid a relationship that would only end in heartache? The problem was that a small part of me refused to believe our relationship was doomed—and despite my best efforts, that small part was growing.

“Now,” Nero said, all traces of emotion gone from his eyes. “Let’s see how well you hold up against someone who isn’t distracted by flying water bottles.”

12

Three Wishes

Nero spent the next hour showing me what it meant to have no mercy or humanity. His argument was a convincing one. I certainly believed in his merciless inhumanity while he was adding fresh injuries to the ones Jace had inflicted on me, but then he healed me at the end. The cynic in me told me that he just wanted me to live to fight another day. That small, hopeful voice disagreed; it decided he wanted to spare me the pain of bruised bones. This time, my cynical side won the argument. He’d kicked my ass so thoroughly that the memories of the pain lingered on long after his magic had healed my body.

When I got back to my apartment, Ivy was bustling around the living room, clearly agitated. Her mood was in stark opposition to her very put-together outfit: a green short-sleeved sweater dress paired with brown leather boots and a matching belt.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

She spun around to face me as I closed the door behind me. “Have you seen my brown purse? I can’t find it anywhere, and I’m late.”

“Did you look in the refrigerator?”

“The refrigerator?” she asked, her red eyebrows drawing together as she power-walked to Drake’s mini fridge. “Why would it be…” Her confusion only deepened when she found her purse inside. “This is weird. How did it get in there? And how did you know it was in there?”

“Drake was experimenting this morning,” I told her. “I guess he forgot to take it out.”

Ivy shook her head. “Do I want to know what this experiment was and why he needed my purse for it?”

“I don’t even know what he was doing.”

Ivy peeked inside her purse. “Well, it looks the same as before.” With that said, her usual smile returned. “Ok, I am—” She froze, her eyes panning up and down me. “What happened to you?”

“We almost got blown up by witches, then I trained with Jace for four hours until Nero came back to further kick my ass.”

“You’re bleeding!”

“Not anymore. It’s old blood. It’s all dry by now.”

Rather than appeasing her, my words only seemed to make things worse. “Your day sucked.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “It really did.”

“Well, don’t just stand there. We’re going to turn it right around. Get cleaned up and changed, and then you’re coming with me to Three Wishes.”

“Three Wishes?”

“It’s a club,” she said. “There’s a party going on tonight, and I’m bringing you.”

“I thought you were late.”

“Fashionably late, and we both are,” she said, nudging me toward my room. “Come on.”

“Is this a Legion club?” I asked her as I began to put on the clothes she was pulling out of my closet.

“No, it’s a fairy club.”

“Good.”

“Good?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Ah.” Her eyes lit up in understanding. “You’re not avoiding a certain angel, are you?”

Yes. “I just thought it would be nice to get away from the rigidity of the Legion for a bit.”

“Uh-huh.” I could tell she wasn’t fooled. “Well, it’s just a small group of us going to Three Wishes. There shouldn’t be anyone else from the Legion. A few of the Legion clubs are having a party tonight, so everyone will be at those, not where we’re going.”

Thank goodness. I finished dressing in record time, then said, “Ok. Show me to this angel-free party zone.”

Three Wishes wasn’t as extravagant as the Legion clubs. It didn’t have marble floors, diamond sculptures, or fancy light shows. The club was rather rustic actually. The wood floor creaked, and the furniture was etched with the chips and scratches of time. And rather than a high-end, Magitech-powered stereo system, a live band played on the raised stage.

In one word, the fairy club was perfect.

Ivy had been right. Except for her date, the now-Captain Diaz, and half a dozen others she’d invited, there wasn’t a single Legion soldier to be found inside Three Wishes. After a round of sparkling shots, we played our way through the game stations all around the club. There was pool and air hockey and darts. For a dollar, we could even arm-wrestle a werewolf. A muscular man with chin-length hair and a two-day beard, the werewolf grinned at me when I sat down opposite him, but his smile faded the moment he realized I wasn’t as weak as he’d thought.