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“Let me know how much you need to budget for the bounty hunters.”
“Will do.” She put down the folder. “Leda, I appreciate that you’re giving me something to do, but you know I still don’t like being stuck here in this protective bubble.”
“Neither do I, but you raised me to always make the best of any situation. And right now, even stuck here on this airship, we can all make a big difference. We can turn around the lives of so many people of Earth. We can change their fate.”
“Well, it is hard to argue with my own advice. And I’m very proud of what you’re trying to do for all these people who’ve never had anyone look out for them.” Calli grabbed the folder and rose to her feet. She tapped the front cover. “I’ll get back to you on this,” she said, offering me a smile.
Then she left the room.
I turned to the other ladies. “Where were we?”
“Your cat has eaten all of our cheese,” Andromeda told me. “That’s where we are.”
“Not all of our cheese,” I said. “Stash ate at least half of it himself.”
I glanced back at Stash, who popped one of the aforementioned cheese pieces into his mouth. From the Court Chamber to the garden library, he was never far from my side. When Faris had assigned him to watch over me, he must have known my cousin would take my personal safety very seriously.
In another life, my father’s gesture might have been heartwarming, but this wasn’t another life. It was my crazy life. Faris only cared about keeping me alive because he saw me as an investment, as a unique weapon—and that went double for my unborn child.
“Pandora, when we were assigned the task of protecting the Angel of Chaos, I expected something a lot more exciting,” Punch complained. “Instead we get a long, boring Angels’ Court and tiny hors d’oeuvres.”
“You seem to be enjoying those hors d’oeuvres,” I pointed out. “You’ve had at least twenty of them.”
“Because they’re tiny.” Punch squeezed two fingers close together. “And I’m big.” He spread his arms wide.
“That’s my brother Punch in a nutshell,” Patch declared.
The whole team from Heaven’s Army was here in the garden library right now. A few of them had been stationed in the Court Chamber at any given time during the day.
“I was sure something would attack the airship by now,” Punch said. “Seriously, I’m disappointed. You’re not living up to your name, Pandora. You’re supposed to be the de facto trouble magnet. That’s why I took this assignment.”
I smirked at him. “I thought you took this assignment because when Faris says jump, you ask, how high?”
Punch snorted and patted me hard on the shoulder.
“I must agree with Punch,” Octavian said.
Arabelle laughed. “That’s a first.”
Octavian’s fingers drummed on the knife strapped to his arm. “I too was hoping for something more exciting than the Lords’ Gala.”
“But this is so much more important than fighting monsters or listening to bickering gods,” I told them. “We are helping people who can’t help themselves.”
“Why ever would you want to help someone who can’t even help themselves?” Devlin asked me.
“Indeed,” said Theon. “How can the humans help you if they can’t help themselves? What’s the gain in that?”
I rose to my feet. “Because it’s the right thing to do. It’s not all about gain. It’s about mercy. And compassion. Maybe helping some of those people will allow them to turn their fortunes around. And maybe they will help us later. But more importantly, helping people shows everyone that the Legion cares. Then other people will come forward to help us, to volunteer, because they know we have their back, that we will look out for them and for the greater good. Nyx told me to build up the trust of Earth’s people, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Arabelle looked me over, then declared, “You might be wiser than your frazzled appearance would indicate.”
“And your out-of-the-box thinking does often seem to work out,” Devlin said. “You, Leda Pandora, might be just what this situation calls for.”
That was high praise from the rule-abiding team leader of these godly soldiers. I smiled at him to let him know I appreciated his words.
The door opened, and two of the kitchen staff walked in, carrying tasty reinforcements.
“The next round of food is here, thank the gods,” I said.
