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“So,” I said, facing her.
The air between me and my demon mother was heavy with the ghosts of our past.
“So.” Grace waved her hand at her soldiers.
Beside me, Nero’s leather armor creaked. He’d grown very tense. I held our daughter close to my chest.
But Grace’s soldiers didn’t attack us. They merely spread their wings, and flew into the sky, a few at a time.
She nodded at me. “Until next time, Leda.”
I held very still. “You mean, when my daughter and I don’t have an army at our backs.”
Grace stepped toward me. She stopped when Nero moved between us. “Calm down, Windstriker,” she said impatiently. “I am not going to take your child away from you.”
“But that was always the plan,” I told her. “Your plan.”
Grace sighed. “Plans change.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not the plans of deities.”
“Well, I suppose I’m not a very good deity, no more than you are a very good angel.” Grace winked at me again. “Where do you think you got your spirit, Leda? Certainly not from Faris?!”
Stash moved to my side. His eyes didn’t waver from Grace. “Inside, she is a lot like you, sweetness. You just have to be able to see past all the demonic window dressings.”
Which Stash could. He had the power to see through to someone’s soul, to who they truly were deep down, their core essence.
“Ava was right,” I said quietly, not blinking, just looking into Grace’s eyes.
She gave me a curious look.
“I found out some things about Ava,” I told her. “By the way, she was the one to tell Sonja where you were hiding with me.”
Grace’s expression went from curious to angry.
“She thought the real reason you didn’t want to drop me off on Earth was that you’d grown attached to me, that you’d come to care for me. She was right, wasn’t she?”
“Yes.” Her word dropped like a stone between us. “Ava was right.”
Ava suddenly appeared in front of her sister. “I always am.”
Eight identical women were with her. I hadn’t met all of the octuplets yet, but of the ones that I had met, I thought I could pick out which one was which. Gertrude was so stately. Indira was shining with so much energy. Rosette’s stance was nimble, like she was ready for anything. And River was quiet and reserved. The others I didn’t have a clear read on yet.
I handed Nero our daughter, then I stepped up to Ava. “I thought you’d show up, Auntie, once all the smoke had cleared.”
Ava’s eyes darted to Sierra.
My cat hissed at my demon aunt.
“You won’t be taking her,” I told her. “She isn’t your weapon. And she’s my daughter.”
Flames burst up all across my halo. Even my wings were on fire. But the fire didn’t hurt. It felt just right.
Ava simpered at me. “You are a very foolish child.”
I glared back at her. “Then teach me a lesson, if you can.”
Ava moved so fast that I could barely see her, but I was ready. I grabbed her wrist, and swung around, tossing her a good ten feet.
