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“No,” Damiel said. “We’re leaving the Legion because we’re leaving Earth. Cadence and I, we had to spend centuries apart.” He cast a look at his wife that was so loving, so romantic, that my heart fluttered in solidarity. “From now on, we want to spend our lives together.”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing?” I asked. “You control two large territories together. You go on missions together.”
Cadence sighed. “We’re exhausted, Leda. After all these years, we’re so tired of having to rush in to save the world. We missed so much of Nero’s childhood. We don’t want to miss a moment of Eira’s.” A tear slid down her cheek. “We just want to be a family. Together.”
Nero and I exchanged looks. “We’ll miss you,” I said because I knew the words were hard for him. Growing up, he’d thought his parents were dead, so he’d put up a big wall and stuck everything he felt about them behind it. Only now was he slowly tearing it down, stone by stone.
“We said together, Leda. That means all of us.” Cadence reached out with both hands, taking mine and Nero’s. “We want the three of you to come with us: you and Nero and Sierra. We can be a family, living a peaceful life away from the wars of gods and demons and Guardians.”
“What about saving the universe?” I asked.
“After all that we’ve done for it, the universe owes you,” Damiel said. “It owes all of us. We’ve all sacrificed so much for the greater good, time and time again. Now it’s our turn to live in peace.”
“I…” I glanced at Nero. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything,” Cadence said. “You don’t have to make a decision right now. Just please think it over.”
“We will,” Nero promised her.
Cadence gave him a smile. And I recognized that smile. It was the same smile I saw on Nero’s face when he looked at our daughter.
“I will make you that portal now.” Nero turned, closing his eyes. To concentrate. Or maybe to process the big bombshell his parents had dropped on us. A ripple, a slight tear, appeared in the air in front of him, barely perceptible. “That will bring you to Purgatory,” he told me.
“Thank you.” I gave his hand a parting squeeze before I stepped through, leaving him and his parents to try to stop a war before it began.
Nero’s portal was spot-on, bringing me right into the middle of our bedroom. After that rainy, mud-splashed adventure, I seriously needed a change of clothes. Afterwards, I tried calling Faris to warn him that his brother was a war-mongering loony.
Of course he didn’t answer. He never answered when I had something important to tell him.
So I headed downstairs.
“Don’t worry, I’m here,” I said to my assistant Lucy as I slid into my office.
She was seated in front of my desk, dressed in a fitted navy dress and a matching pair of skinny-heeled shoes, a computer balanced on her lap. Her hair was pinned up into a sophisticated twist.
Lucy was one of the few Legion soldiers who pretty much never saw combat. She was too busy trying to organize my chaotic life. And she was damn good at it.
“I have the plans for the Purgatory office’s new gym here for your approval,” she said as I took my seat behind the desk.
The gym plans were waiting for me when I opened my computer.
“After that, we will go through the building proposals for three new towns on the former Plains of Monsters,” Lucy continued. “Then we will move on to the proposal for the new airship construction plant. And then finish up with an update of Purgatory’s underground water system upgrades.”
“How is the water system? No more giant mutant rats wandering around the tunnels, I hope?”
“At the end, Leda,” she reminded me.
She was saving the item I cared about most for the end, the dessert to this very bland meal.
“Ok, let me have it,” I said, glancing at my computer screen.
Forty-five minutes later, I’d made a lot of decisions that I hoped were right—but I wasn’t sure if they were—and eaten through the whole bag of pretzels I kept in my desk drawer. Yes, I was stress eating. Making decisions about how people would live and work was stressful. I was so out of my depths. I was no administrator. I only barely managed to put on matching socks when I got up in the morning.
“You’re doing great,” Lucy assured me. She always knew when I was stressing. “Now we’re down to just the water system.”
“Great.” I grabbed a bag of gummy bears out of my other snack drawer. “So what’s the deal with the rats?”
“Dr. Harding and her team conducted a thorough search of all the water and sewage tunnels—oh, and when it was done, she demanded a raise. I guess I’ll add that agenda item for discussion at our next meeting…” Lucy’s fingers went clickety-clack across her keyboard. “So, the tunnels are clear. No sign of any additional infestations.”
