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Grace stopped smiling.

“Faris actually cares about you. He loves you.” I batted my eyelashes at them.

Grace looked at Faris in surprise.

“This is absurd,” he snapped, his hands making a slicing motion. “The child might have a lot of magic, but she has precious little sense. She’s obviously confused. I was annoyed by the setback of your death; it would make our alliance against the Guardians that much more difficult. That is all. I have no feelings for you.”

Grace scooted away from him. “And I have no feelings for you either.”

Faris nodded sharply. “Good. That’s just how it should be.”

“Indeed.” She brushed out the wrinkles in her skirt. “Feelings only get in the way.”

Neither one of them looked like they believed their lies. A smile tempted my lips, but I held it in. Smiling would have just annoyed my parents. They weren’t ready to admit their feelings. Yet.

Grace stopped staring at Faris to ask me, “So, what do you say to our offer?”

“Well, you obviously need me.”

Faris almost rolled his eyes. He stopped himself about a millisecond too late, so I caught just the hint of it.

“I might be convinced to accept—on one condition.” I waited until Faris met my eyes, then continued, “You must spare Bella’s life. And both councils need to do everything in their power to help me find a cure to her curse.”

“And if there isn’t a cure?” Faris countered.

“Ava said there wasn’t, but she was also a liar and a back-stabber.” I took a deep breath to steady my voice. “I don’t believe Ava. There has to be a cure. Every curse has a cure. Help me find it. Help me save my sister, and I will help you save yourselves from extinction. Sound fair?”

“Fine,” Faris agreed. Begrudgingly. “Any other conditions?”

“No.” I kept my face neutral, then said in a very serious, stately voice, “I accept your offer.”

“Finally, you’ve made a sensible choice,” Faris said shortly.

But Grace smiled. “You won’t regret this, Leda.”

I really hoped I wouldn’t.

32

THE FORMER FRONTIER

My ascension ceremony took place in Purgatory. We had it in the old watchtower at the wall, the final slice of civilization at the end of the world, just before the Plains of Monsters swallowed you up.

Well, civilization had since expanded, the monsters were gone, and the watchtower was now a fancy restaurant and very popular event center. People were nostalgic like that.

Purgatory wasn’t just a symbol of the former frontier. It was a place of change. A place of old and new, of light and dark. A safe space between the empires of gods and demons.

This was my turf. I’d started out here, all those years ago. We’d been through a lot together, this town and I. There were so many memories of happiness and loss and belonging. I’d been an orphan here. A street vagrant. A sister. A daughter. An angel. A friend. A wife. A mother.

So it was only fitting that my ceremony would take place here too.

Tessa was the event planner, so of course everything was perfect. The flowers and decorations were pretty, but not obtrusive. That left lots of room for the main event: the food. Tessa knew how much I liked to eat.

And so did Sierra. She and Angel the cat were regularly nabbing muffins from the dessert table. The little delinquent thought she was being sneaky teleporting snacks into her hands, but the giggling totally gave her away. And, also, there was chocolate smeared all over her face.

“Your cat is not normal,” Stash commented with a laugh as he joined me in front of the breakfast buffet table.

I snorted when I saw his t-shirt. It read: Free-roaming Prisoner. “Not-normal is kind of the family motto,” I told him as Sierra fed Angel a mini muffin.