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“There must be something of value to a deity here,” I said as we approached the end of the hall. “But what would draw Solarian to this place? Immortal artifacts?”

“Why don’t we ask them?”

We’d reached a large chamber with an impossibly-high ceiling, the walls sloping upward at a steep angle. This must have been Faris’s throne room. Three unnaturally-beautiful people were bound to the massive marble monolith at the center of the room, a seat that, to a god, would probably pass for a throne.

“Faris’s soldiers,” I whispered to Nero.

The two men and one woman weren’t wearing armor. Solarian’s followers must have stripped it off of them. They were dressed only in skin-tight black bodysuits, unadorned and unprotected.

Our entrance hadn’t gone unnoticed. The three gods had their eyes trained right on us.

“The Pandora,” one of them said. “Lord Faris’s daughter.”

“And her mate, Nero Windstriker.”

Nero looked at me. “Why are you grinning like that?”

“Because, for once, you’re my mate and not the other way around, like it is at the Legion.”

One of his brows arched ever-so-slightly. “Well, I have been at the Legion for far longer than you.”

“Yeah, but I have been wreaking havoc for far longer than you,” I countered with a smirk as we moved toward the three gods.

“I don’t believe there’s anyone in all the universe who contests that, Pandora,” Nero told me.

“Damn straight,” I replied with a sharp nod, then addressed the bound soldiers. “Faris sent us to find out what happened to you.”

“These primitive mortals happened to us,” one of the gods snapped, malice popping inside every crisp, perfect syllable.

“They had weapons,” added the second as Nero and I set to work on their bindings.

“Vile, unnatural weapons,” said the third. “They expelled beams of energy that cut through us like Venom.”

“There were supposed to be six of you. Where are the others?” I asked, severing the ropes with my knife.

“Killed by the Venom,” said one of the gods as they all shook free of the loose ropes.

“Wait, so you’re saying those weapons actually shot Venom?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know what’s inside of them. All I can tell you is, whatever it is, it can kill a god.”

I glanced at Nero. “We need to obtain one of those weapons so we can analyze it.”

“And just how do you plan to do that?”

“Easy.” I slid my knife into my bootstrap. “I’m going to steal it from one of Solarian’s groupies.”

“Easy?” the female solider god repeated in horror. “Weren’t you listening at all? Those weapons can kill a god.” She looked me up and down and clearly wasn’t impressed by what she saw. “So they can surely kill a mongrel angel like you.”

Mongrel angel? Faris had such charming taste in soldiers.

“Look, you three are free to turn tail and run, and you’re welcome for the rescue, by the way,” I said with a sugary smile. “But I am going after those weapons. Like you said, they can kill a god. So don’t you think Faris would want us to bring him one to study?”

The three gods exchanged wary looks. I guess it was a lot harder to be brave when you were facing something that could actually kill you. That wasn’t a feeling immortal beings had to grapple with all that often.

“She’s right,” one of the gods told the other two. “If we return without one of those weapons, Lord Faris will have our heads.”

“He’ll also have our heads if we return without his daughter.”