Page 117

Our first kiss.

My first taste of him.

How I’d gone off alone across the Black Plains to save him—and then he’d punished me for ‘not following orders’. That still cracked me up.

The two of us, in his room. He knew I’d joined the Legion to save my brother. And he offered to help me.

The hopeful look in his eyes when he’d asked me to be his partner in the Archangel Trials. And then, when everything went horribly wrong, when we learned the trials were all just a setup, we’d worked together to find another way.

Wealwaysfound a way.

He’d found a way into hell, rescuing me from Sonja. He’d held up the entire falling building to save me!

We’d survived monsters and men, angels and dark angels, gods and demons. We’d gotten through all of that, and it had only madeusstronger.

The fireworks drew so many memories on the sky.

The fever. Nero bursting through the Legion’s doors—and through the Legion’s bureaucracy—declaring thatheshall be the angel who married me.

Our wedding ceremony was so beautiful.

Our wedding night was even better.

And then there was Sierra, the most perfect, precious gift the universe could have ever given us. An angel conceived in love and born on the battlefield.

“I love you, little warrior,” I told her.

“Yes, Mommy.” She kissed my cheek. “Of course you do.”

Sometimes, she sounded exactly like her father.

The two of us laughed, and so did Nero. Sierra jumped out of my arms and started skipping circles around us.

“We won, Nero,” I said, smiling at him. “We actually won. They came after us. They threw everything they had at us, thousands and thousands of years of weapons, soldiers, and schemes. But we beat them.” My throat tightened with emotion. My eyes burned. “We beat them.”

Nero entwined his fingers with mine. “Was there ever any doubt?”

A single shot of laughter burst out of my mouth. “No, there wasn’t.” I set my other hand over his heart. “As long as I haveyou by my side, we can do anything, no matter how impossible. And we can defeat any foe, no matter how diabolical.”

“Hey!” our daughter chimed in. “Sierra help too!”

I took her in my arms, swinging her around. “Yes, you really did. We couldn’t have done it without you, little warrior.”

Sierra flashed me a crooked grin. “Obviously.”

I laughed, hugging them both.

“And now? Par-tay?” Sierra asked, hopeful.

I nodded. “Definitely.”

“But first things first,” Nero said, squaring his shoulders like he was preparing for battle. “I need to hop back into my own body.”

“I can’t say no to that plan,” I told him with a wink.

CHAPTER 37

NEW DEVELOPMENTS