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He nodded sharply. “Of course. Leda is a deity of esteemed status, and you are under her protection.”

Calli’s brows arched. “I can protect myself.”

“Hush, now,” I chided her. “Let the General continue, Mom. I want to hear more about my ‘esteemed status’.”

Calli exhaled very, very slowly. “Of course you do.”

“Please continue, General Silverstar,” I said with all due magnanimity.

And so he did. “Ergo, before relinquishing Callista into my care, you simply wish to make sure I have a fully-formed plan for keeping her safe.”

“And do you?”

“Oh, yes. It is quite detailed, in fact,” he assured me. “I will send it over straight away. And I look forward to your feedback.”

“That’s…niceof you,” I said cautiously.

Warning bells were going off in my head. This was all too easy. Too nice.

“I do hope you will find my proposal acceptable,” General Silverstar said with the smooth grace of a seasoned angel. “I have spent considerable time crafting it.”

“How much time?” I asked, not sure if I even wanted to know the answer.

“Many long nights. My proposal is, in fact, over ten thousand pages long.”

Yep, I’d been right to worry.

I gaped at him. “Tenthousandpages? That’s not a mission plan…it’s the world’s longest epic!”

“I pride myself on my acute attention to detail,” he said seriously.

Calli looked like she was really struggling not to laugh.

I glanced from her, to General Silverstar, then said, frowning, “You’re pulling my leg, General.”

He looked at my leg, totally confused. “Why would I do that?”

I snapped my gaze back to Calli. “You put him up to this, didn’t you?”

Calli hiccuped, containing a laugh. “I had nothing to do with it.”

I returned my attention to the General. His head tilted slightly, subtly to the side. I knew that head tilt. Nero sometimes did it when he was messing with me. I guess his grandfather did it too.

“Well-played, General,” I chuckled. “Very well-played. I almost believed you there for a moment.”

“You should always believe me, Leda,” he replied, his face impassive. “For I only speak the truth.”

I was still trying to decide if he was messing with me or not when Calli coaxed him toward the climbing wall. They had to jump back to avoid the cat dashing across their path. Sierra and Eira were right on her tail—actually, they were trying to grab her by the tail. Angel was having none of that, however. She ran so fast that the two little angels were having a hell of a time keeping up.

“Hi,” Nero said, coming up behind me. He set his hands on my shoulders and started massaging them.

“Hey.” I leaned back into him. “Your grandfather is up to something.”

“What kind of something?”

“I think he and Calli are playing a practical joke on me.” I quickly ran him through our conversation.

When I was done, all Nero said was, “Hmm.”