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“Hmm, as in, yes, you think I’m right?” I asked him.

“Unlikely,” he replied. “General Silverstar doesn’t play practical jokes on people.”

“But Calli totally does,” I pointed out, turning around to face Nero.

When he looked at me, I could tell he wasn’t at all convinced that his grandfather was involved in any shenanigans.

“People can change, Nero.Youchanged.”

“Yes, I did,” he agreed. “But my grandfather is different. He doesn’t change. Just ask Cadence.”

“Well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough. When I get a ten-thousand-page epic mission proposal delivered to my doorstep,” I added in a grumble under my breath.

“You’re adorable when you fret,” he said, kissing me.

I humphed but enjoyed the kiss anyway. I mean, it was Nero, after all. Kissing him felt like kissing lightning, but only in the best possible way. I always got this delectable tingle, starting in my lips, but quickly trickling across my whole body.

“So,” I said, draping my arms over his shoulders, leaning into him. “What do you say we take our celebration somewhere more private.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

“You’re crazy,” he laughed, kissing me again. “And I love you.”

“Leda, I…oh, sorry!”

I turned to look at Nerissa. She was standing next to us, totally winded, like she’d run all the way here from the lab she’d set up in the castle’s old dungeon. Her lips were trembling. Shewas obviously really struggling to hold in whatever juicy bit of news she was dying to share with us.

“What’s the scoop, Nerissa?” I asked, an open invitation for her to spill the beans.

“One of the teams you sent to check out worlds in the Ancient Lands just came back,” she said. “And they found a treasure trove.”

“What kind of treasure?” I asked her.

“Information,” she told me, biting her nails. “Very exciting information. Information that will change everything.”

“Well, don’t leave us hanging here,” I prompted her. “What did they find?”

“Journals,” she said. “Journals that contain an ancient Immortal secret, something we didn’t even know was possible until now.” Nerissa started pacing in front of us. “Remember how a few years ago you asked me to look into finding ways to make Legion soldiers more likely to survive the Nectar?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Well, these journals contain something even better,” she said. “They describe alternative methods for humans to acquire magic. Ways that do not require Nectar or Venom.”

That got my attention.

“Wait, so you’re saying that the Legion could make new soldiers—that they could give them magic—without needing Nectar?” I asked.

“Yes. Theoretically. If we can figure out how to put the journals’ ideas into practice.”

“That solves two problems in one actually,” I said. “It solves our Nectar shortage problem. And it solves our soldier mortality problem. Well, assuming these methods aren’t as deadly or even deadlier than Nectar.”

“I still need to study the journals in more detail, but, yes, they do seem to describe non-lethal ways to bestow magic onpeople,” Nerissa said, obviously excited. She was speaking really fast now. “Of course I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the journals. They were written by an Immortal scientist, someone by the name of Janger. But I’m very optimistic, Leda. And so was Nyx when I told her.”

“Of course she was. This could completely change the Legion of Angels,” I said.

“Actually, it already has,” replied Nerissa.

“What do you mean?” Nero asked her.

“Reading between the lines of Janger’s journals, he was…well, he was a kind of a renegade Immortal. The others did not approve of his magic experiments, which were often conducted without the approval or even the knowledge of his subjects.”