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“Nice wings,” I said with a sardonic smile when Kia unfolded them. They were all blue and green and shimmery, just like peacock feathers. “They match the dress you were wearing the night of the Final Contest.”

Kia gave me a regal but derisive bow. “I’m flattered you remember.”

“Yeah, it was kind of hard to forget the way you panicked and ran away screaming the moment your ‘pets’ fought back and turned on all of you.”

“It was all part of the show, I assure you,” Kia said with a tight smile.

“The panicking?” I asked with a dramatic brow arch. “Or your playing at being a queen?”

Kia stiffened. “I am a queen and an angel.”

“And I am a goddess and a demon,” I countered with a yawn. “Do wereallyneed to waste time pulling out the measuring stick to compare our magics?”

“No. I am well aware of your sordid origins, Leda Pandora.”

“Sordid?” I threw the word back in her face. “Who are you callingsordid, Ms. Queen of the Barbarian Horde?”

Her wings spread wider, bigger, blocking out the rays of light streaming through the library windows. The room grew darker, the lighting more muted. It was like someone had just shuttered the blinds on this underground city.

Kia was trying to intimidate me with her big and ominous show of magic, and it just wasn’t going to work.

I looked at her wings. “I’ve seen better,” I said flatly.

She spared me a parting glower, then she turned her attention to Nero. “And what about you, Nero? You’ve been awfully quiet.”

“You betrayed the Legion and left your soldiers to die,” Nero said coldly. “I have nothing to say to you.”

“That was unfortunate.”

“So is this reunion,” he shot back.

Kia expelled an impatient sigh, like he was being totally unreasonable. “My exodus from the Legion was also unavoidable.”

“See, now, that’s not really true, is it?” I countered. “Everyone has a choice of whether to be good or evil.” I folded my arms over my chest. “You chose wrong.”

“You could not possibly understand,” she said, like I was some stupid child and she was the all-knowing mother of the universe.

“Oh, I understand all right.” I prepped my magic, slowly and discreetly. “It’s the oldest story in the villain playbook. You got power hungry and wanted to rule it all.” I glanced around at her barbarians. “Yeah, believe it or not, you’re not the first power-hungry psychopath I’ve defeated.”

Kia laughed. “You haven’t defeated me.”

“Just wait for it, princess. It’s coming.” I flashed her a grin. “And, trust me, it will be epic.”

Kia glanced at Nero. “I taught you better than to tolerate loudmouthed simpletons.”

“The only thing you taught me was that betrayal does indeed strike more than once.” He looked away from her in disgust. Then he turned to me and said, “Ready when you are, Pandora.”

“Do you want the mindless lackeys or the peacock princess?” I said casually, like we were discussing what we wanted to eat for dinner.

“You can have the minions. Kia ismine.” The word fell from his lips like an executioner’s axe.

“You are no match for us,” Kia laughed. “We have you outnumbered and outgunned.”

“Outnumbered perhaps, but outgunned? Pu-lease!” I snorted. “I could take on your half-naked manservants with my eyes closed. And we totally need to talk about that, by the way. What is up with their outfits? Did you blow your whole budget on the sausage squad’s weapons and then have nothing left for their armor? Or do you just like wrapping yourself up in evil queen cliches?”

“You are positively nonsensical,” Kia said with an upward tilt of her nose.

“That’s only because you have absolutely no sense,” I shot back. “Come on now, you don’t seriously think your bandage armor groupies are any match for us, do you? Nero is an archangel with Immortal blood. I am a deity. You don’t stand a chance, Queen Mean.”