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“What happened?” Cadence asked. “How did Sierra end up with you? She was playing hide-and-seek with Eira just a few minutes ago.”

I coughed again. “The Guardians lured her out. They tried to take our daughter away from us.” An angry flush scorched my cheeks. “And that is the last mistake they’ll ever make.”

CHAPTER 29

RULES AND RIVALS

Miraculously, Sierra didn’t have a scratch on her. I had more than a few on me, however. And lots of holes too. So of course Nero insisted that I pay a visit to the medical ward. He wouldn’t take no for an answer either.

I didn’t argue. He used his super-serious archangel voice, which I simply couldn’t resist. I loved it when he got all protective and insistent. So while Cadence brought Sierra and Eira to the kitchen for snacks, I let Nero escort me to the medical ward.

I hadn’t had a chance to glance in a mirror, but I must have looked pretty bad because when Nerissa saw me, all the color went out of her cheeks and she went very still. She didn’t even tease me about blowing myself up yet again.

“Sit,” was all she said in the clinical voice she reserved for catastrophes.

Then she went right to work assessing the damage. I had so many holes in me that she made me disrobe so that she could patch me up properly.

“Yo!” I called out as Nero turned to leave. “Where are you going? Don’t you want to see me naked?” I winked at him, then winced from the pain.

Nero walked back to me. “No, Pandora,” he said darkly, stroking his hand down my face. “You really don’t want me to see what they did to you.”

“It sounds like it’s the Guardians who don’t want you to see what they did to me,” I commented.

“Yes,” he growled.

I peeled off my jacket, gasping when a hard leather edge got stuck in one of my wounds.

Nero looked at me, very concerned.

“I’m fine, Nero,” I assured him. “And Sierra’s fine. But, hey, you don’t look so great. Maybe Nerissa should have a look at you too.”

“I was not as badly wounded as you. I have already healed myself.”

“Yeah, but maybe you want to change into something that’s not full of holes?” I suggested.

“Yes,” he said, then left.

And I continued taking off my clothes, which, truth be told, hurt almost as much as those spears had. My blood had done a very thorough job of gluing the leather to my skin.

“So, how do I look, Doc?” I asked Nerissa once I’d stripped all the way down to my underwear.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Leda. You look terrible. These wounds…” She started spreading a cool, soothing gel over the holes. “…it looks like you’ve been impaled. Repeatedly.”

“Yeah, that’s a pretty accurate description of what happened.” I went for a nonchalant shrug, but I didn’t quite pull it off, thanks to all the holes in my body. “Ok.” I sucked in an agonizing breath. “Now if you could just patch me up and send me on my way?—”

“Send you on your way?” Nerissa repeated, incredulous. “Leda, these wounds areserious. You need at least several days of bedrest.”

“Unfortunately, bedrest is a luxury I can’t afford right now,” I told her.

“Leda—”

“They’re after Sierra, Nerissa,” I growled, my stomach dropping and flipping and twisting into knots all at once. “The big, bad Guardian in charge wants to take my daughter and use her body to unleash all kinds of havoc and revenge on the universe. His army could strike at any moment. We need to make our move first. We need to stop themnow. So, as you can see, there’s no time for bedrest. Just fix me up as best you can, then send me on my way. I have a war to win.”

“Very well,” Nerissa sighed. “I’ll do what I can.”

Nerissa was an excellent healer. In under an hour, she had me feeling almost back to normal again. My arms were still numb, and I limped when I walked, but it would have to be good enough. As I’d said, we had a lot to do and precious little time to do it in.

Which meant I was calling ineveryone. All my friends. All of my family. All my allies. And every single one of my favors. I was going to make this the final battle, the final showdown against the Guardians and their allies. And I was going to make sure we won it.