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Story: Phoenix's Refrain
“What we must do, above all, is exercise caution,” Nero told me calmly. “Our going there might be exactly what the Guardians want. We do know they want our daughter. We can’t let them get her.”
I set my hands over my belly, shielding our daughter. “You’re right. The trouble is we don’t even know what causes our path to spiral toward those terrible futures—or which choices will help us avoid those futures.” I sighed into a slouch. “I think I preferred things when I didn’t know what possibilities the future might hold.”
“It’s generally a good idea to have no prior knowledge of what nonsense we might cause in the future,” he replied.
“Yeah, imagine what you’d have done if you’d been forewarned of all my chaos.” I gave him a coy look. “You’d never have tried to seduce me by showing off your physique.”
“I take issue with your statement that I was ever showing off.”
“What about when you went totally hardcore on the salmon ladder in the gym?” I pointed out.
“There’s a difference between training and showing off, Pandora. It’s not my fault that you’re easily impressed by—”
“By your acts of raw, supercharged masculinity as you powered your way up that ladder, muscles bulging, hot sweat dripping off your—”
“Do you need to sit down?” Nero arched his brows.
I fanned myself with my hand. “Yes, please.”
Nero snorted.
I winked at him.
“You’re one to talk,” he said. “You were always going around the gym in those…inappropriate outfits.”
“Crop tops?”
“Yes. And those tiny shorts.” He wet his lips.
“If you don’t like the Legion’s sport attire, you should take it up with the Head of Wardrobe,” I laughed. “Come to think of it, maybe I’ll have a chat with him myself. I notice the men’s outfit doesn’t consist of a skimpy sport bra and hot pants…”
I stopped. Nero was watching me, an odd look on his face.
“You’re picturing me in a skimpy sport bra and hot pants, aren’t you?” I asked him.
There was fire in his eyes. “Not as much clothing as that.”
I looped my arms over Nero’s shoulders. “I’ve had an idea.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“I haven’t even told you my idea yet.”
“It doesn’t matter. I know you, Leda. And I know that look in your eyes.”
I fluttered my eyelashes, the picture of innocence. “Oh?”
“It’s the look you get right before you’re about to do something reckless.”
I winked at him.
“So what is your reckless idea?” He sighed.
I decided to take that as a sign that he’d surrendered himself to my chaos.
“You know how you didn’t want to do anything ‘dangerous’?” I said.
Nero looked down at my hands, which were squeezing his butt. “Given your condition, I didn’t think it prudent,” he said cautiously.
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