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“Leda, have you been eating dessert before dinner?” Calli asked with a stern look.

“No. Not technically.”

“Because she hasn’t been eating the dinner, only the dessert,” Zane said helpfully.

I resisted the urge to flick my carrots at him. “I should have asked Ivy and Nerissa to put you through another few days of tests.”

Zane smiled at me.

“Come on, Calli, are you really surprised?” Gin said.

“Leda has the biggest sweet tooth of any of us,” Tessa added.

“Perhaps a bigger sweet tooth than all of us combined,” Bella said.

Harker nodded. “She did once stick a fork through my hand because she thought I might steal her slice of cake,” he said solemnly.

“You did try to steal my slice of cake,” I told him. “I was only defending my property.”

“But would you have defended a lima bean so violently?” he asked with a slight, sideways tilt of his head.

“Of course not. Lima beans are disgusting.” I smirked at him. “And since when did you become such a wimp, Harker? A fork through the hand is nothing compared to what an angel must endure on a daily basis.”

“There’s a fine line between a badass and a masochist,” Harker said pleasantly.

I rolled my eyes. “For the millionth time, the fork incident occured when I was under the influence of the Fever. I’m sorry.”

“Why is she apologizing to me?” Harker said to Nero. “I don’t think Fireswift is doing a very good job of teaching her to be a proper angel.”

“I think making him Leda’s instructor is more of a punishment for him than it is for her,” Nero replied.

“Congratulations. You’re both hilarious,” I told them.

They nodded solemnly. Apparently, they hadn’t picked up on the sarcasm in my voice.

“Fireswift has never been able to handle Leda,” Nero said seriously. “I should speak to Nyx and insist that I instruct her instead.”

“Nero, you know Nyx will never allow that,” Harker said. “You are even less able to handle Leda than Fireswift can, at least when it comes to having her under you.”

The pun was clearly intentional. Zane chuckled, Tessa and Gin started whispering amongst themselves, and Bella blushed.

Harker managed to keep his face blank, of course. Not as blank as Nero, though. He just stared at his best friend like he’d lost his mind.

Love has made you bold, my friend,Nero projected telepathically, to only Harker and me.

Maybe Nyx should send him to angel charm school too,I suggested.

I was only half kidding. We were all angels and were expected to maintain a certain level of dignity at all times. We angels weren’t supposed to let things ever get personal, not even with our spouse or children. And definitely not with our family from before we joined the Legion. We were angels now. We had to be detached and above all earthly matters.

Ok, so that was one rule I was definitely not going to follow. I loved my family too much to pretend I didn’t care about them.

You’re right, Nero, of course,Harker said in our minds. I forgot myself.

I do that all the time,I told him.

But Harker is not you, Leda. The Angel of Chaos does have a little more leeway, given your title. Though not as much leeway as you take,Nero added.

I know,I replied. I’m trying to behave like an angel. Just not around my family, ok? And that family includes you too, Harker. You’re like a brother to me.