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Harker looked at me, his eyes wide. Leda, I don’t know what to say.

Just say you’ll be my brother.

As long as I don’t have to be Bella’s brother too.

I allowed my laughter to echo in their heads. Deal.

I was drawn out of the telepathic conversation by the clinking of silverware and dishes.

“Does anyone feel like we just missed a whole conversation?” Tessa asked openly. “I wonder what they said.”

“This pasta is quite delicious, Ms. Pierce,” Nero said to Calli.

Tessa frowned, obviously annoyed that no one else wanted to speculate with her about what Nero, Harker, and I had discussed.

“Thank you, General Windstriker,” Calli replied to Nero.

The two of them had their professional relationship all figured out, even though I knew they secretly adored each other.

Calli handed me a bowl of tortellini. “Leda, have some more pasta.”

And so I did. Calli’s cooking really was delicious, so good that my mind wasn’t even fantasizing about dessert the whole time I was eating dinner.

I took another bite of pasta, then said to my sister, “Bella, did you change your hair again?”

Her hair had changed when she’d taken possession of Thea’s wand, turning platinum. But it seemed to be darkening again.

Bella took a strand of her hair between her fingers. “It’s slowly changing back on its own, growing darker and more golden each day.”

Indeed. It seemed to be almost back to her natural strawberry-blonde now.

“I think when I first grasped the wand, its magic did something to me, something more than just changing my hair,” Bella said.

“Like what?” I asked her.

“I don’t know. I have been unable to perform any magic with the wand since that first time. That might be why my hair has gone back to the way that it was.”

“So you believe the color of your hair is linked to accessing the wand’s magic?”

“I think so, in some way, yes,” Bella replied.

“Maybe it’s like how my hair changes with the magic I use,” I suggested.

“I tried using my own magic, but none of that changed my hair. I think it’s all linked to the wand’s magic, not to my magic.”

I nodded. “Well, the wand was your mother’s.”

“Ava told me it was.” Bella’s forehead crinkled, like it always did when she was deep in thought. “And Ava told me the wand would lead me to Thea.”

“Do you think Thea left a message for you to find?” I asked her.

“I don’t think so. Thea doesn’t even know I exist.”

“How does that work exactly? Because I am very aware of my child inside of me.”

“You can feel her?” Bella said, her expression suddenly hopeful and bright.

“Not like that. She’s not moving. She’s too small. But I can sense her. It’s hard to explain. I can just feel her there. Her presence.” I drummed my fingers against the tabletop. “Thea was a demigod, a born angel, so I bet she could have felt you too.”