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“Hello, sweetness.”

“Stash?” I grinned at him. “What are you doing here?”

Stash was both my friend and my cousin. He was also a demigod.

“I’m here for you, Leda.”

“For me? Wait a minute. You’re the one who’s replacing Fireswift? You’re the one Nyx got to teach me?” I tried not to sound too excited, but Stash was great fun. Much more fun than the glass-is-all-empty Colonel Fireswift.

“No,” Stash replied. “Nyx didn’t send me here. Faris did.”

Nyx gritted her teeth. Uh-oh. I sensed tension.

“To protect you,” Stash finished.

“The Legion of Angels is perfectly capable of protecting itself without the interference of Heaven’s Army,” Nyx told him.

Stash sighed. “I know you’re annoyed with Faris for stepping on your toes, Nyx, but you have to admit that things aren’t safe right now. Two angels are dead. And thousands more are dead on many worlds. This isn’t just an Earth problem. It’s bigger than that. The more people protecting the Legion’s future unborn angels, the better. You do want to keep them safe, don’t you?”

Nyx folded her arms over her chest. “You know I do.”

Stash flashed her an easy smile. “Then relax and let us do our thing.”

“Us?” I asked.

“I brought along a team of soldiers from Heaven’s Army. You might remember some of those misfits.” Stash winked at me.

I smiled “It will be good to see the gang again.”

“They’re excited because being around you means being at the epicenter of action,” Stash told me.

My smile faded. “Apparently not this time.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. Faris wouldn’t have sent us if he didn’t expect trouble.”

Nero gave him a cool look. He didn’t like the idea of trouble finding me, especially while he was away.

I squeezed Nero’s hand. “Why did Faris send you all—specifically?” I asked Stash.

“Would you believe me if I told you that Faris is worried about you and didn’t think you’d accept his protection if he didn’t send people to guard you that you actually like?”

I considered the idea, but rejected it immediately. “No.” I thought about it some more. “Did Faris actually say that?”

Stash chuckled. “No, of course not. He just ordered us to go. Didn’t explain himself at all.”

Just as I’d come to expect of Faris. The King of the Gods didn’t ever justify his actions to anyone, friend or foe, equal or underling. Not that he considered anyone to be equal to him.

As Nyx, Nero, and Damiel spread their wings, readying to leave, I wondered who would be teaching me to be a perfect angel during my seclusion.

“Ok, seriously, Nyx, any hints on who will be training me?” I asked her.

“You won’t have a trainer,” she told me. “Your angel training is over.”

“Wow, I’ve never failed out of something this fast before,” I commented.

Nyx actually looked amused. “You didn’t fail. Colonel Fireswift has graded your test and was forced to pass you.”

“I passed? Me? The Angel of Chaos? And Colonel Fireswift was the one to pass me?”