Chapter 20

"The Guardians kidnapped your children? Why?" I asked Arina.

"For the same reason they've been collecting people for centuries. Except now they've moved up their timetable." She shot me a pointed look.

"Because of me," I realized. "Because, when they took control over Meda, I freed her, interfering with their plans."

"You did what you had to in order to save the people of this world," Arina said. "The Guardians were going to do this no matter what. It was only a matter of when."

"You mentioned you wanted to keep the knowledge of your children's magic secret from the Guardians." I didn't know what kind of magic Arina's children had, but it must have been pretty special. "Did the Guardians find out about your kids' magic because of me?"

Arina shook her head. "I was naive to believe I could keep that knowledge from them. The Guardians have eyes everywhere. Ears everywhere. They already knew, Leda. They just hadn't moved on that knowledge. Until now."

"What are the Guardians planning to do?" I asked.

"Enact their ultimate plan: to gain all the magic they believe the Immortals unfairly withheld from them. That's all I know."

"The Guardians have taken so many supernaturals. They have a plan for those people, and in that plan, all of them die," I repeated Faith's words.

Arina grew very still. "How do you know this?"

"A powerful telepath told me."

Of course that powerful telepath had used those very words to justify killing many humans, supernaturals, gods, and demons—all to save her brother. But still, despite Faith's questionable morality, I did believe her words. Faith had believed the Guardians would kill her brother and all of the other supernaturals they kept in their Sanctuary. That knowledge had driven her to take extreme, insane measures.

"Where is this powerful telepath now?" Arina asked.

"Gone."

Faith's powers were gone, transferred to my unborn child, which had all been part of Grace's plan. And Faith was gone too. She'd been locked away by Faris, who still hoped she'd get her powers back—and then he could exploit them.

I was going to ask Arina about her kids' magic, but then something rather spectacular distracted me: the arrival of five angels. Nero, Damiel, Nyx, Colonel Fireswift, and an angel I assumed was Colonel Dragonblood had landed on the windy deck outside the Court Chamber.

I rose from my chair. "Open the doors," I instructed the soldiers standing in front of the wall of glass.

Nyx stepped inside the Chamber first, her white wings sparkling like they'd been sprinkled with stardust, her long, gravity-defying black hair in slow, swirly motion around her.

Damiel came next, his bronze hair lightly windswept. His bright blue eyes twinkled when he saw Cadence.

He was followed by Nero. His gorgeous wings, a dark, elaborate tapestry of black, blue, and green feathers, stretched out, then vanished in a flash of magic. His emerald eyes slid over me; the sheer intensity of his stare raised goosebumps up and down my skin. I felt lightheaded, dizzy, even a little feverish. I wondered if anyone would really mind if I leapt off the dais, ran over to Nero, and proceeded to make up for the last week we'd missed.

Colonel Fireswift was next in the procession, looking just as humorless, just as iron-jawed as always. His wings were the color of freshly-shed blood, his eyes hard and cynical, and his body armed to the teeth.

Colonel Dragonblood brought up the rear. I'd never met the angel before. He wore his black hair cropped short, as many no-nonsense angels did. His dark eyes were serious, but they didn't possess the same cynical edge as Colonel Fireswift's. His wings were a mixture of both turquoise and orange feathers, highlighted by a few bronze spots that were a perfect match to his complexion. The color combination of his feathers was quite beautiful.

The sergeant with the booming voice quickly began rattling off the five angels' names and titles. He looked quite excited. So was everyone else. There had rarely been so many angels together in a single place. Eight, to be exact.

While the sergeant pressed on with the lengthly introductions, I quietly observed the fascinating differences in how these different male angels greeted their wives.

Damiel was charming. His words were laced with innuendo designed to incite Cadence. Instead, she planted her hands on her hips and shook her head at his jokes. Her expression softened, however, after he presented her with a gift box.

Colonel Dragonblood bowed to his wife and set his hand on her belly, a sign of respect that she was carrying his child.

Colonel Fireswift was, as expected, very formal when greeting his wife. He really was all about keeping up appearances. And yet, I thought I caught a spark of something in his eyes, something I'd never seen in him before. Devotion. And love. He really loved her.

Nero came to stand before me. "Pandora." An eyebrow cocked up at me.

"Windstriker. You look well." I was trying really hard not to giggle.

He cast a long, languid look down the length of my body. Then his eyes snapped up and met mine. "So do you." He grinned, slow and sexy.

A blush kissed my cheeks.

He closed the distance between us. His hand curled around my waist, supporting me as he dipped me back. His mouth came down on mine and he kissed me with a deep, hungry urgency that sent a shot of fierce desire straight through my body.

Nyx cleared her throat. Loudly.

"Later," Nero whispered to me, his words thick with lust.

He gave me a quick, final peck on the lips, then released me. I remembered just in time to reengage my standing muscles. Falling over in front of all this people, including angels and gods, would have been totally embarrassing.

Nyx was chastising Nero. "Really, Windstriker. Did you have to kiss her like that?" she demanded grumpily.

Nyx sounded like she needed a good kiss.

"Well, this is something you don't see every day," Arina said to me. She looked at my belly. "You're all pregnant."

"You can see that?"

"Of course."

Arina could see the past events that led up to someone or something. I hoped she wasn't focusing her magic too closely on the particular event that had led to my pregnancy.

"Six pregnant angels and wives of angels," I said. "In fact, it has only ever happened once before, twenty-five years ago."

"Six?" Arina shook her head. "No, you're mistaken, Leda. Not six. Seven."

No, I was pretty sure Nero's amazing kiss hadn't removed my ability to count. I recounted, just in case.

"Cadence, Alice, Andromeda, Leila, Basanti, and I. Six."

Arina's eyes fell on the First Angel.

I gaped at Nyx. "Nyx? You too?"

"Yes."

That was all she said, but it was an answer that truly said it all. The First Angel was pregnant. Wow.

A flash of magic blinded me for a moment, then Ronan was there, right in front of Nyx. The God of Earth's Army couldn't hide his awe. He didn't touch her belly or bow or do anything dramatic. But the look on his face was very telling.

"We need to talk," he said to Nyx.

"Yes," she agreed.

Then they both left the room.

Once they were gone, Basanti turned to me. "I told you, Pandora. It's contagious."

"Magic certainly is acting in unpredictable ways right now," Leila commented.

"The First Angel has never had the Fever." Cadence looked baffled.

"Apparently, she did when you all did," said Damiel.

All eyes in the room turned toward me.

"Why are you all looking at me?" I asked them. This totally wasn't my fault.

My mind was working fast, backtracking to when I'd had the Fever. I'd seen Nyx and Ronan get pretty physical. So that's why they'd acted so…passionate. No, more than merely passionate. Nyx and Ronan hadn't been able to keep their hands off each other. Nyx must have had the Fever then.

"This started with you, Leda." This time, Basanti looked more amused than annoyed; the cake must have had enough time to settle her queasy stomach. "You upended the rules of magic."

Nyx had returned to the Court Chamber, sans Ronan, but with a lot of soldiers guarding her. They looked human, minus the rather blue skin.

"Ronan's soldiers?" I wondered.

"Yes," Damiel confirmed. "From the Legion of the Arcane."

"The Legion of the Arcane? What's that?" I asked.

"It's kind of like the Legion of Angels, but on another world. Not Earth," Damiel explained.

"So they're like alien angels?"

"Not angels. The arcane." Damiel said the word like it was supposed to mean something to me.

"I guess I never thought about any Legions on other worlds," I said.

"Ronan is a member of the gods' ruling council, one of the seven most powerful gods out there. The Earth is important to the gods, but not that important," Damiel pointed out. "There are thousands of worlds in the gods' domain. And many Legions. Ronan is the Lord of the Legion. Such a title, a title worthy of a place on the gods' council, is bigger than only Earth. It's bigger than angels."

Yeah, that made sense.

I watched the blue-skinned soldiers. Ronan had obviously ordered them to guard Nyx—apparently, very closely because they were practically glued to her sides.

"This isn't just about me," I said quietly.

But Nyx had good ears. "What isn't just about you?"

"All the angel pregnancies. The same thing happened roughly twenty-five years ago." I pulled a sheet of paper out of my jacket and unfolded it. It included the birth records of the angel brats. I'd compiled the list from the names of the children of angels who'd been in my initiation group. "The same thing is happening now."

Nyx read the sheet. "Yes, the convergence of all those births of angels' children at once back then was indeed odd. Considering this has never happened besides then and now again, these incidents are likely linked." She handed the sheet of paper back to me, then she took a stroll around the decorated Court Chamber. "You've been busy."

"I decided I'd best not waste any time setting off on the impossible task you'd set me."

"I thought you didn't believe in the impossible," Nyx said, her eyes narrowed.

"I don't, but you did when you set me the task."

"Indeed," Nyx laughed. "But I've come to realize that your tenacity makes quick work of the impossible, Pandora."

Colonel Fireswift snorted. Wow, he was actually showing emotion. He must have been in a very good mood. And indeed he did look less grumpy than usual, standing there beside his pregnant wife. Perhaps thinking about the continuation of his legacy gave Colonel Fireswift a case of the happies.

"Not that I don't appreciate your company, but are you going to be staying here and looking over my shoulder as I attempt to tame the impossible?" I asked Nyx.

"Apparently, I have no choice. I've been ordered to stay here," Nyx replied, dour.

By Ronan, no doubt.

"Well, it was your idea to safeguard the Legion's future on this airship," I pointed out.

She was not amused. "Not helping, Pandora."

Ok, then. Nyx was not in a good mood. The First Angel really didn't like being sidelined. So I gave her some space.

"How's the mission going?" I asked Nero.

"We've captured a few people we discovered were previously at the massacre sites," he said. "But we're not sure how they could have possibly killed the angels. And so far, our prisoners aren't talking."

"Maybe they aren't the ones who did it," I suggested.

"The Interrogators have them now. We shall soon find out who they work for and what they want."

"I hope you're right."

"Not feeling confident?" he asked me.

"There is something bigger going on here, Nero. And my gut tells me it has to do with what happened in the past."

"Have you had any more visions?"

"No. But I wish I had. I'm sure the answers we need are buried in the past," I said. "Cadence thinks I'm the common link between all the angel pregnancies now and when it happened twenty-five years ago."

"I think she's right," Nero agreed.

"Have you heard about Leila and Basanti?"

"Yes." A smile flitted across his face. "I'm not sure how that happened, but good for them."

"Magic is pretty wonky right now."

"Indeed."

"I've been thinking about the attacks on my family," I told him. "Are the Guardians truly targeting Zane? And is this connected to the Guardians' plans to kill all the people they ‘saved', including Arina's kids? Furthermore, could this all be related to the massacres you're investigating? How is all of what's going on connected? Because figuring that out might be the key to stopping the Guardians."

"You've been having visions?" Arina asked me.

"Yes, of the past." Then I described them to her, especially the ones from the Lost City. When I was done, I asked her, "Do you know what it means?"

She shook her head. "No."

I had a thought. "Zane once told me: ‘The Guardians have a prophecy about a divine savior who will be born human, with equal light and dark magic. She will grow her magic one ability at a time, and someday she will upset the balance of power….The Guardians…believe you will change the balance of magic back to the middle, back to mixed magic of light and dark origins. They believe the savior is a god killer and demon slayer.' What do you think?"

Arina chewed on her lip, obviously mulling that over.

"When we first met, you told me the Guardians wanted me dead," I reminded her.

"They do. But they…they must need you too."

"According to what Zane heard, they need me to change the balance of magic. So why did they try to kill me on the rooftop in Purgatory?"

"There's a way we might be able to answer all of these questions," Arina said.

"I'm listening."

"You don't happen to have the weapons of heaven and hell on you, do you?"

* * *

I did,in fact, have the weapons of heaven and hell with me. Before leaving on her quest with Nero and the others, Nyx had sent them up to the airship, along with my cat.

We all gathered around Arina in the garden library, as she tried to read the memories branded into the four immoral artifacts' magic.

"These are very old." Arina's eyes were closed, and her hands slid over the shield. "They were made by the legendary Immortal smith Sunfire. One of the surviving Immortals gave them to a special soldier, one of balanced magic: light and dark, active and passive."

Her fingers traced the blade of the sword, her eyes still closed. "There's a missing piece of the Prophecy." She opened her eyes and looked at Zane. "One the Guardians didn't tell you."

"I'm not surprised," he said. "The Guardians harbor many secrets."

Arina closed her eyes again. Her hands had moved on to the armor. She repeated Zane's words, "The savior will change the balance of magic back to the middle, back to mixed magic of light and dark origins. The savior is a god killer and demon slayer."

Prophecies were always so dramatic.

"The missing piece of the Prophecy comes after Leda changes the balance of magic," Arina said. "That missing piece is the part where Leda destroys the Guardians too."

"So we will actually defeat the Guardians?" I asked.

"Not sure. I cannot see into the future. I can only see how the Guardians interpreted the Prophecy. But even if I could see into the future, I don't think it would help much. You see, the future is not set. The Prophecy allows for several different paths. Down one path, you grow your magic, Leda; the Guardians did need you to grow your magic. They explored the Prophecy's possibilities, and any path where they tried to stop you from gaining power just led to their destruction and your gaining power anyway. They decided they needed to let you gain all your powers before they struck out at you."

"How can the Guardians have a Prophecy? How can they see into the future? That's not the kind of thing magic-nullifying beings can do, right?" I looked at Damiel and Cadence, our resident experts in all kinds of magic, for confirmation.

"But the Guardians have collected supernaturals with all kinds of powers," Cadence said. "Long ago, a telepath with future-gazing powers might have given them this Prophecy."

Arina's hands followed the gun's contours. "Not all Guardians are united on what to do with Leda. Some think she's more trouble than she's worth and that the magical shift can be done in other ways. Some think they need Leda for it."

Arina's hand flashed out and she grabbed my hand. I felt a jolt as we connected, my hands and our minds.

And then I was once more in the Lost City. I saw the pale-haired angel from long ago. She flashed in front of my eyes, this fragment from the past.

Arina was beside me. "The Guardians' forces attacked the city."

"You're seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yes," Arina said. "This woman, she was the Immortals' chosen one, the one of balanced magic. The first bearer of the weapons of heaven and hell."

"She was an angel."

"No, not an angel. Something else," Arina told me. "I don't know what she was exactly. Some kind of deity, neither god nor demon. She flew out to face the invaders. The city was lost."

"How long ago did this happen?" I asked her.

"Long ago, before the gods and demons came here. When humans were hardly more than primitive cave dwellers."

"There were cities here on Earth so long ago?"

"The Lost City was built, destroyed, and rebuilt many times," she said.

"There were many bearers of these immortal artifacts," I remembered.

"Yes. Chosen champions of the Immortals. Only a champion can see these lost memories."

"You're seeing them," I pointed out.

"I'm seeing them through you, Leda, as you see them. Because I'm reading your magic."

The scene changed.

"Another champion." I pointed at the red-haired angel Sierra in the Lost City.

"Yes."

"How long ago did she live in her version of the Lost City?" I asked.

"She didn't live. She will live."

"What does that mean?"

"The visions of the red-haired angel, they aren't memories from the past," Arina said. "They are snippets from the future."

"What?"

"They show what is yet to come." She opened her eyes and looked at me. "This is part of the Prophecy the Guardians are so worked up about. And that angel—Sierra—the future bearer of the weapons of heaven and hell…she's your daughter, Leda."