Page 14 of Gods' Battleground

He looked like he wanted to sigh again, but he stopped himself just in time. “Of course I haven’t forgotten. You won’t let me.”

I laughed. “Can you blame me for wanting to have a little fun? Being a goddess is a pretty thankless job. It’s nothing but politics and backstabbing. And they didn’t even have the decency to build me a temple in my honor.” I winked at him.

Jace snorted. “Still the same old Leda, I see.”

“Yeah, well you know what they say: an angel never changes her feathers.”

A concentrated crinkle formed between his eyes. “I thought the saying was about leopards and their spots.

“It was. But I improved it.”

“Yeah, I guess you did,” he chuckled. “But the joke’s on you, Leda. You actuallycanchange your feathers.”

“Oh, right.” I rustled my wings, and the feathers changed from white to black. “I suppose I can.”

“What are you going to do with Vertigo?” he asked me again.

“Simple,” I replied. “I’m going to give her what she wants.”

“She wants to keep the cuffs on. She wants to have no magic.” Jace’s smile faded. “That’s definitelynotwhat Lord Faris wants.”

“Jace, you let me worry about Faris. You worry about holding on tightly while I teleport us back to your office. It’s no fun to fall out of the teleportation stream. Trust me on that.”

CHAPTER 6

MEMORY AND MAGIC

Igot the three of us back to Jace’s office in a flash—and in one piece. For the most part. My teleporting skills weren’t one hundred percent perfect, so sometimes I made mistakes. This time, that mistake involved nearly teleporting us into one of Jace’s soldiers. Everyone was all right, but I gave the poor guy quite a scare. He even yelped.

Jace looked like he wanted to roll his eyes at me, but if he did that, his soldiers would realize their commanding angel actually had a personality that went beyond duty and honor and looking badass in leather.

“I love what you’ve done with the place,” I told him as we traversed the lobby.

Jace had been the Angel of the South Territory for over three years, but the building he called headquarters was only now finally starting to look like his. He’d kept the pompous marble-and-gold esthetic that had come with the place—the Legion of Angels was big into marble, gold, and anything pompous, for that matter—but he’d replaced the hard, back-breaking chairs in the waiting room with seats that didn’t feel like they’d been molded from concrete. The seats even had cushioning. And there were stacks of magazines for people to read whilethey were waiting. The magazine racks were sprinkled between decorative water fountains and orchid pots. Jace’s orchids came in pink, white, purple, and yellow varieties, and they were all gorgeous.

“Why are you chuckling?” Jace whispered to me.

“I was just thinking about if I were an orchid, what color I’d want to be,” I said wistfully.

Jace shook his head. “Sometimes, you are so weird, Leda.”

“Rainbow-colored,” I decided. “I think I’d like to be a rainbow-colored orchid.”

“There are no rainbow-colored orchids.”

“Anything is possible with a little magic and a can-do attitude,” I said brightly. “And lots of glitter…”

A loud thump drew my attention to the other side of the lobby. Two soldiers marched down the steps, carrying a man between them. The man’s clothes were torn. His eyes were glassy, even empty. And his face was totally blank. He hung limply between the two soldiers. His feet were dragging, like he couldn’t even hold himself up. The soldiers had to help him walk.

“What happened to him?” I wondered.

“That poor fellow has lost his memories,” replied Jace.

“You know this just from looking at him?”

“I know this because he’s not the first victim that my soldiers have brought in here with the exact same condition,” he told me. “There have been many others.”

“Just how many others?” My gaze trailed the soldiers and their amnesia victim across the room.

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