Page 69 of Gods' Battleground

“I love it when you’re all responsible and dignified. It’s very sexy.”

“And I love it when you flirt with me, Pandora.”

I winked at him. “Come closer and I’ll flirt lots more.”

“I love you,” he chuckled, then left the room.

I joined Harker in the lounge. He was still sitting on the sofa.

“Hey,” I said, walking toward him. My steps were a little drunk. Nothing felt better than being drunk on Nero. “I told you we’d be right back.” I plopped down beside him.

Harker’s brows lifted. “Right back? Leda, it’s been over an hour.”

I frowned. “That can’t be right.”

“People were wondering where you were.”

“What did you tell them?”

“That you two were having sex, of course,” he said, totally serious.

I punched him in the arm. “Hey, you were supposed to cover for us!”

“No one would have believed me if I’d lied,” Harker told me. “They all saw the way you two were looking at each other. Plus, well, there was theotherthing.”

I frowned. “What other thing?”

“The lights kept flickering. Something—no, someone—was overloading the town’s power grid.”

My jaw dropped.

He shrugged. “That happens sometimes to Earth’s older power grids when there’s a large, uh,releaseof magic in the vicinity.”

I blushed.

“There seemed to be numerous large releases of magic in the last hour.” His brows lifted. “You guys certainly were busy. You might want to look into upgrading the town’s power grid if you’re going to continue to be…busy.”

“Uh, right, I’ll get right on that.”

“Though come to think of it, what are you even still doing in Purgatory?” he asked me.

“What do you mean?” I laughed. “I live here.”

“Yeah, but you have a new job now. You’re not the Angel of Purgatory anymore.”

“I willalwaysbe the Angel of Purgatory,” I declared proudly. “But I will only leave my building when Nyx kicks me out.”

It was unlikely Nyx would appoint a successor anytime soon. It was hard to find people to make into angels, especially with the Nectar shortage.

“Dinner is served,” Calli announced from the doorway.

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I jumped up and hurried into the dining room. The table was loaded with so many large pizzas. Homemade dough, fresh spices sprinkled on sweet tomato sauce, and sizzling cheese sprinkled on top of that. Mmmm. Calli’s secret was her spices. She didn’t use just oregano. She used a mixture of oregano, thyme, basil, and marjoram—with just a hint of garlic.

There was a knowing twinkle in Calli’s eyes when they met mine. In fact, there were a lot of knowing smiles going around the table, which meant Harker hadn’t been kidding about telling everyone about what Nero and I had been up to.

“I hope you didn’t tell my daughter too,” I whispered to him as we sat down.

“No,” he assured me. “Sierra was looking for you, but I told her you were out buying her ice cream, so she’ll probably expect some of that later.”

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