“So is it magic?” Danika asked.
“Kind of. Apparently it’s some kind of old-school angelic magic that was used back when angels worked alongside man. They remain hidden until I need them.”
“They look like a tattoo on his back,” I said, finishing off my OJ. “It’s really cool, and yes, the wings are as amazing as Dez has surely told you.”
“Not quite sure I used the word amazing,” Dez muttered.
“Maybe not those exact words.” Nicolai leaned a hip against the counter. “Pretty sure you said something like you were so distracted by his huge-ass wings that you didn’t even realize he’d thrown you into the fountain until you sank under the water.”
Dez’s exhale could’ve been heard next door.
“Sorry about that,” Zayne said as he walked around the island, coming to stand behind me. “I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.”
“Never would’ve guessed that,” Dez stated dryly. “But there’s no need to apologize. I needed the bath, anyway.”
I laughed as Zayne placed his hands on my shoulders. “To be honest, he held back.”
“Oh, I know. He could’ve done some real damage,” Dez agreed.
“The fact that Dez walked away from that little meet-and-greet is proof that you were still in there,” Nicolai said.
“I was.” Barely hung unspoken in the space between all of us. Zayne dipped his head, kissing my temple, just above the arm of my glasses.
“I had doubts,” Dez admitted, surprising me. “I hated that I did, but I was trying to prepare myself in case...in case you didn’t come back to us.”
“I don’t hold that against you,” Zayne said, and I knew he didn’t.
“Good.” Dez appeared to have smiled. “Next time try to give me a warning before throwing me into a fountain.”
Zayne laughed. “That I can do.”
They went back and forth, ribbing each other until Nicolai cut in. “We’re also here on some official Harbinger business.”
That perked my little ears. “Did something happen?” I really hoped not, but I wouldn’t have known since I’d been superfocused on Zayne, which probably made me a very bad Trueborn.
Oh, well.
“Not that we know of, but we did discover something,” Nicolai told me.
“It was actually my idea,” Danika chimed in with a grin. “So, I got to thinking about this whole ley-line thing, and how Gabriel is using them to open this portal. They’re basically energy lines, right, and energy can be disrupted. Anything can.”
“I like where you’re going with this,” Zayne said, gently squeezing my shoulders. “Sounds like someone else should’ve been in the running to lead the clan.”
A half smile formed on Nicolai’s face. “I would’ve voted ‘Hell, yeah’ to that.”
Danika snorted. “As if that would even be an option. Half of the clan—no, half of the damn population of Wardens—would crap themselves at the mere idea of a female running a clan.”
That was sad.
And true.
Part of their mentality toward the females could land at the feet of their archaic social structure. The other half was because too many demons weren’t stupid.
Unfortunately.
Demons knew that the one surefire way to cut the Wardens off at the knees was to go after the next generation. Females and young Wardens were targeted. The locations of the communities they lived in were well-protected secrets. That was why the fact Danika was often out and about was surprising.
But also, again, they were superarchaic in their beliefs. Yes, it was more dangerous for the females and the wee baby Wardens, but if they were trained to fight and defend themselves, like Danika and Jada were, they wouldn’t be such easy targets.
One day and one day soon, they were going to have to change.
“I don’t know why we’re all standing here pretending like Danika doesn’t already run the show,” Dez commented from where he stood.
That got another big smile from Danika and a rather muted nod of agreement from Nicolai. I liked them together. A lot.
“Anyway, I started doing some research on ley lines and what could possibly disrupt them since we can’t very well go in and just blow the school and portal up,” Danika continued, and she was right. So charged with celestial energy, it would take out half, if not all, of the city if we attempted something like that, which would result in a whole lot of loss of human life.
And possible exposure.
“I couldn’t find anything on the internet other than some really weird stuff that made no sense,” Danika was saying, drawing my attention back to her. “So I went to our very own personal internet service.”
“Gideon?” Zayne surmised.
She nodded. “I asked if he knew anything, and at first, he wasn’t sure of anything, but he went and locked himself in the library for a couple of hours, emerging with an answer.”
While I wondered if he had found an answer to my oh-so-personal question about reproduction, hope sparked in my chest. I tried not to let it ignite. “Did he find anything?”