Dragon's Storm (Legion Of Angels #4)(40)

The Legion had already lost an angel recently: Osiris Wardbreaker, who’d decided he’d rather torture people than protect them. General Wardbreaker was dead now, but the Legion’s image had taken a heavy blow. This wasn’t just about having powerful soldiers. It was about maintaining an image of absolute power and competency. That’s how the Legion kept order.

“Don’t tell anyone, not even other Legion soldiers,” Nero said.

We couldn’t even trust our own? That was taking paranoia to a whole new level. Nyx must really be on edge right now.

“Who knows Colonel Starborn is missing?” I asked.

“Nyx and myself. And now you.”

He trusted me. I tried not to let that go to my head. Just as I was trying to not think about the last time we’d seen each other—and our blood exchange. Even knowing he’d marked me in that exchange, I couldn’t help but remember how good it had felt. I’d been remembering it for a whole week. I couldn’t shake the memory. His fangs popping my skin. My blood flooding into him. A rush of heat bathing my body, starting at his mouth and spreading like wildfire, consuming me. His pulse throbbing beneath my lips. His blood spilling into my mouth, as sweet as Nectar. Drowning in a river of liquid ecstasy.

“Leda.”

I met his eyes and saw that familiar spark of desire. Either he’d read my thoughts, or he was responding to my body. I dropped my hand from my neck.

His eyes went hard again. He looked so serious. I had to get serious too. And, seriously, I didn’t want him to bite me, to mark me. He’d made his point, and I was making mine. I wouldn’t let him mark me—and I certainly wouldn’t ask him to do it.

“Leda,” he said again.

Was it crazy that the sound of my name on his tongue sent shivers down my spine. Yes, it was very wrong, I decided. I should never have drunk all that Nectar tonight. It was making my head all funny.

“So the other Dragons don’t know about Colonel Starborn?” I asked, keeping my tone professional. Professional was the way to go.

“No, and we need to keep it that way. News of her disappearance—and possible defection—would unsettle them. The Dragons need to be calm. They need to be balanced. They are the keepers of the Earth’s elemental magic. The ones who keep everything in balance. This castle is a conduit of power, drawing on the elements. It links the elemental magic of heaven to Earth. If the Dragons fall out of balance, it could affect the weather everywhere on Earth, overriding nature with magic. The results would be devastating. We cannot allow that to happen. We must keep the Dragons in the dark. All but one of them.”

“Which one?”

“Basanti is holding Colonel Starborn’s place. The other Dragons should have petitioned the Legion for a replacement in Colonel Starborn’s absence, but they were clearly too impatient. And desperate.”

“Desperate about what?”

“The four Dragons link with the castle, keeping its magic in check. If any one of the Dragons is gone for too long, the castle’s magic becomes unbalanced.”

Which could lead to the weather everywhere on Earth going crazy.

“So, we’re telling Captain Somerset?” I asked.

“Nero has already told me,” she said as she closed the door behind her. She turned toward him. “I spoke to the Dragons about Leila.”

“I trust you were discreet.”

“Of course. Before the Elemental Rites tonight, I asked them what Leila had been working on prior to her departure. I tried to make it seem like I just wanted to be thorough in taking care of her responsibilities until her return.”

Nero dipped his chin. “What did they say?”

“For the past few months, Leila has been experimenting with new magic. She was sure she could make the castle better, more powerful, more in control. That she could maybe even control the weather in the monsters’ lands. She wanted to change the elemental magic in the wild areas to make the weather hostile to the resident monsters, clearing the lands for humanity.”

“That is a bold endeavor,” commented Nero.

“Leila was trying new spells.”

“It sounds like she dug too deep into the magic wells,” I said.

“Yes,” Nero agreed. “She could have hit dark magic. It has the power to seduce, to lead astray.”

“Leila is almost entirely light magic,” Captain Somerset said. “That’s how she is and how she was trained. She wouldn’t dip her toes in dark magic.”

“Perhaps not intentionally, but darkness is very seductive. Especially to those with no experience fighting it.”

Captain Somerset planted her hands stubbornly on her hips. “She hasn’t fallen, Nero. I know her. She lives and breathes the Legion—duty, honor, and propaganda in all.”

He set his hand on her shoulder. “That was long ago, Basanti. People change.”

“Not angels.” The pained look on her face was undeniable. That was the look of someone whose heart had been broken. Of someone who had loved and lost.

“Colonel Starborn is the angel you were involved with,” I said.

She gave her hand a dismissive wave. “As Nero said, that was long ago.”

“We’ll try to bring her back,” Nero promised her. “If you sense anything from her, it would greatly help with our search.”