Jace survived, and then Colonel Fireswift called up the next soldier, someone going to level five. She died a horrible death, poisoned by the Nectar of the gods. Colonel Fireswift gave his hand a dismissive wave, and the dead soldier was taken away.
From there, things only got worse. One-by-one, soldiers were summoned to the stage, in no particular order. Most did survive, but the deaths in between cast a dark shadow on the ceremony. Those people were dead because of Colonel Fireswift. He was pushing too hard because those losses were acceptable to him. But they weren’t acceptable to me. Not at all.
As a soldier spasmed on the floor at Colonel Fireswift’s feet, his mouth frothing with acid and blood, someone in the crowd fainted.
“Get her out of my sight,” Colonel Fireswift snapped at the man who’d caught her fall. “That is not the behavior I expect from a soldier of the Legion.”
Watching the man carry his unconscious friend out of the ballroom, I got an idea. I made my way slowly through the crowd to Dr. Harding.
“Nerissa,” I said quietly, stopping beside her.
“Leda.” Her voice was dark. She was usually so energetic, so talkative. She couldn’t even contain her happiness. But today she couldn’t contain a very different emotion: horror.
“This is a bloodbath,” I said.
“The First Angel made a mistake when she put that butcher in command here,” she replied in a scathing whisper. That was the bluntness I had come to expect from her.
“Do you happen to have a sedative with you?” I asked her.
Nerissa lifted her cocktail. “It’s called alcohol, Pandora. Drink deeply.” She emptied her glass in a single go.
“Actually, I was thinking of something fast-acting and a lot stronger. Something that could knock out a Legion soldier in under a minute.”
“Trying to get out of your promotion?”
“It’s not for me,” I told her, indicating Lucy. “It’s for my friend.”
“She looks as fragile as a snowflake. That sweet girl has the most extensive library of erotic deity romance novels of anyone I know of, so it would be a shame to lose her.” Nerissa took my hand, and then I felt the weight of a syringe in my palm. “This should do the trick. Thirty seconds max and she’ll be out.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, moving back across the crowd to stand beside Lucy.
When her name was called, Lucy jumped in alarm.
“It will be ok,” I promised, drawing her into a hug.
She stiffened when the hidden needle pierced her skin. “Thank you,” she whispered back.
Lucy walked toward the stage, her steps uneven and wobbly. Her hands shook as she prepared to receive the goblet from Colonel Fireswift. I bit down on the inside of my cheek, praying that the drug would take effect in time.
“Sip now of the gods’ Nectar,” Colonel Fireswift began the lines he’d already spoken so many times today.
Lucy’s eyes rolled back, and she fell to the floor.
“How dare you faint in front of me,” the colonel snapped. “I order you to wake up.”
“I don’t think she can hear you,” someone in the crowd said.
Colonel Fireswift searched the crowd for the soldier who’d spoken out of turn. When he didn’t find him, his hard voice rang out, “Dr. Harding.”
Nerissa navigated the crowd, making her way to the front. “Colonel, how may I be of service?”
“Wake her up.”
Nerissa crouched down beside Lucy, wiping back the hair from her forehead. “That would be unwise.”
“It would be unwise to disobey me,” he replied in a voice that sent cold shivers down my spine. “Wake her so she can face her test.”
“It is against regulations to submit sick soldiers to this test.”
“Against regulations,” he hissed.
“I can quote the passage if you’ve forgotten, Colonel,” Nerissa told him calmly.
A soft snort rose from the crowd.
“She is not ill,” Colonel Fireswift said, anger simmering in his voice. “She fainted.”
“Which is a symptom of her illness.”
“What illness?”
“Dragon Fever.”
“Dragon Fever?”
“In layman’s terms, the flu, Colonel.”
He let out a derisive snort. “That’s impossible. Soldiers of the Legion do not catch common illnesses. We are immortal.”
“Just because you’re immortal, that doesn’t mean you can’t catch the sniffles,” she replied. “Or any number of other ailments. As you should remember from your visit last year when I treated your little…problem.”
Colonel Fireswift’s face turned as red as hell’s inferno. Nerissa watched him with perfect serenity, her mouth drawing up in challenge, like if pushed she would announce to the whole room what he’d had.
“Take her out of here,” Colonel Fireswift said, looking away from Nerissa.
Whatever she’d treated him for, he was obviously too embarrassed to look her in the eye. It seemed the Colonel had a few weaknesses of his own. And I intended to find out what they were.
Nerissa lifted Lucy into her arms and carried her out of the ballroom. I let out a silent shout of victory. My friend was safe—for now at least. But we had to get Nero back.
Drake stomped down on my foot, and I realized everyone in the room was staring at me. From his high place on the stage, Colonel Fireswift was staring at me with sinister delight. He must have called my name while I was lost in my own thoughts. I tried to look confident as I strode up to the stage.
“The final test of the ceremony,” Colonel Fireswift declared to the whole room with a cold, dark smile.
I had a feeling the order had been intentional. He’d wanted me to see people die, to make me realize I was mortal after all, that I could die, no matter what level I was. This was just another one of his mind games.
“Coming down with the flu too?” he asked me with a challenging sneer.
I countered with a big smile. “Nope. I’m in perfect health.”
I refused to let him get to me. I would make it. I had to save Zane, and I wasn’t going to allow some silly Nectar to defeat me. My body was meant to have Nectar. I could do this. No problem.
“Sip now of the gods’ Nectar,” said Colonel Fireswift. “Consume the magic of their third gift. Let it fill you, making you strong for the days to come.
“For the days to come,” everyone repeated.
I took the goblet he offered me and drank it all down, every single drop. The Nectar’s sweetness ignited my senses, waking me up. It was the most perfect, most delicious thing I’d ever had. I soared on the euphoria of a magic I was meant to have.
And then I crashed. The sweetness soured in my mouth, turning to acid. Instead of sweet ecstasy, the Nectar tasted like the poison that it was. My throat burning, my blood boiling, I staggered to the side. My head was spinning. I was drowning.
Was this the end? Was this what the others tasted before the Nectar killed them? I collapsed to the ground, convulsing. Agony ravaged my body. I felt like I was being turned inside out. I felt a sudden surge of pain pierce my chest, and then the darkness swallowed me.
13
Of Heaven and Hell
I dreamt I was an angel, flying on silver wings, my red hair fluttering in the wind. I walked down the streets of the golden city, looking up at the red and orange sky. The ground shook with earthly tremors as another angel landed before me. He dropped to one knee.