“Yes.”
“Hey, Leo, how’s it hanging?” Destiny asked.
Leo grinned, but it didn’t last long. Jessica slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. Nial scratched the back of his head and was actually blushing. Clearly, he’d learned a few Earth slang terms from Jessica.
“Destiny, the clerics are not to be underestimated nor trifled with.”
Oh, boy. I could practically see Destiny roll her eyes.
“I got this, Leo. They aren’t all that bad. Think the strange Italian vampire court in Twilight. Minus the freaky kids and all the superpowers. They just think they’re all powerful.”
The clarification made some sense since we’d seen that movie series too many times to count when we were teens. Not so much for Leo, but he was familiar with these real clerics and I was not.
“And one of them is—God. He makes me so damn mad, Trin. I think I’ll have to torture him for fun before I leave this place.”
“You wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Faith argued. Despite Destiny’s penchant for violence, she really was a great big softie at heart. She’d learned a lot of ways to kill, but never actually killed anything. She even caught spiders and let them go outside. In some ways, she was just like her twin.
“Watch me.”
“Sounds like he’s a hottie, to me. You never could take a sexy man with a sassy mouth.” Faith was merciless. It was a twin thing.
“I’ve got something for that mouth to do, I’ll tell you that.”
My sisters were talking about oral sex over an interstellar comm with the leader of the entire coalition fleet listening? Holy crap.
Facepalm. “Hey, you two! Knock it off.” My sisters weren’t prudes. They weren’t virgins and their minds were far from innocent. But then, neither was mine, for I was sore in places a nun didn’t even know existed.
“Sorry.” That was Destiny. I expected that to be the end of it, but she kept talking. “I think when we went into the citadel, something happened.”
If she was talking about seeing strange lights around people, I wanted to hear about it, but not now. Not in front of others.
“I think I’m—”
“Guys,” I interrupted before Destiny went off on a random tangent about odd abilities.
“It’s the Ardor, Trin. I’m screwed.”
“Oh, shit. You, too?” Faith asked. “I was hoping I was imagining it.”
Great. Both of them in Ardor? This complicated everything.
Faith, as usual, seemed to read my mind. “Don’t worry about me, Trin. It’s early. I can hold out for a while. Long enough to get things done.”
“Yeah, me too. What’s the plan?” Destiny asked. “I’m ready to kick some ass.”
“Not you, Dest,” I countered. “You need to stay where you are, do whatever it is you’re doing. The less you know about my plans, the safer it will be.”
“That’s right,” Faith said. “A three-pronged attack.”
“Not attack, Princess Faith,” Prime Nial corrected. “You are to remain in hiding as you have been, learning details that may help find the queen, but nothing more. Princess Trinity will be returning to Alera and taking over the throne. She has a number of trusted fighters to help her and will be safe at the palace. You do not have trusted fighters or a secure fortress to live within.”
Faith sighed. “If you didn’t call to tell me your plans, Trinity, and I doubt you want to share any of
the juicy details about Leo with everyone listening in, why did you call?”
“Yeah, you’re just teasing me with the thought of kicking ass and taking names,” Destiny added.
8