Later, as my team and I were questioning the city’s king of the water-based elementals, I tried to remind myself of Nero’s assertion that I was tenacious and resourceful. Right now, stuck in this circular conversation with the Sea King, I wasn’t so sure I was the right person for the job.

All of New York’s ice and water elementals were under the Sea King’s rule, so he should have known everything about them. But he was stonewalling my questions about Serenity, the water elemental who’d almost drowned the city under a tsunami this morning. Such a calm and peaceful name—with a reputation as a calm and peaceful woman—and yet her actions just a few hours ago suggested anything but that.

“What was Serenity’s place in your kingdom?” I asked him.

“She was one of our firefighters,” replied the Sea King.

Like all supernaturals, water elementals had many key responsibilities, and they all had to report to the Legion at the end of the day. One of those responsibilities was firefighting. It was well-suited to their skills. Just as earth elementals grew food and flowers. And the fire elementals made good blacksmiths.

The Sea King continued, “Serenity was very dedicated to her job and to saving lives.”

He had been repeating the same line for the past hour. I didn’t doubt it. I’d seen the water elemental firefighters at work in the city. They were a dedicated and brave bunch. I wondered if I’d ever seen Serenity out there too.

I could not show my emotions, and I couldn’t afford to take his word for anything. “If she’d dedicated her life to saving others, then why did she try to kill everyone?”

The Sea King shook his head. “I don’t know. She didn’t have a violent bone in her body.”

“She appeared agitated during the incident.”

It was a vast understatement to refer to the near total drowning of New York City as merely an ‘incident’, but since no one but Serenity had died, I couldn’t really call it a massacre.

“She was shouting about monsters taking over,” I continued. “Do you know anything about that?”

His eyes darted up, then he met my gaze again. “No.”

He was hiding something. I could feel it in my bones. I considered compelling him to figure out what it was, but I could sense a slight tug on the periphery of my mind. He was wearing an amulet to block mind control. After a particularly unpleasant encounter with a witch and his talisman, I’d learned to always check for defenses before compelling people. It wasn’t fun to have your spell bounce back on you.

Maybe I was just paranoid to suspect the Sea King, but I didn’t think so. Why would he wear an amulet like that unless he had something to hide? Those amulets drained your magic when you wore them; that’s how they were powered. It would leave him weaker, more vulnerable. Supernatural leaders couldn’t afford to be weak or vulnerable. He must have been feeling pretty desperate—desperate to hide something from us.

Maybe he was just hiding something unrelated, something he was afraid the Legion would find out. Most supernaturals had secrets. And supernatural leaders had more secrets than others. That was the cost of ruling. They sometimes did things the Legion wouldn’t approve of—not necessarily bad things, but definitely things on the Legion’s very long taboo list. I’d once had to track down a vampire king; he’d hidden away a young vampire child who’d mistakenly killed humans. The child was beloved by her house. A young child couldn’t control the gift—or the blood lust.

The Legion had eventually found the child. They’d executed her for the safety of humanity. They had killed the vampire king too, as an example to others, but not before interrogating him for several weeks to see what else he was hiding. The answer was a lot. Being a leader required you to break the rules to keep your people safe. To keep everyone safe.

The Legion considered leaders responsible for the actions of their subordinates. That’s why Harker had punished Basanti along with Claudia. He was following Legion protocol to the letter.

“If the Legion finds out you’ve withheld information, there will be consequences,” I told the Sea King.

He sighed. “I understand.”

Yeah, he was hiding something. But I wasn’t ready to send in the Interrogators just yet. First of all, I didn’t have any evidence. And secondly, the Interrogators freaked the hell out of me. I’d once watched them manipulate a witch, the heir to a powerful New York coven, into joining the Legion. Into giving up everything she had in order to salvage her coven’s honor.

“The water elementals have to pay for the damages,” I said. “Unless you can point me to the person behind Serenity’s outburst.”

It was the standard Legion threat. I had been on enough missions like these to have memorized the usual threats we used to get supernaturals to talk.

The Sea King sighed again. “Send me the bill.”

So much for taking the lifeline I’d thrown him. I wasn’t surprised. I wouldn’t have taken the deal either. But I still had to go through the motions, playing out this scene to its conclusion.

“Very well.”

I pressed my hands against his desk, leaning in. He might have been wearing an amulet that blocked my siren magic, but I did manage to mesmerize him on a mundane level. He met my eyes, captivated. Maybe it was all the leather I was wearing. The Legion uniform was functional. It was designed to intimidate. And there was nothing like a whole lot of black leather that broadcast intimidation.

“But if I find out you’ve been impeding a Legion investigation, I won’t be pleased.” I made my voice very hard.

He dipped his chin in acknowledgment.

I turned away from his desk, looking at my team. “Let’s go.”

Then I led them from the Sea King’s fortress. On the way out, we passed aquarium windows and shimmering orange walls. The place had been fashioned to resemble an underwater castle. It looked like it was made of coral, but the builders had actually used steel and glass—along with a bit of cosmetic magic to make it look like coral.

As we walked toward our truck parked just outside the gates, I asked my team, “How did I do?”

“You channeled your inner angel well,” Ivy told me.

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“Your tone, your presence. It was perfect. That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.” The look on Alec’s face was almost adoring. “Will you marry me?”

I snorted.

Drake patted me on the back. “You were very menacing. Very Legion.”

We all climbed into the truck. Drake shut the door behind us.

I typed a few things on my phone, then tucked it into my pocket. “Well, what I’m going to do next is decidedly very not-Legion.” I handed them all earpieces and pressed a button on my watch.

Sounds came in, a soft hiss in my ears. The signal cleared, and the Sea King’s voice buzzed over the line.

“We have a problem,” he said, obviously speaking to one of his people. “We need to deal with it before the other elementals find out—or worse yet, the Legion. Tell Holden to come to me.”

Whoever Holden was. I assumed he was another elemental, one of the Sea King’s minions. Maybe the one he called when he had secrets that required burying.

I heard the click of the light switch and the whisper of a closing door. And then silence. Everyone must have left the room. I took off my headphones.

“When did you bug the Sea King’s office?” Alec asked me.

“When you were leaning forward against his desk, drawing his eyes to you. All of our eyes,” Ivy realized.

“Yes. If he knows something, I am going to find out.” I looked at Alec. “Let’s go.”

He climbed into the driver’s seat. “Just let me say that I approve of your actions,” he declared as the truck peeled away from the curb.

Drake looked at the headphones in his hands. “What is the range on that bug?”

“It’s the latest tech. It will cover the whole city. And it’s recording to my watch, so I can listen in later.” I tapped my watch.

“This is not Legion tech,” Ivy commented.

“The Legion has similar tech, but, no, I bought this in the city. It’s black market stuff made by renegade witches.”

Some girls bought purses and shoes. I bought black market spy gadgetry.

“You need Harker’s approval to bug the house of a supernatural leader,” Drake pointed out.

Technically, that was true, but I knew Harker wouldn’t go along with this. And I had to do what I had to do to save lives, even if it meant being a little renegade. That’s what being a leader was all about. It was the same conundrum the supernatural leaders often faced: follow the rules or keep their people safe. Their choices often got them into trouble. And my choice might get me into trouble too. But if someone had found a way to give supernaturals the powers of Legion soldiers, everyone was in danger.

Who was it? It wasn’t demons feeding them Venom. Serenity’s powers were definitely made of light magic. And Ivy had found no evidence of a demon mark on Serenity’s body. Did some god get bored and decide to play games by giving random people Nectar?

“Harker isn’t secure in his position,” I said to Drake. “He’ll want to play this by the books so early on in his angel career. Bugging a leader isn’t by the books. The Legion keeps power by fear and force. They also keep it by working with the supernatural community’s leaders, and they can’t just bug them at random.” I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of my decision. “We can’t afford to play that game. There’s something bigger going on here, as we heard from the Sea King’s conversation.”

“You’re right, Leda,” Alec said.

Ivy nodded.

“Ok,” Drake said. It seemed Ivy’s agreement had tipped him over the edge. “I suppose sometimes unconventional methods are required. We will keep your secret.”

“Good, then I don’t have to kill you.” Grinning, I took back their headphones.

“She’s kidding, right?” Alec asked the others.

Ivy just smiled at him.

“The Legion’s Interrogators would use everything they heard against him. They’d use it to threaten, blackmail, and coerce him,” I said. “But we’re not going to play that game. I won’t steal his secrets or expose them. I just want to figure out what happened with Serenity.”

“You might not like what you hear from the bug,” Drake warned me. “Supernatural houses engage in a lot of cruel activity—cruel, but sanctioned.”

“I’ll deal with it. I have to. Whatever is going on, it’s bigger than just that one incident, and that means it could happen again. We have to stop it before something happens and a lot of people die.”

It was getting dark outside now. My first training session with Harker was scheduled for tonight. Was it weird that I was looking forward to it? I guess I was just morbidly curious of how he was going to torture me up to the next level of the Legion ladder.

My phone buzzed. I pulled it out. “I’ve gotten an alert. There’s been another incident.”

It seemed Harker would have to wait.

“A vampire has gone wild, exhibiting unusual powers,” I read on.

Who said lightning never struck twice?