Fairy’s Touch: Legion of Angels: Book 7 Read online

  Fairy’s Touch

  Legion of Angels: Book 7

  Ella Summers

  FAIRY’S TOUCH

  Legion of Angels

  Book 7

  Copyright © 2019

  Version: 2019.02.22

  To be notified when Ella Summers’s next book is released, sign up for her mailing list at:

  http://www.ellasummers.com/newsletter

  Contents

  Story Summary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Author’s Note

  Books by Ella Summers

  About the Author

  Story Summary

  The games of gods play out upon the backbones of mortals.

  Leda Pierce has come a long way since she left her home on the frontier of civilization one year ago to join the Legion of Angels. She is a soldier in the gods’ army, has crossed swords with demons, and shares an apartment with her angel lover in New York.

  Every day brings Leda closer to becoming an angel herself—until a promotion ceremony goes horribly wrong, leaving her powers in magical limbo. Worse yet, the gods have taken over her training at Crystal Falls. Leda’s failed magic and the gods’ impossible challenges are the least of her worries, however. Someone is using the challenges to expose people’s most-guarded secrets, and the skeletons in Leda’s closet would mean her execution.

  Fairy’s Touch is the seventh book in the Legion of Angels series.

  1

  Legion's Legacy

  I stepped onto the platform. Before me, the station sign read ‘Crystal Falls’ in embossed gold letters. Behind me, the red-and-bronze airship that had brought me to this isolated jungle island bobbed gently in the wind, preparing to depart.

  I stood alone on the spotless station platform. There wasn’t another soul in sight. Unsurprisingly. This wasn’t a tourist getaway; it was a private island occupied by the Legion of Angels, the gods’ army on Earth. The Legion used the facility here to train soldiers they believed possessed the potential to become angels.

  For the next several days, I and six others would train hard and long under the guidance of the angel Colonel Dragonblood. At the end of it, we would be stronger, smarter, and that much closer to leveling up our magic.

  At least that was the plan. With my luck, sea monsters would overrun the island two minutes into the training. And then we’d spend the next week fighting for our lives. Yeah, you could say my life was a nonstop blockbuster action movie with paranormal trimmings.

  “The island is well-protected. There’s no reason to believe anything like that will happen this time,” I told myself, swinging my pack onto my back.

  I followed the winding trail away from the station. As I entered the trees, a chorus of shrill bird cries welcomed me to the jungle. I looked up, scanning the tropical foliage. There were bright fuchsia flowers and more strings of trumpet-sized bluebells than I could count, but I didn’t spot any creatures. Or any monsters, I noted happily.

  My ringing phone interrupted the unseen birds’ next war cry.

  “Hi, Bella,” I answered.

  “You sound out of breath,” my sister said.

  “I’m hiking through a scorching hot jungle in one hundred percent humidity.” I swiped the sweat from my brow. I didn’t bother with the sweat covering the rest of my body. There wasn’t any point in this weather. I’d only walked a few steps, and my tank top was already pasted to my skin.

  “Oh. I thought I was interrupting…something.”

  I snorted. “If I were having sex with Nero, trust me, I wouldn’t have answered my phone.”

  “I see.”

  I couldn’t see her blush, but I’d wager my set of collectable Legion playing cards that she was as red as a cherry right now. Which meant I had to tease her further, of course. After all, what were sisters for?

  “Speaking of angel lovers who make you forget all else, Harker told me you finally agreed to go out with him.”

  “I did no such thing,” she protested.

  I could picture the dignified indignation on her face as clearly as though she were standing right in front of me.

  “Did you know he blindsided me on campus last week?” she said.

  Bella was in her second and final year of school at the New York University of Witchcraft.

  “No, I didn’t know Harker visited you there,” I said.

  “You visit me. Calli and the girls visit me. We chat, drink tea, and have a pleasant time. Harker does not visit. He completely covers the campus quad and all its adjacent buildings in red roses. Thousands of red roses.”

  “Were they pretty?” I was trying really hard not to laugh.

  “Leda!”

  I coughed. “Sorry.”

  “Then, amidst the sea of roses, the eyes of every witch on campus trained on us, he asked me to dinner.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I told him that his unwavering persistence was maddening. That it was enough to make any woman break down and agree to go out with him just to make him stop.”

  “I can see how he took that statement as an acceptance.”

  “You are not helping,” she snapped.

  Bella was usually so calm, so serene. Harker had really gotten under her skin. That’s how I knew she totally liked him.

  “How can I possibly help?” I asked her.

  “Harker is your friend.”

  “He is also an angel—with all the good and bad that comes with it. To you, covering the quad in roses might seem extreme, but I promise you that he was holding back.”

  “There were roses everywhere. Everyone was watching. There was nothing left to hold back,” she laughed weakly.

  “That’s not true. There could have been diamond tiaras and silk runners, elephants and unicorns, acrobats, dancers, carnival floats, and a mariachi band.”

  Dead silence.

  “Bella?” I asked.

  “You think just like them. Like an angel,” she said quietly.

  “You have to know ‘em to beat ‘em,” I chuckled.

  Silence again.

  “What do I do about Harker?” Bella finally asked.

  “What do you want to do about him?”

  “I’m…not sure,” she admitted. “The roses and public declarations of affection are a bit much…”

  “But a part of you likes it all,” I finished for her.

  “Does that make me crazy?” she said quietly.

  “Of course. Our whole family is crazy,” I replied brightly.

  It didn’t matter that we weren’t related by blood. We were united by love. And by a healthy dose of madness.

  Bella’s chuckle was soft and sweet—like a purring kitten. “Thank you.”

  “For explaining the ways of angels?”

  “For being there. And for listening.”

  “Any time. You’ve always been there for me,”
I said. “And, hey, if you want to truly understand the ways of angels, I have a great book you can study.”

  “Thanks, but I have some actual studying to do right now for exams.”

  “All the important stuff in life will never be on a test.”

  “Your philosophy in a nutshell, Leda.”

  “Yep. With a few more bells and whistles added on. And a scattering of bombshells.”

  “I’m glad you’re my sister,” Bella laughed.

  “Love you too.” A grin spread my lips. “Now you go study and kick all those witches’ asses on your exams.”

  “Try not to blow up anything at your training.”

  I stuck my tongue out at the phone screen.

  “See you soon,” said Bella.

  “Absolutely. When I’m back in the city, there’s a new bakery close to the office that we have to try. They have chocolate cheesecake. We can invite Harker too.”

  “Funny.”

  “I thought so.”

  I heard a bell ring on Bella’s end.

  “I have to get going, Leda.”

  “Bye.”

  I tucked my phone into my bag. I’d reached the entrance of the Crystal Falls training facility, a set of two formidable doors five times as tall as I was. I paused on the threshold and drew in a deep breath, inhaling the sweet and spicy jungle air. It smelled remarkably like a batch of hot cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven.

  I pushed the doors open and stepped inside. With its white stone pillars and high archways, the entrance hall resembled a cathedral more than a military training facility. Spotlit murals featured gods and angels framed in golden halos, their majestic wings spread wide. Armed with flaming swords and shimmering shields, they battled demons and monsters.

  The Champions of Earth. The Saviors of Humanity. The Patrons of Magic. From the gilded city temples to the filthy street corners of the Frontier, that was the song the Pilgrims, the voice of the gods’ message, sang to humanity. Magnanimous, omnipotent, and perfectly immaculate: those were the qualities the Pilgrims told us the gods represented.

  I’d met the seven ruling gods and goddesses of the gods’ council, and they weren’t so much magnanimous as merciless. They were certainly immensely powerful, but I wasn’t sure about omnipotent. Surely, their power had limits—or at least I chose to think so. And I didn’t believe for a moment that the gods were free from flaws. But they made the rules, so it was ultimately up to them to define what constituted a ‘flaw’.

  I’d reached the end of the hall and stopped in front of Room 126. Someone had slid a paper with my name on it into the slot on the door. Captain Leda Pierce. She sounded so dignified, so proper, so serious—so everything I was not.

  I entered my room and set my backpack down on the desk beside the bed. Waiting on my mattress were a pair of shoes, shorts, and a blue tank top with this training’s logo: the blue silhouette of an angel standing between the block text words ‘Crystal’ and ‘Falls’. I changed into the gym uniform. As expected, everything fit me perfectly. The Legion knew all its soldiers’ measurements from head to toe.

  As I headed to the main gym, I wondered what challenges the Crystal Falls training would throw at me.

  My first challenge presented itself a few minutes later. The way to the gym was barred—by a gigantic waterfall plunging down between two of the facility’s buildings.

  I searched for a way around the obstacle but ultimately came to the unfortunate conclusion that the only way forward was through the crashing curtain of water. And so through I went. On the plus side, I wasn’t hot anymore. On the not-so-plus side, my shoes were squishy.

  The waterfall now behind me, I entered the gym hall. It was massive in every direction, including in height. A whole airship could have fit inside here. But despite its docking bay dimensions, the gym wasn’t raw or rough. The wood floors were glossy and bright. Framed paintings of famous angels throughout history covered every inch of the walls not occupied by ropes, ladders, bars, and other training apparatuses.

  I spotted Nero’s likeness up there on the wall, magic burning on his hands, lighting up his dark wings. Nyx, the First Angel, was on that wall as well. So were Nero’s parents, Damiel Dragonsire and Cadence Lightbringer. I also recognized Leila Starborn of Storm Castle and Bella’s suitor Harker Sunstorm. The painting of Colonel Fireswift, the brutal head of the Legion’s Interrogators, seemed almost alive. His cold glare drilled into me, as though the real Colonel Fireswift were gazing across land and water to spy on me even here.

  Training stations were set up all across the gym. Some contained workout benches and weights. Others featured weapons and target boards. There were bars and bands, ladders and beams, ropes and nets.

  And standing at the center of the hall were six soldiers dressed in the same Crystal Falls gym uniform as I was. Except for Jace Fireswift, son of Colonel Fireswift, I didn’t recognize a single one of them.

  “Hello,” I said with a smile, greeting the soldiers who would be my comrades for the next few days.

  “So she joins us at last,” said a female soldier. She wore an elaborate assortment of dark braids—and a haughty sneer on her lips. “The infamous Leda Pierce, Legion celebrity.”

  Well, wasn’t that nice? She didn’t even know me, and already she hated me.

  The best way to counter that stellar welcome was with a generous serving of sugar.

  “I’d hardly call myself a celebrity,” I replied with a sweet smile.

  “She expects she will be up there soon,” a male soldier said to the others, his eyes lifting to the wall of angels.

  Another soldier laughed. “I guess no one told her that wall is reserved for those with angel blood.”

  I glanced at the insignia on their shirts. A flower, the symbol for Fairy’s Touch, was embroidered on each and every one of them. They were all level seven soldiers, one step short of being an angel.

  And that wasn’t even the best part. They didn’t only all outrank me; they all came from established magic families. The surnames printed on their uniforms marked them as Legion brats, legacy soldiers who had an angel parent. Demonslayer. Spellsmiter. Silvertongue. Wardbreaker. Battleborn. Fireswift. There were a lot of famous angel names in there.

  I was the only level six soldier here, the only one who wasn’t a Legion brat. The outsider. It was no wonder they looked at me like I was a ragged, flea-infested alley cat who’d wandered into the hall uninvited, smelling of rotting garbage and humble beginnings.

  “She is absolutely soaked,” the soldier named Silvertongue said in horror, her eyes following the trail of puddles I’d left in my wake.

  There wasn’t a drop of water on the six of them. How the hell had they gotten through the waterfall without getting soaked? I didn’t ask that question. They’d only mock my ignorance.

  “Time to warm up,” the soldier named Spellsmiter said to the others, turning his back on me to look at the equipment.

  The others followed suit. Apparently, they’d already grown bored of mocking me. Thank goodness.

  “Come on, Jace,” Battleborn called him over to the sea of ropes hanging from the ceiling.

  Jace paused, his gaze shifting between me and his fellow brats, then he joined Battleborn at the ropes. Jace and I were friends—and competitors. Like all things in my life, it was complicated. But I didn’t blame him for going with the other Legion brats.

  Ostensibly, the Crystal Falls training was for level six and level seven soldiers, but things were obviously different this time around. The Legion had recently lost an angel, and it was widely known that Colonel Dragonblood would create a new angel from our ranks. The pressure on the level seven soldiers to perform, to prove themselves worthy of that honor, was enormous.

  I wasn’t a level seven soldier, so I couldn’t even win that prize. And, as I watched the positively brutal way the others were warming up, I decided things were better this way. If they were hitting their friends that hard, I didn’t want to experience how hard they hit th
e outsider, the intruder in their sacred circle of angel blood. I’d rather traverse the plains of monsters than find myself in the crosshairs of these level sevens. From the looks of it, they would gladly kill each other in their scramble to the top, in their unfriendly competition to become an angel here.

  I wandered over to an unoccupied lifting station. I picked up a barbell and began doing benchpresses. I hadn’t even done twenty reps when Spellsmiter claimed the workout bench closest to mine and preceded to benchpress a barbell loaded with twice as much weight as mine. I sighed. So much for being ignored.

  His message was clear: I was way out of my league here. My response was equally clear. I got up and added more weight to my barbell until mine was heavier than his. I couldn’t help it. He was just asking for me to egg him on.

  Spellsmiter made a derisive noise, then piled more weight on his bar.

  I responded in kind. He might be the son of an angel, but I’d been trained by the archangel Nero Windstriker. Nero had special bars that could hold more weight than the Legion’s regular high-capacity bars—and he’d used them extensively when torturing me with his workout routines.

  Spellsmiter kept loading on more weight, and I kept countering. By now, there was so much weight on his bar that he could barely push it up. His face was red, his muscles quivering, and he was grunting like a stuck pig—but still he carried on stubbornly, determined to put me in my place.

  It clearly wasn’t working out as he’d planned. What could I say? When you went up against Chaos, plans fell apart.