“You know I do.”
“Then do what it takes to get the job done, no matter how much you don’t like it.”
Damiel didn’t look impressed with my argument, so I was surprised when he turned to Jiro and said, “Give her the other four devices.” He looked at Grant, the rebels’ leader. “It’s up to all of you to stop any Hive soldiers who try to escape.”
Grant nodded, looking far more pleased to be taking over my mission than I had been to receive it.
I slipped off my jacket and attached two of the Magitech devices to my arms. I felt the surge of magic immediately, like supercharged lightning was burning through my veins.
Jiro handed me a third device. I lifted up the bottom edge of my shirt and wrapped the strap around my abdomen. A few disappointed noises rose from the rebels. Maybe they’d been hoping I’d take off my shirt like Damiel had.
I took the fourth device and slipped it under my shorts to strap it to my thigh. The rebels enjoyed watching that. At a stony-eyed glare from Damiel, however, they promptly stopped ogling.
“Are you ready?” Damiel asked me.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
“The connection will be stronger if you link hands,” Jiro told us.
Damiel and I looked at each other. He held out his hand. I stared at it for a while, trying to decide what to do with it. As I’d told him earlier, this mission was more important than what either of us wanted. And I really didn’t want to hold that jerk’s hand right now. I was still mad at him for trying to leave me behind. He knew how much that grated on an angel’s will—and hurt my feelings too.
Finally, I took his hand. The moment our magic-charged bodies touched, another jolt shot through my body with the force of a high-speed train. I looked at the shimmer of silver magic rippling across the open doorway. The Hive hadn’t even put a door in. And why would they bother? The ward kept out anyone they didn’t want.
I took a deep breath. If this didn’t work, the ward would kill us both.
We jumped through the shining magic curtain.
And didn’t die. As soon as we were clear, I let go of Damiel’s hand.
“There may be other wards,” he said.
But I didn’t take his hand again. “We’ll deal with them when we get to them.”
I started walking down the hall. The ceiling was high, the walls made of raw stone bricks. There were no decorations of any kind. Honestly, I’d expected a great deal more flamboyance from the Hive, given their ostentatious uniforms. Any one of their soldiers wore more decorative pins and insignia than even a Legion archangel.
We’d reached a four-way intersection in the hallway. Synchronized footsteps broke the absolute silence. The welcoming committee had arrived. Eight soldiers waited in front of us, eight behind, and eight each to the left and right. Four Hive squads. We’d sure jumped right into the deep end of the battle.
Damiel drew his Sapphire Tear, the Destroyer dagger. He used it to draw five flaming symbols in the air. The Immortals’ language. I’d learned a bit of it from an old book, but my mastery over it wasn’t nearly so complete. I supposed the Master Interrogator had access to the Legion’s secret stash of magic texts.
Damiel’s symbols flashed once, then exploded. The resulting shockwave knocked the Hive soldiers on their backs—and broke the bonds of magic linking them together.
We made a run for it, charging over them to make our way deeper into the fortress. Hive squads poured down every staircase, ran down every hallway. They were coming at us from all directions.
The battle on Nightingale had been a mere precursory whisper to this. Here, we were on the Hive’s home turf. There were many more of them. Breaking the bonds of their magic with the Sapphire Tear took too long. By the time Damiel broke them all, the first groups had reformed their bonds, and he had to start all over again.
“We need to destroy all their bonds at once,” I told Damiel after we took cover behind a stack of storage crates. “We need to find the source of the spell the Hive is shooting up into the sky. If that spell is what makes their magic so strong, breaking it would greatly weaken them. It would give us time to find the immortal daggers and get out of here.”
“We could hook up the eight Magitech devices to the Destroyer dagger and pulse that magic out to the Swarm soldiers,” he replied. “Do you think you could set up something like that?”
“Yes, but it will take time.”
Damiel handed me the Sapphire Tear and drew his gun. “I will cover you while you make the necessary modifications.” He fired at the approaching Hive squad, and they withdrew back around the corner. “Cadence, we need to talk.”
“About what?” I opened up the first Magitech device.
“You are upset with me.”
“Very observant. I guess that’s why you’re the Master Interrogator.”
“We need to fix this.”
But I didn’t want to talk about it. “Now?” I demanded. “You want to talk about this now?”
He fired a few shots to push the Hive soldiers back again. “Right now, you can’t run off.”
“I’m busy.” I had all eight devices open now.
“You’re a very clever angel. You can multitask.”
“Oh? I thought it was you who’s smarter than everyone else.”
He frowned. “You know what I meant by that.”
That he could outmaneuver everyone. But I didn’t enjoy being outmaneuvered.
“I’m not really interested in hashing out who’s dominant right now, Damiel.”
“There is little point in doing so. I am dominant. I outrank you,” he said in a voice that was more factual than arrogant.
“Maybe I’m not willing for things to be unequal in our relationship.”
“You are taking this entirely too personally.”
“It is personal. Your decision to exclude me from this mission was personal.”
“For your protection. I thought you’d appreciate that I cared.”
“I don’t appreciate being ordered to stand on the sidelines, powerless to help you. You should have treated me like the angel that I am.”
A heavy sigh rocked his chest. “I know. But you aren’t just an angel to me, Cadence. I can’t let anything happen to you.”
“You need to trust that I can take care of myself. Or at least that we can take care of each other. If you can’t do that, then this will never be more than an assigned marriage.” I handed him the Sapphire Tear, which was now magically linked to the eight Magitech devices. “It’s ready.”
His hand closed around the hilt. He drew several lines of Immortal symbols this time. They burned brighter and brighter, until they were a flash of blinding white light. I shielded my eyes.
There was a boom, and then the light went out.
I stepped out from behind the boxes and looked around. Hive soldiers everywhere were rising from the ground, their eyes unsteady, their movements disoriented.
“The spell has been broken,” Damiel said, sheathing his dagger. “Magic is no longer shooting out of this fortress.”
“Stop!”
A young woman with a witch symbol pinned to her red Hive uniform was running at us, her long brown braid swooshing against the floor. I recognized her face. I’d seen it hanging in Grant’s office back at the rebel base.