the Promenade from this office.”
“Yes, I’ve heard many good things about this school,” my father said, each word saturated with approval. “The First Angel herself created the curriculum, training methods designed to develop the magical potential of each student. Naturally, she first consulted me about my experiences training the first legacy angel.”
Legacy angel. That was a posh way to say ‘Legion brat’. And the Academy was full of nothing but them.
“Attending the Academy is a far worthier way for the child of an angel to spend his time than visiting interrogation chambers to learn how to torture prisoners of war.” He leveled a cool look at Damiel. It was no secret that my father did not approve of his methods.
Damiel lifted his glass. “You and every angel on Earth lives in comfort, Silverstar, because of the unworthy ways that I spend my time. Hunting down traitors to the Legion. Dismantling demon schemes. Protecting the people of Earth from evil.”
“You can’t fight evil with evil.”
Damiel set his hand over his heart. “I’m hurt, Silverstar, that even after all these years, you still don’t trust me.”
“I find it difficult to trust someone who constantly throws my daughter into danger.”
“We’re all constantly in danger, Dad,” I said. “That’s what it means to be an angel: to put yourself in danger for the good of others.”
My father’s expression softened a little when he looked at me—but only a little. “You have a noble soul, Cadence. Yes, being an angel has its share of perils, but being recruited into the Master Interrogator’s traitor hunt, seeking out demon agents, goes far beyond even what’s normal for an angel.”
At the moment, the Legion was in a state of unrest. Some might even call it paranoia. The Legion was hunting down anyone and everyone with even a hint of dark magic. Most dark magic users were innocuous. Many didn’t even know they had it.
But there were also the traitors. Their magic was strong, and they usually came in crowds. Hunting them down was a dangerous undertaking. Damiel had been going on a lot of these hunts lately.
My father’s gaze snapped back to Damiel. “I know about your mission tomorrow, Dragonsire. This mission you’ve dragged my daughter into.”
So this was why he’d arrived here in such a foul mood.
“This mission will pit you against numerous dark angels,” my father pressed on, hardly stopping to breathe. “If you truly love Cadence, you would not bring her along.”
“If you truly love Cadence, you would have accepted her husband by now,” Damiel replied with a smile as smooth as molten-hot honey.
“Enough. Both of you,” I snapped at them. “Dad, I am going on this mission not because Damiel asked me to come, but because Nyx ordered me to go.”
Tomorrow’s hunt would bring us to the Elemental Expanse. It was my territory, and my magic was strongest there, thanks to my elemental link with Storm Castle.
“Damiel took it upon himself to talk Nyx out of sending me along,” I continued. “His original mission plan called for the Earth Dragon instead of me. But Nyx said if the mission requires a Dragon, he might as well bring along an angel Dragon.”
Damiel had been trying to keep me out of harm’s way for the last twenty years. Sometimes, it was sweet. Other times, it was annoying. This time I wouldn’t have minded not going along. I did not enjoy hunting for dark angels. They had nasty temperaments—and were even more sanctimonious than angels.
“You know how stubborn the First Angel can be. So despite Damiel’s best efforts, I’m coming along tomorrow,” I finished.
Shock flashed in my father’s eyes. He hadn’t known that it was Nyx who’d assigned me to this mission.
I glanced at Damiel. “And as for you, my father might like you more if you didn’t try so hard to make him not like you.”
Nero laughed behind his napkin. The moment we all looked at him, however, all hint of expression melted from his face.
“I don’t want Cadence to come along on the hunt tomorrow,” Damiel told my father. “But I do have to admit that her presence will make a difference in the war against the demons.”
“This war against the demons—and your paranoia of seeing traitors everywhere—will be the end of you, Dragonsire,” General Silverstar warned him. “And of Cadence too.”
“I can make a difference too,” Nero spoke up.
I met my son’s determined eyes. “Absolutely not.”
“You are to stay in New York and go to school,” Damiel added.
“But I want to fight demons,” protested