Angel Fever (Immortal Legacy #3) - Ella Summers Page 0,76

flattery.

“It’s hard to argue with compliments, Silverstar,” Damiel told him.

“She doesn’t fight fair,” he agreed.

“I might not fight fair, but I always fight with dignity,” I said with a bright smile.

“That you do.” My father’s voice betrayed a hint of emotion.

We went below deck, entering a small dining hall. The table was already set for dinner. Most of the platters held one or the other variety of tropical fruit. I didn’t recognize half of them.

Damiel watched my father as he took the head seat. “You’re the captain of this ship.”

Damiel and I chose two adjacent seats. Illias claimed one on the other side of the table.

“The captain of this ship,” my father said. “The new base of the rebellion.”

“What rebellion?” I asked him.

“The rebellion against the demons’ invading army.”

“So you’re maintaining the gods’ order, even out here in the cosmic expanse.” Genuine amusement sparkled in Damiel’s eyes.

“This isn’t about maintaining the gods’ order.”

“Then what is it about?”

“Something much bigger,” Illias spoke up.

I looked at him. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I came to this world a few weeks ago, as a missionary.”

Of course. Illias was a priest of the Immortals. The fact that the Immortals had been gone for millennia had done nothing to dim his faith.

“What she meant was, how did you get off of Nightingale when we left you stranded there two hundred years ago,” Damiel told him with all the bluntness of a battle axe.

Illias frowned. “A lot has happened in the last two hundred years. We have made peace with the Joined. Or the Hive, as we once called them.”

“Good for you,” I told him.

“Pragmatic of you.”

Damiel wasn’t the biggest fan of Illias. It might have had something to do with Illias lying to us, inventing some big story about the Hive attacking the Earth—and doing it all just to manipulate us into going to the Hive world to annihilate them.

Well, things hadn’t gone as Illias had planned. When we learned of his deception, we’d come calling on his doorstep. After a few choice words, we’d closed all the magic mirrors to and from Nightingale, save one: the passage to the world of their archenemy, the Hive. It was a punishment worthy of Damiel Dragonsire’s ghastly reputation.

“We’ve put the past behind us,” Illias said to Damiel. “For the greater good. There are now many united worlds, joined together in praising and praying to the Immortals. My people sent me here to spread the undying love, harmony, and peace of the Immortals.”

“How noble of you.”

Illias was on Damiel’s black list. And once you got on that list, it was very, very difficult to extricate yourself from it.

“After arriving on this world, I traveled for many days in search of the local population. But there are many islands here. It was days before I found anyone. And when I did, I discovered the demons had beaten me to this world. Rather than the Immortals’ message of love and peace, they’d brought along a terrible, dark curse.”

“The demons, of course, deny that they cast this curse,” said my father. “They’re trying to convince everyone to worship them. They say that the only way they’ll have enough power to break the curse is if everyone on this world grants them their unconditional, eternal devotion.”

“How have the people reacted to the demons’ arrival?” Damiel asked.

“Some distrust them, as we do. Those people started this rebellion,” replied my father. “But others are scared. Out of desperation and fear of the worsening magic conditions, many of the people have already pledged their faith to the demons.”

“Why would the people trust them?” I demanded.

“The demons have demonstrated great magic. Using Magitech barriers like the ones the gods built on Earth, the demons are keeping the beasts out of their fortress, off their whole island, in fact. People flock to this demon fortress to be safe.”

“And the price of entry is your total devotion,” Damiel guessed.

My father nodded.

“And while the demons posture about, this world is falling ever deeper into chaos,” Illias said. “The Immortals created this world to be one of harmony. They designed the magic shift to keep the world and all its inhabitants in perfect balance. So that no single supernatural faction could gain the upper hand.”

“How do you know this world is of the Immortals’ design?” I asked him.

“Everything is of the Immortals’ design.” Illias said it like it was the most obvious thing in the universe—and he was disappointed that I’d even had to ask. “If other worlds could experience