Angel Fury (Immortal Legacy #2) - Ella Summers Page 0,45

But I could not deny that I did seem to be following my father’s design at every turn. Whatever that design was.

And now this. If my friends weren’t my friends, was my father really my father? Was my whole life a lie?

“He warned me that you would try to do this, to put a wedge between me and him,” I said quietly.

“General Silverstar was right. He knows me too well.”

I shook my head. “No, he knows the Master Interrogator. He doesn’t know Damiel at all.”

Damiel touched my face, brushing away a treacherous tear. I leaned in and kissed him on the lips. I didn’t even know why I did it. But the disappointment in my heart when he stepped back could not be denied.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“We have a lot of ground to cover,” he replied and turned away.

We moved deeper into the woods. The springs grew grander and more numerous, but the path was taking us further from the fortress we wanted to scout out.

“What are we doing here?” I wondered.

“Do you trust me?”

I considered his question carefully.

“Your lack of an immediate response is not what I was hoping for,” he said.

“Do you want platitudes or honesty?”

He grunted. “Do you even have to ask?”

I lifted my brows. “Apparently, I do have to ask.”

But I was teasing him. I knew the Interrogator preferred truth, that he sought it out.

“I’ve thought about it, and I’ve decided that I do trust you,” I declared. “At least in the matter of reconnaissance.”

“In what matters don’t you trust me?”

Now it was his turn to tease me.

But it wasn’t funny. He’d hit the issue right on the nose. There was one thing I wasn’t sure I could trust to him: my heart.

“The main attraction is this way.” Damiel took my hand, leading me deeper into the woods.

Was it crazy that the touch of his skin against mine made my heart jump in my chest?

Yes, it was crazy. Definitely crazy. Angels had nerves of steel—not light, fluttering-butterfly-wing pulses.

“Almost there,” Damiel said.

The leaves rustled lightly. It sounded like someone was hiding in the woods. From the sounds of it, it was roughly six someones.

And sure enough, as we came up to the final waterfall, six masked people surrounded us from all sides, their guns raised.

“Surrender,” a deep voice declared with obvious pride. “You are now prisoners of the great rebellion.”

15

Welcome to the Rebellion

I lowered my hand to my boot, ready to pull the hidden dagger out of it. The rebels surrounding us were well-armed, but they also appeared to be completely human. Slow and weak, they were no match for two angels.

But Damiel gave his head a slight, almost imperceptible tilt to the side. Trust me, he spoke in my mind.

I dropped my hand to my side.

The rebels grabbed hold of me and Damiel. We allowed ourselves to be led away, playing the part of the hapless tourists the rebels believed us to be. They bound our hands and threw bags over our heads. The inside of my bag smelled like musty old potatoes.

This is all very dramatic, I commented to Damiel. The rebels made quite a show of apprehending us.

Living in the Hive’s shadow, I expect they usually feel so powerless, he replied. This ‘operation’ fills their need to be in charge of their own destiny.

You knew this would happen, I realized. You knew they would take us hostage.

Everything is going exactly to plan.

And just when did you intend to let me in on this plan of yours?

You’re upset.

Damn right I’m upset. You should have told me what you were going to do. You want me to trust you, Damiel, but you don’t trust me.

I do trust you. It’s just… He stopped.

Yes? I prompted him.

I’m not accustomed to sharing leadership. I’m used to telling people what to do, and then they do it.

That’s not going to work here. I’m through doing whatever I’m told.

Learning that my father had controlled my life—that he had manipulated me, right down to assigning ‘friends’ to me—had put an end to my era of blindly following orders.

Good. Damiel’s magic felt amused. Even playful.

Wait, how could I feel his magic?

Why did you want the rebels to capture us? I asked him.

I sought out this place, these springs, because the rebels have been abducting tourists from popular locations. And this is one of the city’s biggest attractions.

Like the yellow-haired woman said last night, the rebels are likely abducting tourists to get the government’s attention, to enact change, to have a voice, I said.