Angel Fury (Immortal Legacy #2) - Ella Summers Page 0,65

“I won’t let you kill yourself either.”

“I can handle it.”

“I’ve done the calculations, and the math disagrees with you.”

“An angel is not in thrall to the earthly whims of mathematics,” Damiel said with a straight face.

Jiro shook his head in utter disbelief.

“Give me the other four devices,” I spoke up. “With our combined magic, we can pass through the ward.”

“Absolutely not.” Damiel’s words fell with all the finality of a guillotine.

But Jiro was nodding slowly. “That might just work.”

“Out of the question,” Damiel told him.

“Do you want to get into the Hive’s fortress or not?” I challenged him.

“There is another way.”

“No, there isn’t, and you know it,” I countered. “If you try to do this alone, Jiro’s magic devices will kill you. And only living beings can pass through the barrier. Corpses don’t qualify as living. Nor can they fight Hive soldiers.”

“No.”

“Why the hell not?”

He ground his teeth.

“She has a point, Damiel,” Jiro said. “Together, you two might just be strong enough to handle the output of magic from all eight devices. In fact, you two might be the only two angels who can do this. Being that you’re the only two angels who have ever been bonded.”

Damiel gave him a cool look.

“I smelled your magic marks on each other. Hell, you two weren’t even subtle about it. I’m practically choking on the overwhelming stench of angelic holiness.” Jiro waved his tablet in front of us. “I can see it here too, a steady flow of magic between you two. That’s your magic bond at work. It allows you to pool magic, and together you are stronger than either of you are separately. I’m confident that you two can handle the devices’ combined magic output. And the ward should see you as one collective unit, just as they see a Hive team as one.”

Damiel appeared to be thinking it over. That was something. Maybe there was a chance that he’d finally see reason.

I gave him a little nudge. “You want to stop the Hive, don’t you? You want to save the Earth from their attack?”

“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