The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,108

people around us. Then he turned, walking backwards so he could face our entire legion. "Opinions differ as much among angels as demons. Some of us understand that what Michael is doing in Heaven isn't right. Others are too ashamed of the atrocities we did in the name of power. They would rather blame you for making us do it."

"So," I asked, moving up beside him, "What is the general opinion of the First Legion?"

"That you keep your word and bargain in good faith." He looked over and caught my eye. "Mostly, it's that your Muse changes everything. What she did should be... impossible."

"You mean making the veil within seconds?" I asked, gesturing behind me for Sia to not interrupt.

"That," he agreed, "and what we saw with the ancient dragon. She tamed it."

"Not as much as you'd think," I mumbled under my breath, realizing we were at Phanuel's house already.

Vehuel knocked but didn't wait for an answer. Pulling open the door, he gestured for all six of us to go first, and then followed us in. I wasn't surprised to see that Phanuel's satyr wife and children were once again missing, or that the room was crowded with other angels. One from each choir. This was his so-called council of angels. Phanuel reclined in his chair at the back of the room.

"Demons," he greeted us. "What crisis do we have to worry about this time?"

Sia opened her mouth to answer, but I caught her arm, glancing over at Nick in a silent request for him to let me handle this. A slight inclination of his head let me know he thought that was a good idea. So, while my legion came to stand shoulder to shoulder, I stepped forward.

"There's no crisis," I assured the UAV's council. "There is no impending doom. We have not come to warn you of any problems, but rather to ask if you - with your angelic abilities - might be interested in helping us in the future."

"We did agree to do so if we could," Phanuel admitted.

"This is not a part of our deal," Sia said. "It would be a favor to others."

That had all of their attention, especially Vehuel's. "What others?" he asked.

Sadly, while the angels of Vesdar were not our enemy, they weren't exactly our allies, either. We might have friends among them, but I was pretty sure that some of these people had a very good reason not to trust us. For too long, angels and demons had done nothing but torture each other, and not even Sia coming to save this world would be enough to change that. There were too many debts still waiting to be repaid between us.

"The slaves on Angelis," I answered before Sia could say too much. "Once they're removed from that plane, we'll need to sort them, break any mental compulsions they might have, and remove some of their memories of Angelis so they can be returned to the world they came from."

Phanuel leaned over his knees to stare at me. "Explain."

That wasn't a good sign. He wasn't asking questions. He was demanding answers, and none of the angels in the room looked either curious or excited. Instead, they all wore expressions like they were braced for something very bad. That meant I had to walk a very narrow line.

"Michael has made the angels of Heaven into a plague on the midworlds." I paused to watch their faces, hoping for some hint of how they felt, but got nothing. "So it's time for us to make sure he can no longer harvest people as if they're his own personal resource. The first step will be removing all of the innocent slaves from Angelis."

"And put them where?" the throne asked.

"Our current plan is to use an uninhabited island on Tyrnigg," I assured them. "There are roughly one hundred thousand midworlders being kept, bred, and used on Angelis, along with the plants. That plane is producing almost as much aether as Vesdar, but they feel it is still not enough. The problem is that these are people. They aren't some resource to be used without consideration. They're sentient creatures, no different from your wives and husbands - or children! They deserve to own their lives. To make their own decisions. That is all we want to do."

And the cherubim relaxed. Beside him, the dominion glanced over at Phanuel, but it made me think he liked what I'd just said. Vehuel was nodding, not seeming to care about the