“Identify yourself,” he ordered the girl, who flinched at his voice. “Or I let this one go. She seems to like you.”

The girl straightened up, smoothing out her disheveled hair and touching her jaw, momentarily squeezing her eyes shut with pain. “I’m Sabina,” she said. “I work with Zane. However, judging by the damage here, I assume he’s dead. Is that true?”

He ignored her question. “You’re angelic?”

“Of course I am.”

“Ellie,” Will said, meeting my eyes and then looking pointedly at Sabina.

I knew what he wanted me to do: test her the way I’d tested him the day we met, so many lifetimes ago. The unknown reaper’s black eyes, eyes that reminded me of Ragnuk’s demonic glare, were fixed on my swords again. Eyes that made me doubt her angelic heritage.

She looked back up to my face. “I know who you are, though I never thought I’d ever see you myself. You’re real.”

“Sure am,” I said, a little embarrassed by her invasive staring. Occasionally I met a reaper like her, one who had heard about me for hundreds of years but had never come across any of my incarnations. To most reapers, I was like Bigfoot, just a ridiculous story with a few questionable pieces of evidence left behind. I stepped up carefully to Sabina, who held out her arm, opening her palm. I raised my sword.

“Do what you must, Preliator,” she said.

I cut her hand, angelfire covering her skin. I lowered my sword, and she held up her palm so we could see the wound healing to perfection. Sabina was an angelic vir, just as she claimed.

Ava shook herself away from Will’s grip and their gazes clashed, her anger with him deadly clear. He’d done the right thing and she knew it, and I guessed that made her even more furious. She rolled against the wall and examined her arm, which ran with blood.

“I’m sorry,” Sabina said to Ava. “I didn’t kill him. He was my friend. I’m sorry, if he was yours too.”

Without a word, Ava was gone, storming from the apartment and slamming the door shut behind her.

I started to follow her, but Will put a hand on my shoulder to stop me. “Wait,” he said gently. “Give her a moment.”

He was right. I began to believe that Ava and Zane had been much more than just lovers—and for a long time too, if she knew where he preferred to stash the relic he protected.

“Your name is … Ellie?” Sabina asked, studying me in the curious, shameless way that many reapers had. After all, it was kind of a human thing for children to be taught not to stare.

I nodded.

She looked at Will. “And you’re the Preliator’s Guardian. It is incredible to meet you both. Were you here for the Constantina necklace?”

“The what?” I asked, confused.

“The relic,” Sabina explained. “The Constantina necklace that Zane was sworn to protect. If he’s dead, then they probably found it. They wouldn’t leave unless they had it.”

A shiver went through me. “By ‘they,’ you mean Bastian’s vir.”

Her jaw set. “Bastian has been searching for the necklace for some time.”

“Why are you here now?” I asked, still a little suspicious of this stranger.

“Zane hasn’t returned my phone calls for a few days,” she said, her voice falling. “I came to check on him and found you. Is he in there still?”

She must have been referring to his stone remains. “Yeah,” I said. “But the relic was gone from under the stove.”

She blinked at me, confusion filling her gaze. “What? The stove?”

“That’s where Ava said he kept it,” I elaborated.

Sabina blinked again, her confusion now mixed with surprise. “I never knew where he hid the relic. He never told me.”

And with that, I knew the truth between Ava and Zane, and suddenly I felt even worse for her than I had seconds ago. There was nothing more sad than losing the one you loved.

“Zane is gone,” Sabina said. “I need a new mission. Do you have need of me, Preliator?”

“Um…” I was a little taken back. I thought of Ava and Marcus, who made up our little army. Even they might not be enough.

“I’m a good fighter and I’m strong,” she urged.

I watched her carefully. “Is that what you did for Zane? Fought alongside him?”

“When he needed me,” she said. “That’s why I came today. He’d never gone this long without contact. I’ll give you my number and you can call me anytime. It would be an honor to fight for you.”

These reapers and their missions. I took out my phone and saved Sabina’s number.

“Let’s go,” Will said, and touched my arm.

I followed him out to my car, where Ava sat on the hood, staring into the woods beyond the parking lot. Will stopped, but I kept going and stood next to her. She didn’t look at me or acknowledge my presence, but her blue-violet eyes were red and raw. The space between us was fragile in the chill air, the uncertainty like tiny cracks spreading through thin glass.

“Ava,” I said. “I am sorry. Don’t think his death doesn’t matter. I know he mattered to you. I’m sick of you reapers and your feelings of worthlessness. The relic is gone, but it’s not as important as anyone’s life. We’ll get the necklace back, I promise you.”

To my shock, she smiled sadly, gazing through the trees. “He mattered to me, but the only thing that mattered to him was that stupid necklace.”