We land in an unfamiliar house, and Hazel shoves me toward a massive sectional sofa.
“Lie him down,” she says. “Mom! Wraith! I need you!”
I barely get Zephyr’s still-shaking form settled on the couch before commotion fills the air behind me.
A beautiful woman, who looks very similar to Hazel, runs down the stairs with wide eyes. Several teenagers attempt to follow her down, but the woman spins around, pointing right back up the stairs.
“That’s my mom, Nadia,” Hazel says. “And these are my dads. Two of the four, anyway. Wraith is the reaper. Knight is the sin eater.” Before she even finishes speaking, the men appear just behind her.
I scoot closer to Zephyr’s feet to give them room to work.
“Why is there an angel on my sofa?” Wraith asks.
I’ve seen reapers on occasion, and it’s always an unsettling experience, but knowing I’m mated to his daughter makes me wonder if I should prepare for him to try to eat my soul.
“Zephyr was hunting me. Things changed.” Hazel spins around, holding up her palms. “He’s my mate. I need your help. Angels…” Her shoulders bounce, and she sobs.
I wave awkwardly. “Annex, also Hazel’s mate. Angels came for Zephyr. He convinced Hazel not to reveal what she is, and in turn…” I shrug this time because I have no idea how to describe what happened.
“They severed his connection to the angelic source and his connection to his blade.” Hazel spins around, kneeling on the edge of the couch. “His soul is in shock.” She glances over hershoulder at her fathers. “If he had let himself be taken in, would they have severed his connection to the source? I got the distinct impression that he was only expecting the angel to sever the bond between him and Oathkeeper.”
“From what I’ve heard, it depends on the crime,” the reaper says. “They may have. Or they could have simply stripped him of his weapon and banished him.”
“Would it have been this violent if it had been done in Heaven?” Hazel asks. “He won’t even be able to replenish his magic. Not without a gilded weapon.”
“Here, let me see if I can sedate him,” Hazel’s mom says, stepping around the reaper and the sin eater. Black smoky shadows spill from her skin, and Hazel stands to allow her mother access to Zephyr.
“Neither of you are moving,” Hazel says, glaring at her fathers. She plants her hands on her hips. “In case it wasn’t clear, we’re bonded. His soul is ripping at mine, searching for something to heal itself. So, if you want to keep me from being reborn in the pit, you’d better find a way to save him!”
“If you’re bonded, that changes things,” the reaper says.
The sin eater, Knight, chuckles. “She knows us too well.”
“Stop joking when your daughter is frantic. Bonded or not, they wouldn’t have let your mate die,” Nadia says, frowning. “Someone brainstorm a solution to this problem.”
“I really should have seen the connection, but it’s exceptionally weak compared to your bond with the incubus,” Wraith says, blinking his huge, void-like eyes. “Perhaps that means you won’t even notice if he dies.”
“Mom!” Hazel releases some terrifying sound between a growl and a scoff. “I’m about to devour your husband!”
“Wraith, enough. Stop torturing your daughter.” Nadia shakes out her hands and stands. “I’ve done everything I can to ease the symptoms.”
The reaper glances over his shoulder at the sin eater. “Fetch Truthseeker, maybe that wasn’t a wasted endeavor, after all.”
Knight disappears in a smoky cloud of shadows, and I step over, pulling Hazel into my chest.
“We’re going to figure this out,” I murmur, kissing her temple. The reaper, Wraith, raises a hand, and a fucking scythe appears in his pale gray hold. “Whoa.” I jab a finger in his direction. “No, threatening your son-in-law. I’m just trying to offer her comfort.”
The reaper blinks repeatedly and focuses on Hazel. “Before I had Knight to cleanse the sins of those I reaped, I needed a vessel to hold the corrupted souls. Otherwise, I risked, let’s call them, unfortunate circumstances. It could still be done, but it wasn’t pleasant.” He shakes his hand. “Hence, the scythe. We’re in uncharted territory here, but I have two ideas for how to fix this.”
Hazel pats my hip and pulls from my hold. “Okay, what are they?”
“You’re a natural sin cleanser.” Wraith releases his hold on the weapon, and the scythe disappears before it can hit the ground. “That would lead me to believe that if the worst-case scenario comes to pass, and my plan doesn’t work, you can simply feed your mate for eternity like a helpless baby bird.”
“Dad!” Hazel whimpers, quickly glancing over her shoulder at Zephyr. At least he’s no longer twitching, but I also can’t feel him in the bond, which is mildly alarming. “I mean, I will if I have to, but I don’t think he would handle that well.”
“Found it,” Knight says, reappearing with a small black box in his hand. “But it’s even smaller than I remember. It’s going to give the poor guy a size complex.”
“Of course it’s small, it was fashioned for a toddler,” Wraith says.
