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“And it means Harvester isn’t gone.” Lilliana looked at Eva. “I don’t know who all was at Limos’s, but it’s probably a good thing you were there. An angel’s Grace can only be stored inside a human. It’s likely no one else there was a candidate. If not for you, her Grace might have been lost, and her soul returned to the Creator. She’d have been gone forever. But you can’t host it for long. It will eventually burn you out. Have you been hungry lately? You’ll need to take in a lot of calories.”
Eva eyed the buffet again. “I’ve been starving.” She ignored her growling stomach and turned back to Lilliana. “How much time do I have?”
“I don’t know. This isn’t something I’ve studied, and I don’t think there are many documented cases. But if I had to guess…a year? Months, perhaps?”
Whew. The way her luck had gone lately, she’d feared the answer would be weeks or even days. Maybe hours.
“So, we have time, especially if we can get rid of the bad-luck mojo.” She looked at Aleka. “You said you have news.”
“I do.” Aleka swiped a glass of sparkling wine from a passing vamp. “To break the luck-reversal spell, the demon needs to be tethered to someone else.”
“So, we’re just supposed to release it and let it find someone to haunt?” Eva asked. “The answer is to curse someone else? That’s not a solution.”
Logan seemed to consider it. “What if it was attached to someone itcouldn’thaunt?”
Amber frowned, as confused as Eva, and then she smiled at her brother. “I think I know where you’re headed with that.” She glanced at a newcomer walking through the gate, and her cheeks bloomed pink.
Eva remembered Raika saying that Amber was in love with the guy, a Seminus demon named Talon. At the beach, he’d been with a slinky fallen angel, but right now, he was alone, and he commanded every drop of Amber’s attention.
He waved in their direction and joined Blade, Sabre, and Scotty, who were playing pool on the other side of the great hall. Eva could practically see Amber’s heart go with him.
Logan seemed oblivious. Maybe intentionally so. No doubt he didn’t want to contemplate the idea of his baby sister with his friend. Who was also a sex demon.
“Come on.” Logan squeezed her hand. “Let’s find my dad and take care of the nightmare demon once and for all.”
Logan started toward the library Azagoth, Ares, and Eidolon had disappeared into, but Eva stopped him.
“Let’s do it later. Right now, people need to enjoy themselves and leave some of the hell of the last few days behind them.”
She was right. No matter how much he wanted to get it over with so Eva could live without the specter of doom over her head, everyone needed a break and a little fun. Especially since DART would be embroiled in investigations as The World Council on Supernatural Governance attempted to get to the bottom of what had happened between them and The Aegis. Eva would certainly be called to testify too. So, he agreed when she said she wanted to let everyone relax before the next battle.
His uncle Ares would have approved of her tactical acumen.
Logan contacted Kynan and asked him to bring thedecipulacontaining the demon’s soul when he came, then spent the rest of the evening at Eva’s side, helping her navigate the complexities of underworld culture. But truthfully, she fit in like she was born to it. She was an excellent conversationalist and willing to listen and have her preconceptions and beliefs challenged. She truly wanted to learn, and when she found out that something she believed to be true was wrong, she didn’t get defensive. She wanted to know more.
She was amazing.
Thank you, Harvester.
Logan hadn’t needed a sign that Eva was The One. But Harvester had given him one anyway when her Grace transferred to Eva. Yes, they would need to find a way to bring his grandmother back and return the Grace to her, but in the meantime, Lilliana assured them that Eva was immortal, protected by Heaven’s power.
Ares reported some troubling news toward the end of the evening, though. Apparently, the Memitim angels who resided on his island had been blocked from Heaven. And the Memitim in Heaven at the time of the blood event hadn’t been seen since.
It appeared that Heaven had closed its borders, and no one was getting in or out. Not even Reaver.
Had Harvester been trying to warn them that something was wrong in Heaven? Had she sacrificed herself to send a message?
So many questions and so few answers, but everyone was ready to start finding them.
“Logan?” Eva placed her third empty dinner plate onto a cart near the kitchen. He loved that she’d taken Lilliana’s advice and wasn’t shy about eating. “I haven’t seen your room yet.”
He glanced over at his parents as they said goodbye to the last of the guests. That would probably take forever.
“Let’s go. Dad’ll be a while.”
He led her down the winding stone hallways to the room he’d grown up in, the chamber that had been his sanctuary and second favorite place, right behind the beach on Ares’ island.
The spot where he and Eva had made love, which would now forever belong to them. Only them.
