“Nice.”

“Now that I think about it, let’s agree to never tell our children those kinds of stories, shall we?”

“We never finished the kid conversation, you know.”

He reached over and put his arm around her shoulder, nuzzling his face into her neck. “You want my babies.”

Ava felt herself melting. “You are confident, aren’t you?”

“I’m confident because I know you want my babies. And you’re a fierce woman who will make a tremendous mother.”

“Mine was pretty great, even though my dad and stepdad were kind of useless.”

“As our children will have the benefit of a superb father, you should have no concerns.”

“What was Orsala saying about your confidence coming back?”

HER eyes opened in the darkness. She could sense her mate. He was by her side, unaware they were no longer alone.

Was she dreaming? She didn’t quite know. All she knew was darkness and quiet. Peace filled her heart.

Darkness materialized from the shadows, but it wasn’t Jaron. The rustle of feathers whispered in the air as the beautiful man leaned forward. His face emerged from the void of his hood, pale as the moon and holding an ancient, delicate beauty.

Ava felt no fear.

His eyes weren’t the rich gold of Jaron’s, but a silvery grey outlined by deep ebony lashes. His hair was the blue-black of a raven’s wing; his face spoke peace.

Beautiful, immutable peace.

She put a hand on Malachi’s shoulder and was surprised to feel the heat of his skin under her fingers. This was a dream, but it wasn’t.

“I’ve seen you before,” she said.

Death nodded, but he did not speak.

“You’re not like the others.”

He shook his head, a small smile playing across his lips.

“Am I going to die? Is he?” Her hand pressed into her mate’s back, and Death’s eyes followed her hand, resting on Malachi as he slept.

“No,” Ava whispered, fear clutching her chest. “Please no.”

Death flew to her side, pressing a warm finger to her lips. He drew her to his chest, and when he embraced her, a still, quiet voice whispered in her mind.

I am not here for you. Or him. I only see you together, and it fills me with a rare joy.

“You took him,” she whispered.

I take them all. It is not often I am allowed to bring them back.

A sense of laughter in her mind.

Come with me, daughter. And I will show you secrets.

Death spread his arms and enfolded her in the night. His cloak was a blanket of stars, wrapping her in its depths as he surrounded her. She was weightless. Formless. And yet she still felt Malachi’s strong shoulder under her hand as her soul flew with the black angel.

Come.

He opened his cloak and revealed a dark room. Three beings met there, cold and frightening in power. And though she stood in the center of them, Death held her shoulders, turning her around the chamber, and Ava knew they did not see her.

Listen.

The whispers came to her from behind a veil. Thoughts and voices tangled together. Ava knew they were speaking in the Old Language, but she had no trouble understanding.

“…troublesome child.”

“Barak should have killed him.”

“You killed Barak. Why… son still alive?”

They were indistinguishable by feature. She could only sense two beings with bright, glowing power and another clinging to one as a parasite to a host, feeding from the greater, though he did not know it. The Fallen were veiled, cloaking their power from the world and each other.

“…not long now.”

“Watching. We must…”

“Scattered.” Another voice drifted in and out. “…act now or they will discover them.”

“There is no danger.”

“There is every danger.”

“If they find them—”

“If they find them, they will be reborn. The silent must remain hidden…”

Ava strained, but she couldn’t hear more.

“…Irin will wake.”

“A sleeping enemy does not trouble me.”

“And Jaron?”

A pause. “Our brother does not have the strength to oppose us.”

Something in the mocking tone of his voice reminded Ava of Brage, and she knew the speaker was Volund.

“He will make their army his own.”

A growing sense of urgency. Wariness. Alarm?

Ava felt the black arms embrace her again just as Volund turned to stare into the void where she listened.

“Quiet, brothers.” A long pause. “Azril, do you come among us?”

She dissolved, only to merge with her body again, her fingers still resting on her mate’s back.

Warm hands clasped her face, though she could not see them. A cheek pressed against her own.

I cannot go to her, the angel whispered in her mind. Though she calls me by my true name, I cannot reach her.

The longing in his voice almost broke her.

“Who?”

Tell her I have not forgotten.

He was melting back into the shadows, and Ava still wasn’t sure what was a dream and what had been real.

“Who are you talking about?” She crawled toward the darkness, desperate to understand. “Please! Who?”

Ava.

And he was gone.

Chapter Seven

DESPITE THEIR INITIAL HOPE, searching through Luis Martin’s financial information proved to be just as successful as searching Jasper Reed’s.

“If anything,” Rhys griped, “this is even more frustrating.”

“Yes, he’s a bit paranoid about privacy, isn’t he?”

Malachi and Rhys were in the library. Malachi was waiting for Orsala to call him. She was doing meditation exercises with Ava in the sparring room. Then he would join them and they were going to practice defensive spellwork.

“It seems wrong to call him paranoid when we’re hacking into his e-mail, doesn’t it?”

Malachi shrugged. “Slightly.”

“Oh well.”

They continued to work, Rhys trying every keyword search he could think of to look for any mention of Ava’s grandmother. Unfortunately, she was also named Ava, meaning that any search for her name hit on correspondence related to Jasper Reed’s daughter and not his mother.

“He and Luis talk about her often,” Rhys said. “I think her father thinks of her more than she realizes.”

“Thinking of her and actually acting like a father are two very different things.”

“Have you and Ava talked about children?”

“Briefly.” Which wasn’t something he wanted to discuss with Rhys. “What is that? He just mentioned a transfer to a Swiss bank.”

“Shite.” Rhys groaned. “Not that one. Their systems are archaic.”

“But secure,” Malachi said. “There’s a reason why they’re still as popular as they are. If Luis was making payments there, we need to determine what for.”

“We’re not going to be able to find out. Not from the bank. They still use paper. But let me…” Rhys tapped the keys rapidly. Screens popped up and disappeared faster than Malachi could read them.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m searching the exact dollar amount within his financial records. It wasn’t a flat amount. $41,569.14 is not a random number. That’s payment for something…” He tapped a few more keys and smiled. “Something specific. And monthly. Aha.” Rhys sat back, a smile of satisfaction on his face. “I believe he pays that amount every month.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he’s transferred five hundred thousand dollars into that Swiss account every year for the past five years. Divide that by twelve and you have—”

“A little over $41,569? But why the single payment then? There must have been something unexpected that came up.”

“Maybe it was just timing. That first payment was in December five years ago. A single month’s payment before a monthly fee was set up? Automatically paid from the Swiss account probably.”