“Yep.” Ava nodded. “Plus, Leo gives great hugs.”

The big man smiled wider. “I do.”

Ava laughed and saw that Kyra’s face had softened.

“Do you need a hug, Kyra?” Ava asked.

It seemed like such a simple thing to her now, but she knew how hard it would be for Kyra. Human contact only made the voices worse, so Ava had learned to live in isolation before she knew what she was.

“I… I don’t think…” The woman shook her head.

Ava stepped back, and Leo held out his hand.

“Give me your hand,” he said softly. “If you like, Kyra. Just your hand.”

Kyra held up a trembling hand, her fingers tense. Without a word, Leo grasped it and held it between both his hands.

She saw the deep breath he took, saw him close his eyes as her energy released. Malachi had once told her that touching Ava after they’d been apart for some time was like a surge of magical adrenaline.

Ava saw Kyra release a breath, saw the tension leave her forehead. Her restless tapping ceased at once. Her shoulders relaxed.

“You make the voices go away,” Kyra whispered, staring at him in wonder.

Leo leaned forward, elbows on his knees and Kyra’s hand pressed to his cheek, holding it there as his eyes fixed on her.

“Anytime you need me, Kyra. All you have to do is ask.”

Kyra’s eyes flew to Ava at his words. She could see the discomfort, so she simply took the kareshta’s other hand and squeezed it.

“None of us are meant to be alone.”

“KOSTAS’s men are well trained,” Malachi told her as he shed his coat and began to take off the weapons strapped to his torso. “And Sirius is an excellent second, though it was obvious his mind was on the kareshta in Prague.”

“I called Astrid today. They’re doing really well, and Orsala has been a huge help. Bruno called some people, so there’s about a dozen scribes at the house now along with some of the singers from Sarihöfn.”

“I’ll pass the message along tomorrow. It will ease his mind.” He took a deep breath and collapsed on the couch, obviously exhausted.

Ava straddled his lap, drew his forehead to her chest, and began massaging his temples.

“Sağ olun, canım.”

“You’re welcome.”

His hands rested at her waist as she continued. She could feel the tension begin to release and he squeezed her hips.

“You spent time with Kyra today?”

“I did.”

“Why was Leo’s face glowing?”

She laughed. “I think a handshake from a kareshta is rather… invigorating.”

“He didn’t—”

“Just held her hand for a little while. She needed it. Don’t you remember?”

He took a deep breath and turned his cheek to her breast. “I do now. You were like a live wire the first time I kissed you. It took all my self-control not to lay you down on that hill, strip you naked, and take you there.”

“Yes, but then you got all honorable.”

He grunted. “That didn’t last long.”

“Thank goodness.”

She felt his smile against her skin.

“Ava.”

“Hmm?” She loved being with him like this. Quiet and easy. The massive power of his body at rest against hers. She felt grounded in the best way.

“If we were not reshon, would you love me this way?”

She grabbed his hair pulled him back to meet her eyes. “What kind of question is that?”

He shrugged. “One that plagues me, I suppose.”

“Fishing for compliments again?”

“Forget I asked. It is a stupid question.”

She tugged him back when he tried to move away. Then she bent and whispered in his ear. “I was fascinated by you,” she confessed. “Long before you laid a hand on me. Your humor. The passion I could see in your eyes. Your lips. I wanted you to kiss me so bad.”

She felt his dimple underneath her hand as he said, “In the Basilica Cistern.”

“Yes.” Ava pinched his ear. “I wanted to kill you when you stepped away and acted all professional.”

“I wanted to kiss you. I felt so guilty about it too. I spent that entire night writing a new spell to put on my arm the next morning to help my self-control.”

She crushed him to her, pressing her face into his neck. “I’m so glad I have you back.”

“I’m glad to be back.” His voice was hoarse. “I want this to be over so we can have a life together, Ava. I want a family. I want you to take me to visit your mother. I want to travel with you and show you the places I’ve been. I want you to be able to take pictures again. I miss your pictures.”

“You just want me to stop taking all those nudes of you,” she muttered.

Malachi laughed. “Maybe.”

“Not gonna happen. You’re too hot.”

“I’m hoping if I take you someplace more scenic, I can distract you.”

“You can try.”

“Plus”—he drew back and kissed her lips sweetly—“I really do love watching you work.”

“That’s a relief. I’ve been feeling like I’m missing a limb without being able to carry my camera around.” Though she could carry it around Vienna, it wasn’t allowed in the places she most wanted to capture like the Library or the ritual bathhouse. She knew why, but it still irked her that the only camera she had there was the one in her mind.

“Soon,” he said, and she could hear the heaviness in his voice again. “Whatever is coming, I think it will be soon.”

“Because of my dream with Jaron?” She’d told him about it when she woke, and he’d agreed the vision of the two eagles was disturbing. Something teased the back of her mind. There was something she’d been meaning to tell him…

“Partly your dream with Jaron,” he said, “and partly the activity we’re seeing in the city. There are definitely Grigori attacks. Kostas’s men have volunteered to start patrolling.”

“Grigori fighting their own kind,” she said. “What has the world come to?”

“A turning point, hopefully.”

“Yes.”

The next day, the elder singers would take their desks in the Library. Some in Vienna thought the rumors were only rumors. But as more and more singers flowed into the city, even the most stubborn scribes had been forced to acknowledge that something was in the air. Ava had seen singers in Irin-friendly coffeehouses. Seen more and more of them on the street as she ran her daily errands. Faces from all over the world, women with the distinctive thrum of power were starting to move in Vienna.

The air was so electric she had a hard time wondering how the human population didn’t notice.

Ava looked at Malachi. “Are Kostas and Sirius ready?”

“They’ve decided only Kostas will go the Library with us in the morning. Sirius will stay with his men.”

“How are you going to get him past the guards?” she asked. “He doesn’t have a single talesm. Won’t he stand out?”

“Damien has a plan to get Kostas in and gain access to Mikhael’s armory.”

“Is that illegal?”

“Highly. Those weapons are passed out at the will of the council because they’re so dangerous. You saw what that weapon did to Leo in Istanbul. Any wound from an angelic weapon can be deadly to a scribe or a singer. But if we’re going to be fighting angels, we need them. We don’t have the angel of Death on our side, waiting to gather their souls.”

The angel of death.

Oh shit.

Now she remembered what she needed to tell her mate. What she’d needed to tell him for days.

“Malachi?”

“Yes?”

She paused, not certain how to proceed.

He squeezed her hips. “What is it?”

“Did I tell you I’ve had other dreams?”

“What do you mean? Our dreams?”

“No, they’re… different. I’m not sure if they’re dreams or not. I think they’re more like visions.”

“From Jaron?”

“No.”

Not visions, someone whispered. Visits.

“Visits,” she murmured. “I’ve seen Death. As in, the angel of.”

Malachi frowned. “I know, reshon. You told me. In Norway—”