“May The Spirit stay on you,” Edom said.

“Amen,” Elisheba murmured.

Aisling went to Anya. The little girl took her offered hand, and surprised her by saying, “I dreamed you came for me.”

A wave of homesickness assailed Aisling as she thought about her sisters and brothers, especially the young, gifted ones. “I’m taking you to a family where you’ll belong.”

Anya nodded solemnly.

A church member gave Aisling a basket packed with food as they passed. “For your journey. May The Spirit stay on you while you’re in the land of sin.”

“Thank you.”

At the edge of the forest Aisling felt the hot breath of a swirling breeze pass by her. From the dark shelter of pine and oak, Zurael emerged to block the path.

Anya’s hand tightened slightly on Aisling’s. In the same solemn voice with which she’d greeted Aisling, she said, “You’re magic. Like the ferret.”

Zurael chuckled and the gentle expression on his face as he looked at the child sent warmth cascading down to Aisling’s toes. She handed him the food.

He leaned in, whispered a kiss across her lips. “Thank you. We’ll have to hurry if we hope to make it.”

They traded off, each of them carrying Anya, alternating between walking and running. They raced the sun, dodging the guardsmen and lawless humans patrolling The Barrens in the daylight.

It was a relief to get to The Mission. To hurry past it and climb onto an empty bus.

Tamara and her mother were both on the Wainwright porch when Aisling, carrying an exhausted and sleeping Anya, turned the corner with Zurael. The child didn’t wake when she was transferred to Annalise’s waiting arms.

Aisling’s fingers went to the sun-shaped pendant at her wrist. Annalise shook her head and whispered, “Levanna wants you to keep it.”

The dusk approached too rapidly for them to linger. But Aisling wanted to. Her heart felt strangely heavy, her arms empty now that Annalise had Anya.

“Visit the child when you can,” Annalise said with an understanding smile.

“I will.”

Aisling left the porch and joined Zurael where he waited beyond the warded boundaries of the witches’ property. Her thoughts shifted from Anya to Aziel and her pace quickened.

Destruction and devastation greeted her when she opened the door. The old, tattered furniture was turned over, tossed against the wall and left broken. Cabinet doors hung open in the kitchen. But it was the silence, the emptiness, the fear of finding Aziel dead that numbed her to the core.

She didn’t protest when Zurael urged her forward and to the side, closing the door behind them so a guardsman driving by wouldn’t know they were back. “Let me check the other rooms,” he said, voice soft, his knuckles brushing her cheek, his eyes burning with fierce tenderness.

Aisling nodded and leaned against the wall for support. Guilt swamped her.

How easily she’d convinced herself it was Father Ursu who had sent the guardsmen after her, using bedclothes or a discarded towel from her night in the church as a scent article. How easily she’d pushed aside her worry for Aziel, told herself he was safe in the house. If only…

“Aziel’s not here,” Zurael said, and she sagged, torn between relief and dread.

CHAPTER 16

RAGE coursed through Zurael over the violation of Aisling’s home and the pain radiating from her with the loss of her pet. He felt savage, barely in control-with no outlet for his fury other than passion.

He took her in his arms and crushed his mouth to hers, promised her with the force of his kiss that he’d see her pet returned and her suffering avenged. She softened immediately. Clung to him for strength and comfort, and in doing so, gentled him.

As they’d traveled through The Barrens, they’d decided on a plan of action, reasoned that the best place to hunt the ones responsible for Ghost was Sinners, where there would be no repercussions from either the humans present or the law.

“If the man in charge of the guardsmen and his wife know anything about this, we’ll learn it tonight,” Zurael said, parting from the kiss just long enough to say the words before recapturing her lips.

He rubbed his tongue against hers. Didn’t know how he’d ever resisted the lure of her mouth, the soul-shattering intimacy of sharing a kiss.

A desperation settled over him. If they were successful tonight in destroying those responsible for Ghost, then he would have to turn his attention to his own task and she would become bait in a trap for Javier.

He could see no other way. But the thought of her being in danger-

It couldn’t be helped. Until he’d returned to his father’s kingdom with the tablet in his possession, their future together was uncertain and her life would be at risk from the Djinn.

With a groan he picked Aisling up and carried her to the bathroom. He set her on her feet next to the shower stall.

“We need to hurry if we’re going to get to Sinners,” he said, stripping before reaching in to turn on the water.

Her clothes fell away quickly and he shivered in ecstasy at the feel of her skin against his. They stepped underneath the water, already lost in the steamy cocoon of passion.

Zurael lifted her, impaled her. His tongue thrust against hers with the same urgency as his cock plunged into her slit.

He promised himself that one day he would lay her on a bed covered with silken pillows and sheets. He would spend hours pleasuring her with his mouth and hands-and being pleasured in return. But here, now, with the night swiftly approaching, he coupled with her furiously. He swallowed her cry of release and came in a shuddering, hot eruption when her channel tightened like an erotic fist around his penis.

They hurried through the remainder of their shower, then dressed and ate. A knock sounded as they were ready to leave.

Aisling went to the window and peeked out, felt her breath freeze in her lungs at the sight of a priest’s black robes.

“It’s Father Ursu,” she said, keeping her voice low enough so it wouldn’t be heard through the door.

A warm swirl of air greeted her announcement. She turned to find the room empty.

She didn’t think it was a coincidence that Father Ursu had arrived so soon after she’d used the bus pass, though unlike before, she’d slipped it through the magnetic card reader only once, then used folding money to pay Anya and Zurael’s fare-hoping the Church wouldn’t take the time to question the bus driver and discover she hadn’t been traveling alone. She opened the door but blocked it with her body so Father Ursu couldn’t enter and delay them from getting to Sinners.

Worry creased his forehead. His eyes were kindly until he glanced behind her, to the devastation of the living room.

Surprise registered in his face. And though she would never trust him, she didn’t think it feigned.

“What happened here?” he asked. “Who did this?”

“I don’t know who’s responsible. It was like this when I returned home.”

His attention shifted to the right. “At least your pet wasn’t harmed.”

For an instant the sight of the black ferret left Aisling giddy with happiness. But when he didn’t chirp a greeting or move from his position next to the workroom doorway, she knew it was Zurael and not Aziel.

She fought the worry that threatened to crush her with thoughts of Aziel, realized Zurael’s appearance was meant to get a reaction from Father Ursu, to gauge whether or not he might know where Aziel was.

Aisling considered what she’d seen in Father Ursu’s face and heard in his words. Once again she thought they were unfeigned.

She realized he must have questioned the driver who took them to the edge of Oakland the day before. Otherwise he wouldn’t have known Aziel wasn’t with them.

Uneasiness knotted her stomach when she looked at Father Ursu and caught him with his eyes closed, his eyebrows drawn together, his attention still on Zurael.