My father, an avenging angel full of malice and power, is a jarring sight as he lands in the snow between Sebastian and me. I risk a glance at Vivienne and find Elias dragging her away. Relieved, I focus on Sebastian.

“Hamon.” Sebastian nods in deference.

Father glances my way. His mouth twists as he takes me in. I spit blood on the ground, aware the look I’m receiving is because of my weakness. My energy pulls, healing the wounds Father frowns down upon.

“You challenge the son of an angel, reaper?” He questions, his words full of distaste.

“I defend myself. Your son interfered with my job—”

“My son saved his soul mate,” Father interrupts. He tucks his wings and moves forward. “You are inferior to us in every way. Did you think you could win something from me?”

The reaper’s eyes go wide. His jaw slackens as he looks around the forest. Elias and Vivienne are gone. Father stands before him with an angel blade at his waist, and I’m ten feet on his other side. He’s trapped.

He leaps into the air, but it’s too late. Father grabs his ankle and throws him to the ground like a sack of grain as I rush forward. Sebastian scrambles back, but Father is a blur. The divine, even fallen ones, are more powerful than lesser angels, and before I can blink, Father has the reaper from behind, pulling him into a standing position.

“You damned her,” Sebastian says between gritted teeth, glaring as he claws at Father’s arm. “You should have let her die.”

“How? How did I damn her?” I shout as Father jerks back, choking the reaper. “What is her calling? What do you know?”

Sebastian grunts, his lips parting, but his words never exit. My father’s arm arcs around his shoulders, and the glow of an angel blade flashes as it slices across his chest.

“No!”

Sebastian’s eyes glow, flaring wide, before closing as he crumbles to the ground, leaving the remains of the human host he inhabited before us.

“Why did you kill him?”

“Your soul mate was hurt.” His gaze flicks over my shoulder. The snow is red with blood. “Find her and send Elias back.”

My jaw clenches as I study him. There will be time for explanations later. Leaving him behind, I grab my phone and jump into the air in search of Elias and Vivienne.

* * *

“Your battle skills need work.”

I turn at the displeasure dripping from Father’s words. I’d assumed he’d be gone a while, taking care of the mess with Sebastian—even he answers to someone. Or so I thought.

Controlling my contempt, I nod. “There hasn’t been much need for fighting here.”

He killed Sebastian, with a simple slice to the chest. It was nothing for him, but it’ll cost me everything, eventually. Including Vivienne.

“There will be.” He walks to the opposite side of my bed and looks down at Vivienne’s still form. She’s a mess, with her knotted hair and dirty, tear-streaked face—but she is beautiful. And she is mine. I tense as he reaches for her now healed arm. The primal urge to challenge him for the audacity to touch her consumes me. Father or not. My face must tell the story, because he pauses, withdraws his arm, and inhales deeply. My teeth grind.

“You will prepare. You will train.” His eyes never leave her face. “If you plan on keeping her.”

Is that a threat?

“I have until April,” I remind him needlessly. He can’t bind me to his ranks until I turn eighteen.

“I can send fighters here.”

“No.” I stand, disliking the advantage he has with me sitting by the bed. “Thank you,” I say, merely to appease him. “We’ll be fine. I’m sure he told no one about her.” Other than you, of course.

He doesn’t realize I know. He assumes Elias is useless at anything other than watching over me, because he no longer has wings. Elias—the Dominion angel who ended thousands on both sides of the war between Heaven and Hell—a glorified babysitter. How does he not see it? Elias is the one who told me the reaper knew exactly who I was the day I healed Vivienne. Elias is the one who found out what Sebastian did with that knowledge.

The reaper went to Father and cut a deal.

When Father ordered me home this morning, I should have known. Vivienne’s capture at school, the way Sebastian toyed with her in the woods—it was all planned. The only part that didn’t go the way I, or the reaper, expected was the part where he met his end at the tip of an angel blade wielded by his supposed ally.

His betrayal doesn’t bother me. Father isn’t trustworthy. I’ve known this for years. His loyalty is to himself and himself alone. Sebastian wanted out of Death’s servitude. He wanted a larger role in the things to come. I understand the reaper’s motive. What was his?

“Why did you kill him before he could answer my questions? What do you know?”

Vivienne stirs, and Father cracks his neck, his eyes narrowing before he steps back.

“You have until your birthday. Elias will keep me informed of everything here,” he says, ignoring my questions. I reach for Vivienne’s hand, already dismissing him.

“Breckin, you owe me her life.”

He’s out of the room before I can speak, but his words send flames of anger through my veins. I owe him her life? Yes, he saved her. Does he think he owns her, too? Will he use her to rein me in? Will he use me, to get his hands on her? Vivienne’s thumb rubs against mine, and I refuse to taint this moment with one more thought about his motives.

“You healed me.” She licks at her lips and blinks several times. “Where were you when I broke my leg skiing two years ago?”

Pushing her hair from her face, my thumb smooths over the cut in her brow as I sit on the edge of the bed.

“Yes, I healed your arm and a pretty nasty cut on your forehead, but you still have some minor cuts and bruises.” I place a kiss on her forehead and linger, my lips hovering over hers. “And probably a bit of a headache, thanks to Elias.”

She turns her head to the right and winces. Yep, there’s the soreness. “Are you hurt?”

Warmth floods my chest at her concern. This human girl could have been ripped to shreds by Sebastian, and she asks about me?

“Angel, remember. I heal myself.”

“Elias hit me?” She confirms more than asks.

“You weren’t cooperating, and I needed to get you away from the fight,” Elias says from the doorway. His presence confirms Father is gone. I sit up. Kissing her can wait.

“I’m sorry, Vivienne. I’m sure Breckin can take away the pain.”

She offers me a crooked smile before turning toward him. Her jaw drops. “What happened to your lip?”

“He hit me.” Elias points out, his fingers touching the split lip. “Then he warned me if I healed myself, he’d do it again.”

Vivienne’s blue eyes flick between the two of us, then she bursts into laughter. Grabbing a fist of her filthy, blood-stained sweater, I pull her into a sitting position and wrap her tightly in my arms. I kiss her temple, my soul quieting for the first time since it found her a week ago.