Page 7 of Paramour of Sin

Alas, he wore one of his perfect suits that only hinted at the strong body beneath.

“Always good to see you, Evangeline,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “It’s been a few decades.”

“Only two,” a cultured tone informed us as Xai entered the kitchen behind Eve. “Well, twenty-one Earth years, give or take a few months, I believe. Time is strange in heaven.”

“Indeed,” Lord Zebulon replied. “I assume you’re here about the deaths?”

“Would we be anywhere else with Guinevere causing trouble?” Xai countered.

I scoffed. “I am not causing trouble.”

“Of course you are,” Xai replied. “It’s you.”

I bristled at that. “I’ll have you know it’s been five weeks since my last mistake, thank you very much. And I used a garden sheet. Just like Eve taught me.” I stepped forward. “But I would be entirely too happy to make you my next victim, Xai.”

“Yes, as I recall you did once proposition my balls,” he replied coolly.

“I believe she offered to castrate you,” Eve mused. “Or was it just a grab and a twist? I can’t remember.”

“Castration sounds nice.” I held out my hand. “Can I use your knife?”

Xai just shook his head. “Remind me why I agreed to help with this again?”

Eve batted her long blonde eyelashes at him. “Because you love me.”

“And you probably owe her about a thousand favors,” I added, sizing him up. He wore one of his trademark all-black suits, his thick dark hair tousled around his shoulders as if freshly caught in the breeze. The male emanated strength and sex and wicked deeds. Making him perfect for Eve. Except for his whole penchant for breaking her heart.

At least it seemed he was treating her well at the moment.

But the second that changed, I really would go through with my threat.

“Favors, yes,” he agreed. “Many, many favors.”

Eve rolled her eyes at the innuendo in his tone. “Tell me what you know, Zeb. Because this isn’t Gwen. She’s not the type to leave a body on the sidewalk for the world to find.”

I flinched at her casual shortening of his name. She always called himZeb. Which was incredibly disrespectful. Yet it was another thing he allowed, probably because he respected her skill with a blade.

She was the Daughter of Death, after all.

An assassin.

Deadly.

And very adept at bounty hunting.

However, she was retired from all that. And from what Gleason had just said, she was back to train Nephilim protégés. That made sense with her father, Azrael, having taken up that mantle the last two decades in her absence.

“As I’ve just returned from Hell, I don’t know much. Only that the two bodies bear Guinevere’s mark because she recently fed from them. But they were alive when she finished.” He spoke the words with conviction, further confirming his belief in my innocence.

That knowledge sent a bolt of heat through my veins, warming me from the inside out.

Lord Zebulon has faith in me.

I liked that.

Perhaps a little too much.

“So someone’s framing her,” Eve said. “That sounds familiar.”