“One that’s going to be damned difficult to replicate,” I said. “We’re in the same position as Dachev. Pretty much impotent when it comes to killing anyone in the living world. But that’s exactly what we need to do.” I glanced over at Trsiel. “Not kill Jaime—just deliver a mortal blow and resuscitate her. The question is, how?”

Trsiel gave a slow shake of his head. “It doesn’t solve the original problem. Delivering a mortal blow—”

“And resuscitating. We’re going to find a situation where she has a damned good chance of being resuscitated.”

“A damned good chance isn’t good enough, Eve. No matter how carefully you set it up, there’s no possible way to guarantee that she would survive.”

Kristof wheeled on him. “What the hell do you want from us?”

Trsiel stepped back, blinking. “I’m not—”

“You’re not doing a damned thing, Trsiel. That’s the problem. Eve just went to hell and back to get you this information. Now you’re telling her that it was for nothing?”

“I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that if there’s another way—”

“There are other ways,” I said. “Of course there are. But none that stand a better chance of us catching the Nix without killing Jaime.”

“You don’t need to convince me, Eve,” Trsiel said. “I get it. I really do. I’m not telling you that I disagree. But the fact remains that Jaime is an innocent, and therefore, no angel’s sword can strike that fatal blow.”

“But Eve isn’t an angel,” Kristof said.

Trsiel threw up his hands. “Which is why she can’t even use the sword to touch Jaime. And if she can’t touch her, or cast magic on her, she can no more attempt to kill her than I can.”

“Do you still have Dantalian’s Amulet?” Kristof asked.

“The soul-transference one? Yes, but it only works on—” Trsiel stopped and looked at me. “Someone with demon blood.”

Two days ago, I’d have jumped at this chance. It was everything I’d wanted, everything I’d dreamed of. But now, after I’d come to a decision about moving forward with my life, about breaking away from Savannah…?

I looked at Kris, and I knew it wasn’t a matter of whether I should risk it. You don’t test your swim strokes by sticking to the shallow end. Kristof studied me for a long minute, then scooped me out of the deep end…and plunked me down into the center of the shark-infested ocean.

“She should transfer into Paige,” Kris said.

“Oh, hold on,” Trsiel said. “That’s not—”