Spiridon had discovered Zorya living rough in the Braničevo District of eastern Serbia. How long she had been living there she would not say, or why she had been ostracized, because it was clear that the locals wanted nothing to do with her, given that she was enduring a solitary existence. Within sight of the home she had made for herself in a rocky hollow lay a village, accessed by a stone bridge over a stream. In Vlach culture, Radovan knew, a boundary existed between the realms of the living and the dead, and the dividing line was often running water. Caves, too, were associated with the next world, but while the Vlachs would visit those places to leave gifts of supplies for the souls of the dead during their seven-year period of wandering the earth, they did not live in them. Zorya, whether coerced or by choice, had made her dwelling in an umbrous region. It was the opinion of one of Radovan’s sources that perhaps Zorya was not Vlach at all, but something stranger, something older …

None of which was sufficient to explain Spiridon’s decision to bring her back to Belgrade with him, and then on to Amsterdam after the Vuksans had allied themselves with that particular faction of the Zemun clan. No, Spiridon had finally embraced Zorya following two warnings given by her, exhortations that turned out to be true. The first, that Spiridon was the target of a Bosniak hit squad seeking to avenge the massacre at Srebrenica, had resulted in the killing of three Sunni Muslims from the Croatian town of Bakar and an end to that threat. The second, that a UN war crimes investigation team was closing in on Spiridon, based on testimony from five witnesses, led to the demise of the witnesses in question, crippling the inquiry. Spiridon took care of the Bosniaks personally, but it was Zorya who had dealt with the witnesses – three women, two men – all of whom died from poisoning.

After that, Zorya became Spiridon’s own guardian goddess, just like the Auroras from whom she took her name. Without her, Spiridon would have been dead long ago, although even Zorya had tried to dissuade him from targeting De Jaager. When that failed, she had attempted to have him limit his rage to the old Dutchman, leaving the others unharmed, but lately it seemed that Spiridon’s taste for blood exceeded even her own.

Now here was Ilić, with a sly look on his face, acknowledging his belief in Zorya’s eldritch nature, and inviting Radovan to deny it, thus angering his brother. Radovan elected to end the conversation. All they could do was hope that no eyewitnesses emerged. Ilić was convinced that he and Spiridon had not been followed from the park, and Radovan was inclined to believe him.

As for Zorya, wherever she now was, woe betide anyone who dared to follow her.