"Yes. Seducing the killer's former mistress was the only way I could uncover his location."
I raised my eyebrows. "Why couldn't you have simply read her mind, or even waited until he came to see her again?"
"As I said, she was his former mistress. Apparently he'd stopped seeing her just before the killings began. And though it is extremely rare, there are minds reapers cannot read—that is why you sometimes see the classic gray shroud form of reaper." He shrugged. "Violence was out—I would not desecrate my position as a soul guide that badly—so my only option was seduction. It took two weeks to gain her trust and get the information. That time was… enlightening."
I bet. "So you became a Mijai because you seduced a woman?"
"And scattered the soul of my friend's killer to the four winds, never to be reborn."
Holy shit… He really had got his vengeance. "How the hell are you even still alive?"
I might not know a whole lot about the reaper world, but I did know that sort of action was out of bounds unless it was ordered by whoever was in charge of the Mijai. Or dark angels, as they sometimes called themselves.
"It was a close decision," he said softly. "And I am still paying for my actions, even as a Mijai."
"So your becoming a Mijai, and then being assigned to follow me, is part of that punishment?"
"Yes."
No wonder he'd been so hostile at the beginning of all this. "So when this assignment is over, will you be forgiven?"
"I doubt it. My sin was great. My penance will be a long one."
I eyed him for a moment, suspecting there was more to his punishment than what he was admitting. "And you don't care, do you?"
"I care that I will never again be a guide. Beyond that, no."
Because he'd avenged his friend. And to think I'd once thought this reaper wasn't capable of emotion.