Shaeva

**Shaeva** was a Jinn, and after betraying them she becomes the Soul Catcher.

## Personality

Shaeva is shy, but once she gets to know someone she comes more out of her shell. She is passionate and fiery with a sense of humor, but inside she is filled with sadness and longing.

## Physical Description

Shaeva is a trim, long dark-haired woman with brown skin. Her face is unlined and ageless. She has black eyes that give off an ancient stare. She moves with a fluidity and speed that is beyond humans. Her earthy voice is strangely accented and soft.

## Biography

Shaeva was a jinn bodyguard. She showed an interest in the Scholar Emperor when she was on duty accompanying Meherya and his queen to the emperor's palace. Her interest did not go unnoticed and the Emperor befriended her. Over time, she fell in love with him. She was believing of the Emperor's promises, and she helped him create the Star that would bring catastrophe to her own kind. As her punishment, the Nightbringer chained her to the Waiting Place, making her a slave to it

### *A Torch Against The Night*

Elias Veturius meets Shaeva after he is poisoned by the Commandant. She tells him that she has been watching him for some time and has been wanting the chance to speak to him. When he mentions the Augurs, she becomes furious and yells at him to never speak of them again.

As the Commandant continues her relentless genocide of the Scholars, the amount of anguished Scholar spirits in the Waiting Place cause Shaeva pain and she struggles with helping them move on to the afterlife. As she tells Elias this, she reads the stars and informs him that darkness approaches.

### *A Reaper At The Gates*

Elias has spent the last two months learning how to be the Soul Catcher from Shaeva. They have also debated Martial military history, bickered about chores, and shared notes on hunting and combat. She is frustrated with him for shirking his responsibilities to help Laia. Shaeva uses her magic to trap Elias in the grove of jinn to make him practice soothing a spirit. Elias wants to do it later because he is supposed to be meeting Laia to help rescue Mamie Rila. Shaeva repeatedly tells Elias he must let go of the human world because until he does, he will not be able to access the magic of the Waiting Place.

From speaking with the *Fakira* of Tribe Nasur, Aubarit, Elias learns that the *Fakirs* and *Fakiras* of the Tribes believe Shaeva, as the Soul Catcher, was holy and did not use her name. Instead, they called her *Bani al-Mauth*. They are the only ones who know of her existence.

When she is killed by the Nightbringer, she gives her death prophecy. Elias, Laia, Darin, and the Nightbringer all hear it. *"One pieces remains, and beware the Reaper at the Gates! The sparrows will drown, and none will know it. The past shall burn, and none will slow it. The Dead will rise, and none can survive. The Child will be bathed in blood but alive. The Pearl will crack, the cold will enter. The Butcher will break, and none will hold her. The Ghost will fall, her flesh will wither. By the Grain Moon, the King will have his answer. By the Grain Moon, the forgotten will find their master."*

### *A Sky Beyond The Storm*

Elias says that Shaeva used to leave broken bones and bodies at the border to the Forest of Dusk to keep humans away.

## Powers

As a jinn, Shaeva has an unnaturally high body heat that warms everything around her. She is able to read the stars to see the future, although she can't see the whole future like the Augurs can. When she became Soul Catcher, Mauth gave her additional powers. She can create invisible walls to trap a person, she can windwalk, which is the physical magic of "speeding through the trees in the blink of an eye." She can also reel, which is faster than windwalking but more detrimental to a mortal body. Finally, Shaeva can also communicate telepathically with someone by touching them. She can share her knowledge, thoughts, and memories as well as read the thoughts and memories of the person she is touching.

## Relationships

### Elias Veturius

Elias views Shaeva as a wiser and older sister. She is his teacher and mentor after he becomes Soul Catcher. He notices how he never cared about his teachers at Blackcliff, but he genuinely doesn't want to disappoint Shaeva. Elias is protective of Shaeva. He hates how the jinn torment and mock her. In their time together Shaeva has come to care about Elias.

## Trivia

* Shaeva says the name of the third book, *A Reaper At The Gates*, as part of her prophecy when she is killed by the Nightbringer.

## References

1. ↑ *A Reaper At The Gates*: page 58
2. ↑ *A Reaper At The Gates*: page 58