Page 102 of Reaper's Quest

“Your concern should not be for others but for yourself. Self-care first, and all other things second.” His face lifted, and his eyes twinkled. “But you may be pleased to know that your associate Mr. Aldine appears to have recovered from his ailment. Or so I have heard.”

Aldine was better? The Killian had told me…

The Killian is real? I owe him a debt? A life debt?

My heart thumped a heavy beat and tripped over itself.

But Winter said he hadheardAldine was better, not that he’dseenhim recovered.

“You haven’t visited with my team?”

“I’ve been a touch busy, seeing to you in your time of need.”

I hated that I needed anything from anyone. “Then how do you know he’s doing better?”

“I bumped into Aoes at the grocer today.” His shoulders lifted slightly. “He told me about Mr. Aldine. He also asked about you, as your absence has them worried, but I assured Aoes you were all right.”

“I’m far from all right. I’m a broken mess.”

Winter’s brow pinched. “Would you have preferred I told him the truth?”

No. No, I didn’t.

I sank deeper into the give of the bed and shook my head. The last thing I wanted was Chace leering over me, gloating about his superiority—the Badden family outperforming the Gunn family at the Citadel of Veritas.

But…what if he didn’t gloat? What if…

Winter sighed. “Then I gave them just enough that they shouldn’t need to worry about you lying dead in one of the citadel’s many streets.”

I flinched at the image he sparked across my imagination. “Chace is not going to take your word regarding my condition or whereabouts. He’s not likely to take your word for anything.”

His face hardened. I might not have known him well, but he clearly knew something he had yet to tell me.

“What?” I pushed.

“It’s about Chace.”

My chest tightened. “What about him?”

The door to the room creaked, swinging a foot or more open.

Standing in the hallway, a young afflicted girl peered through the opening, her hair dirty and limp, andher eyes glazed. I vaguely recognized her from when Winter first carried me into this home.

A tiny hand reached from behind her, shoving her over a fraction. A second girl stepped into place at the first girl’s side. She stared at me—not afflicted—with eyes wiser than her years.

My breath caught in my throat.

The second girl was the same girl I had seen in my dream…or nightmare. The girl upon which the woman in the catacombs energetically fed. Or syphoned for another.

“I saw you, and I came,” she said. “You need me.” She glanced at her sister. “Need us.”

The girls stepped into the room then dashed to the bedside and laid their hands upon me.

My mind responded with fuzzy thoughts and vision, and my head swayed.

What’s…happening?

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