Page 132 of Reaper's Quest

My captor’s underling appeared a moment later, wiping at his sweaty brow and huffing for breath. Unlike Aldine or the bastard, who exuded a green or muddy haze about their bodies, the underling emitted a colored aura akin to the child—pinkish, but dingier than that of the young girl’s.

The bastard held his focus upon the cell floor and Aldine’s bloody and unmoving body.

He jabbed a firm hand into the air. “Put our men on alert and find the prisoner.”

Without a word, the minion turned and rushed back down the tunnel from which he’d come.

The bastard jailer dropped low on bent knees and studied Aldine.

He pulled the blade from Aldine’s side and patted him onthe chest. “Alive or dead, you may still be of use to me, oldfriend. You wait here. I’ll send someone for you shortly.”

He casually stood, bloodied blade in his hand, and strode away, not bothering to lock the cell. I listened intently to the retreating footsteps while gathering my strength.

When the sound of the jailer’s leave had faded and minutes had passed in silence, I crept to Aldine’s side.

“Why?” I whispered.

His eyes dragged open slowly, and my nose flared, my jaw clenched.

You’re alive,I wanted to yell.We need to get you out of here. Get you help.

Somehow, he managed to find my hand despite the invisibility of the cloak. I didn’t pull away. He clutched and squeezed while I held back any words I wanted to say.

Aldine wheezed, his breath sputtering. “I have already stayed my death date once.”

I had to lower my ear to his lips to hear him.

He tightened his grasp upon my hand. “No point in trying to avoid the inevitable. At least this way, my death has meaning.”

I pulled back and stared at him. Blinked.

“I have one foot on either side. I see you,” Aldine said. “And I see the Killian who has come to claim me.”

I swung a tight gaze over the room, but I saw nothing and no one.

“You must get free of this place,” he continued. “Waste no more time and go. You and Raven need to finish this.”

The wordsomehowlingered unspoken in the air between us.

My chest heaved. Aldine wanted me to findRaven, stop the mad jailer, and fix the reaping issue of the citadel with my limited reaper knowledge. I would think about that later. First, Aldine…

“You knew him,” I said of my captor. “Is he?”

“Go.” Aldine’s voice sounded more like a bark. “Go before he returns. Don’t wait on me. My time is almost gone.”

“I can’t just leave you. Not like this.” I hovered my hand over the wound in Aldine’s side.

I wanted to press upon it to stop the bleeding, but he’d lost too much blood already. The internal injuries clearly extreme, I knew of nothing I could do to improve his condition.

An invisible force clasped me by the shoulders, dragged me to my feet, and shoved me out into the space beyond the cell.

I wobbled and grabbed the bars of the cell to steady myself, then I whipped my head around, searching for the source of my violent extraction. “Reaper’s hell. What was that?”

“Go,” Aldine said, his voice cracked and gritty. “The Killian and I both want you to go.”

The Killian wants me to go.

Only Aldine laid crumpled nearby, visible. Which meant…