Page 16 of Reaper's Quest

Were we pawns or leverage to be used as blackmail against our families? Was sending us to Veritas an attempt to end the family lines?

Father’s fingers began to drum a steady rhythm on his thigh, and, to the sound, my head pounded a dull, steady beat.

No sooner had the transport pulled to a stop at the station than Mother rushed to our vehicle and leaned in through the open window. “I was concerned you wouldn’t make it.”

Father and I were the last to arrive, but at least I wasstaying true to my arrive-at-the-last-minute reputation. Plus, I rather doubted the team…and train…would leave without me. Not if some bigger (hidden) plan was at work.

Chace stood huddled with his family, saying their goodbyes—his mother clearly fussing over him—while Mr. Aldine waited, train side, for me and Chace to board. With no departures or arrivals scheduled anytime soon…beyond our own, the rest of the train platform held no activity, no warm bodies.

Before I could fully extract myself from the transport, my mother threw her arms around me and squeezed me bone-crushingly tight. “I believe in you, and if anyone can solve the reaping issue at the royal citadel, you’ll be the one.”

“Thanks, Mom.” I pulled back.

Her black hair shimmered in the morning light, accentuating the red running throughout.

Most reapers had jet-black hair, but some favored touches of gray, and a few hinted deep blue-violet in the full light of day—like Chace’s. However, no others that I knew of shimmered with scarlet like mine, my mother’s, or my grandmother’s.

Or so I’d been told. I’d never actually met my grandmother.

I didn’t know how far back the color introduction went but inheriting that unique trait had always made me feel special.

I roamed my gaze over my mother’s face. Distress featured in the crinkles at the edges of her eyes, the taut pull of her lips, and the pressed wrinkles on her forehead. The line cutting between Father’s eyebrows suggested he felt equally troubled.

I lifted my chin. “How many have attempted this job before me?”

My parents, reapers Scorpeo and Freyja, exchanged a look that said it all.Too many.

Father wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Don’t worry about what has already been attempted or done. Concentrate your thoughts and efforts on what you can do this time around.”

“All that you need is inside you.” Mother tapped me just below the collarbone. “Bring your natural talents to the task. That’s sure to be a reap changer.”

Because I was the one the entire situation had been waiting for?Highly unlikely.

I did, however, appreciate their efforts to keep everything positive.

A positive mind can achieve almost anything.

Yeah, I didn’t 100 percent buy into that drivel, but better to believe than to dwell on the opposite frame of mind. Especially when, several feet away, the train conductor who had cancelled on us argued with another, his words too loud not to be heard.

“Danger guards the path,” he said, causing my chest to tighten, even as my parents ignored the warning. “I already told you I won’t do it. I’d sooner quit.”

The train whistled, and Mr. Aldine waved us forward. “Time to go. There’s a schedule that must be kept.”

My parents walked me across the brick platform, and as we passed Chace’s family, Mr. Badden tossed a scrutinizing glare in my direction then whispered something in Chace’s ear.

Father tugged me snuggly to his side. “Remember what I told you. Don’t trust the Badden boy.”

If he called Chace a boy, he might as well call me a girl, and we were neither. I wanted my parents to recognize that truth. Reapers tended to be overprotective and far too slow to empower. Traits that might have everything to do with our few numbers, relatively speaking.

Mother pressed against my other side, sandwiching me between them. “Be careful, my love. I can’t say much about Chace, but his family is often up to no good.”

So I had heard throughout my entire life. The Badden family was bad and untrustworthy—a group of liars and backstabbers. I got it. Had lived it. And now I would get to spend countless hours working with one. Hurrah.

At least he was easy on the eyes.

Ugh! What was I thinking? I needed to cut those kinds of thoughts out of my head immediately.

If only I could start the day over, stay in bed, and skip the morning reaper assignment. Had I hidden my presence at the back of the room, would Superior Grim still have chosen me? I suspected he would. And if I hadn’t shown up at all, would they have called me at home with the task? Possibly.