Page 36 of Reaper's Quest

“What the heck is that?” Chace thrust an arm toward Earl, then he turned to me and Mr. Aldine, his hands slamming to his forehead. He lowered his voice. “Is that what happens when people die and there’s no reaper to help move them on?”

An interesting notion worth consideration. I found the lumbering individual before us far preferable to the animated bodies of rotting flesh often seen depicted in human movies. What were the possibilities that the Collections Office had written accounts of similar cases?

“No, it’s not.” Mr. Aldine’s response sounded sharp and resolute.

Aoes chuckled and spun his attention between us and Earl’s movements in the next room. “You don’t actually believe in reapers, do you?”

One of Chace’s eyebrows arched.

Mr. Aldine stepped past Chace and me, placing himself between us and Aoes. “Mr. Aoes, here, was just about to tell us the full scope of the situation plaguing his citadel.”

“Was I? I figured you lot would already know, but if you insist…” Aoes flashed us a humored grin, then pointed to zombie Earl lumbering through the adjoining room. “That’s my boss, part of the ‘we’ who helped create the trench outside the wall, and he’s an MD.”

Mr. Aldine peered past Aoes to the zombified being in the other room.

“An MD?” Chace and I asked in unison.

Of all the things I could think of MD standing for, none of them fit the situation roaming through the nextroom.

Aoes grimaced. “Here in the royal citadel, we have several classifications of citizens. Earl is an MD, which stands for mostly dead. There’s also the PD, partly dead. And the untouched.” He tapped his fingers to his chest. “That would be me. I have yet to be afflicted by the bad boogey.”

I wrinkled my nose, and from the edge of my sight, I caught Chace rolling his eyes. “I’m sorry? Bad boogey?”

Aoes strode to the storeroom exit and leaned against the doorframe. “You know, boogeyman, bad boogey. It’s a little name I came up with for whatever curse keeps people animated in a living death state.”

Chace shoved his hands into his pockets, shook his head, and tossed Aoes a glare that made my skin itch. Chace had appeared extra crabby ever since Aoes had shown up, offering to get us through the magical barrier.

Was Chace’s mood because of Aoes, the transformation magic surrounding the citadel, or something else? Curiosity buzzed in my chest, warm and tight. My father might consider Chace an untrustworthy Badden, but I found the idea of shuffling through his thoughts deliciously fascinating.

Aoes rubbed his forehead, a look of exasperation washing over his features as he glanced at Chace. “I know they aren’t the best names for the afflicted, but they’re easy to remember, and…honestly…I don’t care what you think.”

Chace flipped his arms up at his sides. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to. Your body language said everything for you.” Aoes lifted his hand and gestured to Chace from head to toe.

Chace’s rigid stance did sort of scream irritated. Sexy, butirritated. His actions and reactions appeared to betray a plethora of emotional messages.

Mr. Aldine puckered his lips and hummed. “Unusual classifications aside, are you suggesting that you don’t know what’s causing the issue with the people of your city?”

Aoes shook his head. “Not sure if I want to know.”

The screech of a chair from the other side of the door, followed by a mumble, signaled zombie Earl’s movements in the next room and pulled at Aoes’s attention.

“Win. Win.Wiin,” Earl chanted.

Aoes’s eyes widened, then he spun and marched into the following space. “Was Winter here?”

The three of us stalked after Aoes into what appeared to be a pub with slick wooden floors and warm wood and stone walls. Lots of tables and chairs crowded the space, a piano commanded a spot against the far wall, a fireplace divided the back wall, and a long U-shaped bar ran down the center of the room.Black iron chandeliers, dimly burning, spotted the space in ambient lighting. Stale ale permeated the air.

“Win,” Earl mumbled again.

“Sorry I missed him. I’ll catch up with him next time. But for now, why don’t you go check on the rooms upstairs and make sure they’re hospitable?” Aoes swung his gaze from Earl to Mr. Aldine. “You’ll be requiring a room…or three, won’t you?”

Most preferably more than one…if we stay.

I spared my fellow reapers a glance. The males could share a common space, but I wouldnotsleep in the same room as either of them.

Chace motioned to Earl. “You always talk to him likethat? Like he’s normal and not”?he wagged his right hand?“whatever he is?”