Page 45 of Reaper's Quest

The other specters had vanished, and Raven lay on the ground with the specter-repellent male on top of her.

On. Top. Of. Her.

Volcanic heat exploded through my system, and I cussed under my breath. Wanted to snap that white-washed bastard’s neck.

Before I realized what I was doing, I stepped away from Aldine.

Thump.

I spun back around, my teeth clenched so tightly my jaw could have cracked. The zombie woman lay sprawled on the ground.

Aldine pressed his hands to his temples as he bobbed his head back and forth. “I tried to save her. Reap her properly. But a huge chunk of her is blocked or missing. And it’s been so long since I’ve reaped a complicated being.”

I groaned internally.You probably shouldn’t have tried, then.

Wanting to shake him, I opted to awkwardly pat him on the shoulder. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out.”

Aldine opened his mouth, but instead of words, white foam spilled from his lips. His body began to convulse and thrash with a seizure.

My mind screamed. Aldine kept me from Raven and the specter-repellent individual. I wanted to smack the old reaper in the face and knock the sense back into him.

And…I needed to help the bastard.

Healing was not my area of expertise—far from it—but I knew such an action would only serve to release some of my own tension,temporarily, and would likely do more harm than good.

Pulling Aldine tightly to my chest, I wrapped my arms around him and held him steady. The plan?prevent him from hurting himself with his uncontrollable flailing.

I lowered us to the ground as a unit, my muscles aching. Despite my attempt to make my movements smooth and gentle, we tipped forward a tad too fast and toppled sideways. I planted my knee to stop and steady myself.

Aldine stopped shaking, and I laid him carefully upon the uneven ground, cleared his mouth and throat, then wiped the remaining foam from his lips.

“I tried to save her with a reap.” He gasped, his words quiet and rather distant.

“What happened?” I leaned over him. “Are you okay?”

Acid burned in my throat the second I asked the question. Of course Aldine wasn’t okay. One look at him and anyone could tell he was out of sorts in a terrible way.

A slight tremble rattled through his limbs. At his mumbledrequest, I helped him sit and then monitored his breathing. This fell under new territory for me. Never before had I attempted to help a soul get better. I usually moved them on to the next stage.

Raven slid to a drop at Aldine’s side. “What happened? Is he all right?”

At her return, I loosened a sigh. I had allowed my focus on Aldine to cloud my senses and thereby failed to notice her approach…or what had happened between her and the strange local.

“He apparently tried to rea?—”

The stranger appeared at our side, smelling of cherry wine and fermented tobacco.

I cleared my throat and immediately adjusted my word choice. “Help the woman over there.”

I lifted my chin, indicating the zombie woman lying in the street, even as my gaze shifted to the high point of the stranger’s ears.

Definitely some fae blood thrumming in the veins of this prick.

The stranger kneeled beside me. “What happened to him?”

“I’m not sure.” I spun sharply to face the newcomer, my eyebrows slamming down. “Who are you?”

“You can call me Winter.” The stranger extended his palm as if he expected me to partake in a traditional, cordial greeting.