Page 54 of Reaper's Quest

Aoes shrugged.

“What about Raven?”

“Yeah.” Aoes plucked the decanter from the table and refilled his glass. “She’s intriguing but unfamiliar in that manner.”

Winter nodded as Aoes reached across the table and refilled Winter’s drink. The pub manager raised his glass. Winter rose to the request, clinking his glass to Aoes’s.

“To the dashes of spice,” Aoes said and took a swig.

“And the fire they ignite in our bellies.” Winter smiled and followed suit, privately toasting to Aoes’s gift for reading the energy of others. “Life would be bland without them.”

Newcomers with intriguing energy—Chace, particularly. Winter knew not of the visiting strangers from two decades ago, but he now planned to uncover some answers and unravel the mystery of the current pub guests.

If any chance existed that Chace, or even Raven, were somehow related to the affair that led to the citadel’s current jinxed state, he would uncover that connection. And then he would take control of the situation…of their role in fixing what had been broken.

15

After two pints of ale, a belly full of braised boar, and an hour of disquieting exchange, I checked on Mr. Aldine then retreated to my private room to rest up for the next day.

Is he going to be a problem?Chace’s words continued to buzz in my ears long after he’d spoken them.

If my bruised palm hadn’t remained tender, I’d have seriously considered smacking him across the cheek…his stupid, somewhat alluring face.

As if I would allowanystranger to pull my attention from the task at hand.

Fires of vexation continued to rage within my chest. Damn Chace for even suggesting I would flirt with anyone while on the job—much less the handsome, arrogant stranger calling himself Winter.

His ice-blue eyes swam before my thoughts, and I quickly shook the vision from my head.

I didn’t want to linger in this citadel any longer than necessary, which meant I needed to get these people reaped and then get out. No dillydallying, no distractions. Get it done and get gone.

Chace’s irritating eyes had flashed with something bestial when he suggested I lacked commitment to the job, and that look had caused my breath to snag in my throat. Completely insufferable. He clearly thought himself better than me. Better at the reaping.

Reaper rat.

He knew all too well how to inflame me.

I curled my hands into tight fists and shook with my overflowing fury.

The quiet darkness of my room accepted my anger and annoyances, absorbed my emotions, and slowly…all too slowly…diffused them.

After washing the grime from my body and setting out my attire for the following day, I had completed my decompression activities. And yet my wounded emotions kept my mind from resting.

No doubt, whatever came next I would find trying—challenging, at the very least—and even though I felt mentally and physically exhausted, I couldn’t fall asleep.

I dispelled some of my frustration, though not nearly enough, by rearranging my room so that the bed pressed against the window and provided me with a view of the job. Having the target or goal set before me during my downtime helped me hone my thoughts regarding approach and necessary tactics…but it didn’t help me sleep.

I heaved my bag off the floor and dug my hand deep within, grabbing my reaper manual. By the light of the bedside lamp, I settled on the mattress, with my back against the headboard, and flipped through the pages. I analyzed every documented detail regarding the reaper tools Mr. Aldine might have used the night he’d fallen into his current state—the collector’s eye and the reaper’s grip—but found nothing particularly helpful to our current situation or to Mr. Aldine’s condition.

Notes written within the margins by my mother’s hand supplied the only comfort found, providing much-needed messages after the way things had gone today. Our reaper team’s first experience in the citadel was nothing short of a disaster—a surprise for which we had arrived unprepared. I had reacted poorly, but I wouldn’t do so again.

Going forward, I would show up each day ready for anything unexpected. Stand tall in the face of the unforeseen.

Because my mother’s words fueled my inner fortitude.

The most important tools in your arsenal are assuredness and intention.

Honor your inner deity and shy not from all that you are.