Page 61 of Reaper's Quest

“What are you doing? Have you learned nothing?” His glare narrowed and filled with condemnation. “Do you want to end up like Aldine?”

Not in the slightest.

The question fell deep into the well of idiotic. Chace knew I didn’t want to end up like our fallen chaperone. I hadn’t planned what happened. I’d merely reacted, knee-jerk style. Like jolting away from pain, I’d jumped straight into the reap.

My eyes cooled, and my hands calmed; my natural reaper tools powered down. The vibration within my core melted into nothing.

Not trusting myself to speak without stabbing at Chace with my words—or my scythe—I simply shook my head and pushed to my feet.

My body felt raw, my muscles aching and worn. Plus, the rough stone of the street had scratched against my skin, leaving my flesh torn and bloody.

Today had gone sideways so incredibly fast. If only I had a reset button…or a bed within which to hide beneath the covers.

A bed. That seriously sounded beyond splendid. Exhaustion seeped into every muscle…into my very soul.

Chace collected my scythe from the ground, snapped it into its compact form, and handed it back to me. My hand still stung with the cuts, but it didn’t matter. On the job, I would remain all business. I extended my palm, up and open.

At the sight of my bloody gashes, Chace cursed under hisbreath. He shook his head as an expression I took for frustrated acceptance slowly spread across his features.

He tilted his head in the direction of the pub. “Come on.”

Scuffles sounded behind me, drawing my attention over my shoulder. The three afflicted clambered to their feet and fumbled toward us, continuing to expel the H-word from their lips.

“Enough!” Chace barked, spinning and grabbing his scythe faster than the eye could track. “Leave her alone, or you will all find me using this scythe against you in the worst possible way!”

My jaw loosened. Was he displaying some sort of overprotective nature?

And if so, why did that make my stomach somersault?

Not that I needed him to stand up for me. I could handle myself.

In a flash, Chace had his scythe extended and swinging. Arcing dangerously across the afflicteds’ forward path. In its wake, the tool left a trail of shimmering air…not unlike the magical barrier surrounding the citadel. The cursed citizens stumbled backward and paused.

He had opened the doorway to the beyond, but rather than step through, they shied away.

A sneer curled the edge of his lips. “Don’t follow us.”

Shivers raced up my spine. His words expressed both a threat and, if not heeded, a promise of violence. He whipped back in the direction of the pub and started walking, leaving the magical doorway to time out and self-close.

My feet remained planted in place. I lowered my gaze to the largest gash in my palm and the flowing blood encompassing my hand in red, the steady drip-drip-drip of blood splattering the stone below. With a blink, I shifted my attention from the damage to the afflicted I had attempted to push away.

I knew, without a fraction of doubt, that my blood had smeared all over her cheek. And yet…

The woman’s skin, although marred with grime, now appeared clean of any signs of our skirmish.

Where did the blood go?

17

What in reaping hell?

Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any worse.

The sound preceded the sight, reaching to the street beyond the pub and slapping discomfort across my chest and jaw. I shoved open the pub’s main door and…

Winter pounded a tune on the piano and merrily sang with Aoes, who held a pint in hand, the liquid sloshing with his jovial arm swings. The melody?a song about drowning one’s sorrows over a lonely town and a lost love?was a tale that should have in no way been paired with an upbeat cadence. Everything about the males’ rhythm and body movements was at odds with the ballad’s theme.

And the vocals… I winced and gritted my teeth against the ringing in my inner ears. The vocals were horrendous. Grating.