Page 86 of Reaper's Quest

Chace’s gaze narrowed with suspicions and accusations. “What are you doing at Raven’s door? And why do you both look like you’ve just been caught in a crime?”

22

Iallowed a hint of my reaper self to flare in my features.

“Where is she?” I asked for the eleventh or twelfth time?I’d lost count.

I stood toe-to-toe with Aoes and Winter, my teeth clenched, my jaw muscles pulsing.

Sudden understanding flashed across Winter’s face. But as quickly as the unexpected expression appeared, it vanished, leaving the guy’s features cold. No doubt a defensive barrier of sorts. Winter likely still tried to figure out what Raven and I were and why we had come to the citadel.

That’s what I would do if the roles were reversed.

Neither Winter nor Aoes had given me a solid answer. I’d merely received ten or more different versions ofI don’t know. But no matter how many times they denied any knowledge of Raven’s whereabouts, I smelled the lie. Winter was drenched in Raven’s scent.

I didn’t even want to consider what they had done together for her scent to cling to him with such strength. Regardless, Winter had recently been in her presence, which meant he held back an important truth.

I raked my hand through my hair and took a step back, scrutinizing the two males, attempting to see their truth and lies through their fake facades.

When Raven had stormed out of the pub that morning, I’d known her anger and frustration ran deep. That she would want time. Time away from me, and time alone to work through her thoughts.

But I had yet to tell her about the individual I’d seen in the shadows the other day. The one who’d appeared to direct the afflicted upon her. She deserved to know that bit of information before setting out into the citadel alone. Especially if she remained somewhere out there at night.

Plus…

I wanted…(and in this place, on this particularly complicated reap) needed…to know her whereabouts. The pompous ass before me had no right keeping her from me. She was?

I ground my teeth. Steadied my thoughts.

She was my coreaper. That’s what she was. No more. No less.

Still…

I’d had the oddest feeling earlier that Raven had suffered some sort of painful injury. For no other reason than that, I needed to know her location and wellness status.

I curled my hands into tight fists.

“Well?” I backed Aoes and Winter against the corridor wall.

My extra sense kicked into hyperdrive, taking in everyscent, no matter how minute. I had the nose of a supernatural bloodhound, something I’d not known any other reaper to possess. And that extra sense cataloged a plethora of aromas from the corridor.

Aoes smelled heavily of tobacco, ale, bread, and broth. And Winter… He not only smelled of Raven, but of blood and something else I couldn’t quite place.

I examined the blue-eyed irritation more closely. His hands were scrubbed—they were too clean not to have been. His face as well. Fairly recently…and thoroughly. But a small dark stain smeared the edge of his sleeve. The clench of my teeth tightened.

Noting my attention, Winter glanced down and startled ever so slightly.

He began rolling up his sleeves. “Guess I managed to get a little messy in the kitchen.”

I didn’t buy his excuse for one bloody second. The prick never dressed the part of kitchen help, and the jacket he’d held carefully at his side until that point had shifted with his nervous response, exposing a glimpse of more bloodstains he tried to hide.

“That’s not blood from the kitchen.” I made no attempt to conceal the thick charge of my voice.

I knew the difference between the aroma of animal blood and the blood ofother. And Winter’s smell had my hairs on end and a growl growing in my chest. I tilted my chin toward the jacket and exerted a great deal of strength not to lurch forward and grab the item.

If you’ve hurt her…

I bared my teeth. “Whose blood is it, and what happened?”