Page 47 of Reaper’s Curse

I yanked my wrist free from his hold, taking note of his strength. He had released me willingly. Otherwise, he’d still hold me captive.

“Did you hear what he said? About my mother?”

The Killian’s shoulders relaxed, and he released a short laugh. He reaping laughed! “Your mother is above his jeers, just as you should be.”

As if moving without my expressed approval, my feet yanked me a step back, away from the reaper of reapers.

I swiftly scanned the surrounding scene. “What have you done? Why is everything frozen?”

Not only did the people and few visible animals appear like mannequins, unmoving and stuck, but the flap of canvas awnings, the flight of birds, the pouring of grain, absolutely everything held still. As if time had stopped, and with it, all of existence…except me and the Killian.

“It’s temporary,” he said, snagging my wrist in his grip once more. “We must move before life resumes.”

He dragged me from the circle of guards and Valen’s presence. I struggled against his pull, but he was strong and his clamp like iron. My feet slid upon the stone streets, gliding over and crushing tiny pebbles.

He towed me from the scene, then the street, around a corner, then several more streets and corners before releasing me, squaring off to face me. The Killian had taken us to a deserted street circle. We stood in the center of the empty road, surrounded by buildings, separated only by the five archways splintering into converging avenues.

I spun, taking in the walls, the closed-off windows set in those walls, the five avenue exits, and the open heavy gates that could easily be used to close off the circle. Finally, I assessed the Killian.

“What do you want?” I pressed my fingers to my chest, against the war surging inside of me.

Sweat dappled my brow, and I…I felt like a trapped animal. Where was that feeling coming from? I darted my gaze left, then right, seeking an escape—physically, emotionally, both.

The Killian straightened his shoulders and locked a tight stare upon me. “Remember what I said to you before? That you are to⁠—”

“Yeah, yeah.” My nerves felt jittery, my patience strung too tight. “I owe you. Come when you call. I remember.” I brushed my hands along the sides of my head, pushing loose hairs from my face and applying pressure to my temples. “But why are you here now? What is it you want from me now?”

The Killian’s lips pulled into an ungodly grin. “I want the little reaper in front of me to die.”

The sky darkened and filled with an ear-buzzing whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

I stumbled back a step as my thoughts blinked blank, and my shoulders slumped. He was talking about me.

“You want what? But I thought… When you came before…you didn’t…”

He heaved a breath and crossed his arms. “It wasn’t time before. But now… Now will do.” He lifted his nose and sniffed the air. “Yes. Now is a good time for a reaper’s death.”

No.

No was the only thought that shot through my mind a second before fury exploded, taking over all my senses, my body breaking into action of its own accord.

I lunged at the Killian, ready and eager for bloodshed.

14

Awake indeed. Aoes had no idea how much I was waking from.

And remembering? I probably shouldn’t have spoken those words out loud because, out of everything that had recently transpired, those were the words that Aoes had latched on to.

But I was remembering bits and pieces. Fitting together the edges of the puzzle of who and what I was, inside and out.

I might be Chace, as that was what I felt at my core. But I was more than the Chace Badden whose father took him on an adventure to the Citadel of Veritas as a young boy. More than the youth who had trembled before a trapped flying monster or spoken with the dying being several cages over. More than the guy who aggravated Raven Gunn in reaper training or got on the train bringing our team here. And definitely more than the guy who diligently took his daily medication.

Fuck that medication.

It had kept me from accessing all of my true self. I bet Ubel and Bacia Badden had been fully aware of the effects the damn stuff had on my memories and self-awareness, too.

The Killian was right to crush the tablets beneath his boot.