Page 74 of Reaper’s Curse

“Hard to believe, right?” the Killian said, noting my reaction. “Even with magic dimmed, the guy was able to perform some pretty amazing feats. Now, in his state, his magic is unavailable to him.”

My shoulders relaxed. “What was his magic?”

“Does it matter?” The Killian pinned me with a flat stare. “It’s off the table.”

“All right.” I dipped my chin. “If I were the last, and only, soul hunter smuggled out of the citadel, then that would mean the others are either still here somewhere or dead.”

My siblings, who could help me piece together the memories of before the child Chace.

“It would stand to reason.” The edge of the Killian’s lip twitched upward. “In the palace, I believe. It’s the one place I cannot go.”

“You can’t?”

The reaper of reapers responded with a headshake.

“Which also means the cell I was kept in isn’t in the palace.”

“Under,” the Killian deadpanned.

I nodded once, my lips pulling taut. “So, returning to my original line of questioning. Why did you lock me in the cell if you weren’t sure of what I was?”

“I told you I was relatively certain,” the Killian replied, altering his wording from before. “But when I swept your room and found your medication, I realized what your family had done. That left me more certain than not that my suspicions were correct. So, I locked you up and let you ride it out to see what happened.”

My frown was immediate. “Just like that?”

The Killian returned a wide grin. “Just like that.”

I fought against a twitch at the edge of my eye. “And I should trust you?”

He dropped his foot from his knee and leaned forward, pressing his elbows to his thighs. “I got you this far, didn’t I? My tools got you out of the underground prison, and my actions cleared your confusion and helped you remember who and what you are.”

I couldn’t argue with either point. The Killian had done both of those things, and whether I was willing to admit it or not, I was grateful. I’d probably still be trapped in that underground cell without the Killian’s items Aldine had gifted me.

“All right, then.” I loosened my stance, allowing my hands to fall at my sides. Still tense, though. Ready to fight. “Why all the games? What is your goal here?”

He tilted his head and regarded me for a moment. “Tell me, soul hunter. Do you remember why you originally came to this citadel? Not the child Chace, but the soul hunter?’

I heaved a deep breath. “No.”

A frustrating answer and the truth. The not knowing was like nails scraping through my skull.

“Then you are not yet ready to know the larger mission.”

“Excuse me?” I fisted my hands. “You push me around like a puppet and then tell me I don’t need to know why? Are you fucking kidding me?” I fought to keep my instinctual reaction from burning through my chest. “You jerked me around, more than once, and you picked fights with Raven, then call it…what? All fun and games?”

The Killian raised one eyebrow but chose not to respond.

“Why were you fighting with Raven anyway? What was that about?” I demanded.

An arrogant smile slid onto his lips, his eyes sparkling with a newly born expression. “The reaper needs to die. She wasn’t too keen on that idea.”

“What?” My jaw slackened. I was sure I’d heard wrong. He couldn’t have meant… The Killian couldn’t have said… “What?”

“You heard me.”

Die, as in dead. Raven was marked for death.

No. I shook my head as my insides erupted, shooting lava through my veins.