Page 98 of Reaper’s Curse

The Killian.

My body jolted straight, rigid, and I sucked back a harsh breath.

He curled a finger in a come-hither manner. “Come out and we can continue what we started.”

Gathering my courage, I squared my shoulders. “I thought it was your job to collect, not kill.”

“Correct you are.” A knowing smirk played at his lips. “But sometimes drastic measures are necessary. You, young reaper…” He leaned against the gate’s brick border. “Well, we’ve already gone over this.”

“Have we? Because I feel like I’m missing something major.”

He shrugged. “The reaper needs to die. It’s that simple.”

“Is it?” I grabbed the bars and drew my face close.

Despite the hum of the protective barrier brushing against my knuckles, I wanted to reach through and wrap my hands around his throat. Wring some real, satisfying answers out of him.

Before I could recklessly act on my ill thought, the energy barrier vanished, and the Killian lurched forward, angling to grab my hands. I jumped back, his fingertips skimming the length of my fingers, as I pulled my limbs to the safety of my chest. His hands slammed to the gate, to the empty air between the bars.

An electrical sizzle sounded, and a vibrational wave emanated from the gate outward. He bared a toothy snarl and drew his face nearer.

Understanding dawned as I stared at him. The queen’s magical boundary wasn’t what really kept him outside. Something other was at play.

“You can’t come on the palace grounds, can you?”

Likely the reason Chace advised me to stay within the castle walls. Who knew, when we first got on that train together to come here, that he would become so concerned with my well-being?

The Killian’s eyes flashed―a misty fog in a sea of dark; there and gone. “Remember the deal you made. You are to come when I summon.”

“Come to you so that you can kill me? I don’t think so,” I retorted. “I’m rather fond of living.”

The Killian choked a laugh. “Have you tried death? I don’t think you have. You may find you were made for that darkness.”

“I was. I’m a reaper.” I crossed my arms.

“A reaper who must die.”

Two guards approached from the street beyond the wall.

“Hey, you,” one called to the Killian. “Move along. No loitering allowed.”

“To be continued,” he said without granting the guards a glance.

With an I’ll-see-you-later grin, he turned and walked away.

General Beckett stepped to my side. “Who was that?”

“No one.” No one he needed to know about, anyway.

“Then shall we?” The general accepted my response without argument and motioned for me to follow him through the gate and into the street beyond.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose to wild attention, and I scrutinized every inch of the surrounding space, not spotting the Killian. Would he disappear so quickly, so easily, now that I’d stepped outside where he could freeze time and grab me? Where was the logic in that?

General Beckett led me across the street to an old warehouse. Several guards dressed in all black lined the front of the building and main entrance. Together, we moved past them and made our way toward the oversized glider doors.

“Hold up!” Winter’s voice broke through the surrounding daily life din. “Where are you taking her?”

Winter jogged up the street, likely from somewhere near the main palace gate. I flashed him a nervous smile. Despite all that had transpired between us, I could count on him to look after me and be concerned enough for the both of us.