Page 1 of The Reaper's Vice

PROLOGUE

10 years ago…

The bells. The bells of death are tolling.

Sobs echo throughout the gold-hewn hallway, rattling my skull with a violence that compels me to stop. The wall in front of me pitches to the side as gold drips down in thick, messy puddles, coating my bare feet in molten lava as the sounds of grief imbue the hollow halls of my mind. They scratch something deep in my nervous system, something long since forgotten—and they order me to investigate. To see.Toremember.

Without thinking, I press my palm to the panel, and the secret door slides open silently. I scurry out on hands and knees, gripping the wall for support as I right myself, trying to ignore how the world twists and shudders around me. I blink away the haze, only to jerk my head over my shoulder as a shrill ringing sounds in the distance.

Ding… dong… ding… dong…

I know the sound isn’t real, but I can’t move away. I stand there, a slave to the violent gong echoing throughout my head. My chest.

Ding… dong… ding… dong…

Sviato nudges my calf with the side of his face, pulling me from my trance. His sister, Savyne, pads carefully behind him, nuzzling her head against my leg in a similar manner to her brother. Both tiger cubs are shrouded in a beautiful rainbow haze, the contrasting colors pulsing and dancing together in a dazzling performance.

Blinking away the mirage, I force my face into a stern expression. “Sviato, Savy…stay,” I command, raising my voice as much as I dare to bend the cubs to my will. Sviato flicks his left ear, drawing his nose in the air as if to sense impending danger. He lets out a low growl as I move from behind the wall but otherwise stays put, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

It’s short-lived because that wailing echoes in my head in the next moment, dispelling any semblance of peace I had obtained. As soon as I straighten, my eyes connect with those of a beautiful black-haired woman, her face twisted in sorrow as she clutches a bloodied man to her chest.

And it’s not just any man—the gleaming black mask lying on the floor tells me he was the highest-ranking Mask.The Phantom.

I step forward without thinking, my curiosity getting the better of me. I’ve never met a Phantom before—only lower-level Masks like Reapers and Disposers—and I’m overcome with the need to understand why he’s here,now,in this strange woman’s arms.

Yet the bells ring.

Dong… dong… ding… dong…

“He’s dying,” I say, eyes locked onto the Phantom, the pool of blood blossoming along the expensive carpet. The ringing gets louder as the woman and her brutish companion whip their heads up to meet my gaze. It occurs to me then what the bells are for.

“So is she,” I whisper, knowing with some part of me that the Madam is dying, if not already dead.And that can only mean one thing…

“Who the fuck are you?” an impossibly deep voice demands. I pull my gaze to the imposing man standing over the woman’s shoulder, nearly mistaking him for a Mask due to the piece of metal covering the right half of his face.A… half mask?

I don’t get the chance to inquire—the Phantom needs my help.

I reach toward the man, but in the next moment, that half-masked one turns a murderous gaze on me, looking like he’d use the last of his life to protect the fallen Phantom as he screams, “Don’t you fucking touch him! I’ll?—”

The woman holding the Phantom raises a hand, silencing the brutish man to my utter surprise and gratitude.

“Who?” She turns her emerald gaze on me. “Who’sshe?”

It occurs to me she may not know about the Madam or care about her fate. But I don’t have time to explain, so I simply tilt my head over my shoulder toward the devil’s chambers.

“Oh…” The woman’s eyes go wide, seeming to understand.

I give her a nod, finding it hard to concentrate over the ringing in my head. “Ding dong, the queen is dead. Ding dong, the bell doth toll. Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong…”

“You should help them.”

I jerk my head to the side, my eyes widening as I take in that familiar face.What are you doing here?I want to ask. But that’s not the question that pours from my lips.

“And why should I?” A wave of anger heats my veins at the thought. “This is the design.”We live, and we die. There is nothing else.

The apparition shakes its head, a sad little smile tugging at its lips. “That’s not true though… is it, Seraphina?”

I blink, and it’s gone, the presence replaced with a dense, hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach.

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