Page 58 of The Reaper's Vice

“The fuck I am.” She bares her teeth in a snarl as her hand curls into a fist at her side. “You’ll have to kill me first.”

I tilt my head. “I would never do that.”

She scoffs, eyes darting to the three dead bodies spread across the room. “It doesn’t seem like you have many qualms about it.”

I take another step. Another, and another, until eventually we’re chest to chest. Seraphina’s pulse spikes as I reach up to her face, dragging a bloodied thumb over her lips, staining them with crimson.

I lean in, brushing my lips against her ear. “I won’t kill you, little dove. Not yet—not until I break you.” I let my hand fall from her face, cupping the side of her delicate neck and applying pressure. “And you don’t break easily, do you?”

She shakes her head, her breath coming in short gasps. She looks utterly terrified, and I’ve never been harder in my fucking life.

A low chuckle falls from my lips as I lean forward, brushing them lightly against hers. “We’re going to have fun, you and I.”

And that’s when I plunge the needle into her neck.

27

SERAPHINA

“SHITTY WAY TO DIE”

The first thingI notice when I wake is my terror. The second is the wooden box surrounding me on all sides. The third—and strangest—is the sensation of metal encasing my pelvis. I raise my head in an attempt to check it out, but the ceiling is so low, I just end up smashing my forehead against the wood. Instinctually, I try to raise a hand to the lump forming on my head, only to run into the same problem.

I’m all too aware of the speed of my breathing—the amount of oxygen I’m wasting—but try as I might, I can’t calm down. I blink up at the ceiling, watching it get closer and closer each time my eyes shut. It’s getting smaller, squeezing the air out of the space, forcing it from my lungs.

“What a shitty way to die.” I close my eyes as my pounding heart threatens to break my ribs. “All the shit I’ve been through, and I get taken out by a wooden box.”

I take one last gulp of air, force my eyes shut, and wait for the end. But it doesn’t come. Instead, a loud cracking fills the space—like someone is opening the lid. My heart jumps to my throat, hope filling the dark pit left behind as light floods the box.

And it all comes crashing down as I take in the plague mask.

“You’re finally awake. I thought I was going todieof boredom.” The thick leather beak muffles his voice, but the way it affects my body, I know it’s Orion.

Cold air hits my flesh, pebbling my nipples, and it’s then I also realize I am completely naked. My face heats, but I shoot him a glare just as fiery, not willing to back down.

“So what’s your plan, onion?”

He tilts his head at the nickname, his shoulders stiffening. “My plan?”

I nod. “Your plan to stop me.”

“I don’t think I know what you mea?—”

Before he can finish, I jump from the box with a vicious war cry, my hands outstretched toward his face. He stumbles back instinctively, hands reaching back to catch himself—and that's when I strike.

Orion snarls in rage as I rake my fingernails down the side of his neck, lodging chunks of flesh beneath my nails. He reaches out to subdue me, but I anticipate his attack, ducking beneath his muscular arms and retreating to the corner before he has a chance to steady himself.

The vein in the side of his neck throbs as he reaches up, cupping the four gushing scratch marks. “My, my. It seems like someone doesn’t know how to play nice.”

My veins flare with rage at his tone—like I’m a damnpet. “Well,I’mnot very nice, so it checks.”

He chuckles as he takes a step forward, and I shift so I’m on the other side of the box I was trapped in earlier—a box I’m just now realizing is shaped like a…

“You put me in acoffin?”I snarl, pointing an accusatory finger at the wooden box in question. “Who fucking does something like that?”

“Someone very sick. Someone veryobsessed.” He takes another step, and another, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a dagger. His thighs hit the lip of the coffin, and he stops, the glowing red orbs of his mask pulling me in, entrancing me. “Do you feel it too, little dove?”

“Feel what?”

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