Page 113 of Reaper's Ruin
It would be a race against time and fate itself. But with Soraya in my arms, for the first time in eight centuries, I found myself believing in something beyond duty and vengeance.
I believed in us.
And that belief burned brighter than any fire, stronger than any storm that might stand in our way.
Even the storm of losing her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Soraya
My legs ached from hours of riding, my body sore in places I didn’t know could get sore. But the physical discomfort was nothing compared to the storm of emotions raging inside me.
The Stormsteed’s steady gallop had slowed to a trot as dawn broke over the storm-swept mountains. We’d been riding all night, putting as much distance as possible between us and Thunderspire. Between us and the soon-to-be Queen Mother who apparently wanted me dead enough to send her brother across realms to murder me.
“We need to rest soon,” Rhyker said, his deep voice rumbling against my back where I was pressed against his chest. “Moonshadow is tiring.”
I nodded, unable to summon the energy for a proper response. Exhaustion weighed on me, but my mind refused to quiet, churning with questions that had no answers, with one question most prominent in my mind.
Why doesn’t my door appear?
I knew why I’d died—a pawn sacrificed in a royal power struggle I never knew existed. I’d confronted my murderer, watched as Rhyker tore the heart from his chest. I’d even discovered my father was the Storm King himself, making me half-fae royalty.
Shouldn’t that be enough? Shouldn’t I have found peace?
Unless... maybe it wasn’t enough to know why I’d died and kill the man who’d murdered me. Maybe I needed more.
Maybe I needed Princess Ravenna dead too since she’d been the one to order my death.
The thought made me shiver. When had I become this person? This vengeful spirit craving the blood of everyone who’d wronged me? And where would this list end? The Soraya I knew—nursing student, daughter, rule-follower—would have been horrified by the idea I needed blood for blood it seemed. But that Soraya had died on her living room floor with a dagger in her chest.
“There’s a clearing ahead,” Rhyker said, breaking into my dark thoughts. “We’ll stop there.”
We’d left the main road hours ago, cutting across country through dense forests and shallow streams to make our trail harder to follow. The clearing he’d spotted was small, sheltered by massive pines on three sides and a rocky cliff on the fourth—defensible, with only one obvious approach. A small stream cut through it, the soft bubbling of the water like a soothing lullaby.
Rhyker dismounted first, then reached up to help me down. His hands spanned my waist, effortlessly lifting me from the saddle. For a brief moment, I was suspended in his grip, my face level with his, close enough to see the flecks of blue in his storm-gray eyes.
His hands lingered a moment too long, just long enough to make my breath catch. For a moment, I thought he might pull me closer, might press his lips to mine again like I so desperately wanted him to do... but then he set me gently on my feet and immediately stepped back, his expression shuttering.
And there it was again—that maddening distance he kept putting between us. One moment he was tearing out hearts for insulting me, the next he couldn’t bear to touch me longer than necessary.
“I’ll check the perimeter,” he said, already turning away. “Rest.”
I watched him go, frustration bubbling up inside me. I sank down against a fallen log, my legs grateful for the reprieve after so many hours in the saddle. Moonshadow wandered to the edge of the clearing, lowering his head to graze on the wild grasses.
Alone with my thoughts, I returned to the question that had haunted me since we’d fled the castle: Why hadn’t my door appeared?
“Perhaps it’s not enough to know why you died,” I murmured to myself. “Maybe you need to finish what you started.”
The idea that I might not find peace until Princess Ravenna was dead was unsettling. I’d never been vengeful before. I’d forgiven the high school bully who’d tormented me for a year. I’d made peace with the boyfriend who’d cheated on me. I’d even forgiven the drunk driver who’d sideswiped my car, though insurance had never covered all the damages.
I buried my face in my hands, confused and exhausted.
“Here.”
I looked up to find Rhyker standing over me, offering water in a chunk of wood it looked like he’d hollowed with his dagger. I took it with a murmured thanks, our fingers brushing briefly. Even that slight contact sent a jolt through me, a reminder of how his hands had felt on my bare skin.
He settled across from me, still maintaining that careful distance. His eyes swept the clearing one more time before returning to me.
