Page 145 of Reaper's Ruin
I turned back, searching the chaos for my unlikely allies. Taelon stood at the edge of the courtyard, injured but still standing. Our eyes met across the distance, and he grinned that infuriating, cocky grin that somehow, against all odds, I’d grown to appreciate.
“Get her out of here!” he called. “We’ll find you!”
“The place I mentioned!” I shouted back. “Hurry!”
He nodded, then turned back to the battle, flames erupting from his hands as he rejoined Skorn and Lorien in holding back the pursuing forces.
With one last look at the allies I’d never expected to find, I turned to Soraya. “Hold on to me,” I commanded, spreading my wings to their full span.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, pressing herself against me as I gathered her close. With the barrier behind us, my power returned in full. I sliced through the shadows with my wings, and as darkness engulfed us, one thought burned bright in my mind, more powerful than any fear or uncertainty:
She was safe. For now, at least, she was safe.
And I would burn the realms to ash before I let anyone take her from me again.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Soraya
Darkness consumed us, cold and vast and endless.
I clung to Rhyker, my arms locked around his neck, my face buried against his chest as we fell through shadows. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t feel anything but Rhyker’s solid form against mine and the Veilwings that enveloped us both.
Then, without warning, we crashed back into reality.
The world around us came into focus, still cloudy and faded from behind the Shadowveil. I recognized our surroundings immediately—the dense, lush forest of the Sylvan Court. Selyse’s cottage stood nearby, its thatched roof glowing a diluted amber in the fading light of sunset. Rhyker had brought us to the one place he believed we might find help.
The realization that we’d actually escaped—that we were alive, or whatever passed for alive in our spectral forms—crashed over me in waves. My body began to shake as delayed fear and relief collided within me.
“We made it,” I gasped, my voice breaking. “We actually made it.”
Rhyker’s arms tightened around me as I collapsed against him, sobs tearing from my throat. All the terror, all the close calls, all the moments I’d been certain we were about to be erased from existence—it all poured out of me in a flood I couldn’t control.
“You’re safe,” he murmured against my hair, his deep voice resonating through my body, the vibrations thrumming through my core. “I’ve got you. I won’t let them hurt you. Never again.”
I pulled back just enough to look at him, to drink in the sight of his face—that beautiful, fierce face I’d thought I might never see again. His storm-gray eyes blazed with determination and something I’d never felt in my life and certainly didn’t expect to find in my afterlife.
Love. Pure, unguarded, absolute.
“I love you,” he said, the words no longer halting or uncertain but spoken with the weight of absolute truth. “I love you, Soraya. More than I ever thought possible.”
Fresh tears spilled down my cheeks as I pressed my forehead to his. “I love you too. So much.”
He captured my lips in a kiss that tasted of desperation and gratitude and wonder. I melted into him, needing this connection, this proof that we were both still here, still together despite everything.
When we broke apart, I saw his wings were still partially manifested, rippling shadows extending from his back before gradually dissolving. I’d never seen anything so terrifying or so beautiful—the raw power of Death unleashed not to destroy, but to protect.
To save me.
“What happens now?” I asked, the momentary relief giving way to a creeping dread. “Won’t they find us?”
His expression darkened. “Yes. That’s why we’re here. The Veil Lords won’t stop hunting us. The Shadow Watchers will be dispatched first, then the Reapers—likely the Enforcers. Maybe even the Sentinels. The Veil Lords won’t stop until they’ve found us. We need help.”
As if summoned by his words, the cottage door burst open. Selyse stood framed in the doorway, her slight form tense with alarm. Even from this distance, even with the misty veil separating us from her world, I could see the worry etched across her face. She looked around, searching the emptiness looking right past us. Then, she squinted her eyes, focusing again until her eyes locked onto us and her face lit up with recognition.
“Soraya! Rhyker!”
“Selyse!” I grabbed Rhyker’s hand and dragged him toward her.
