Page 38 of Reaper's Ruin
“I don’t know what a zombie is.”
“Dead people who come back to life and eat brains and shuffle around going ‘braaains,’” she explained, holding her arms out stiffly and making what I assumed was supposed to be a menacing face.
I stared at her. “I don’t want to eat brains. That is disgusting. The only people who eat brains in Faelora are a particularly menacing tribe of cannibals who reside in the Outlands.”
“Never mind,” she said, dropping her arms. “It’s a thing from my world. Movies. TV shows. I’m not even going to ask about the freaking cannibals here. Just promise not to take me near them.” She made a disgusted face, but then instantly, it transformed backinto that pure joy that seemed to radiate from her like blinding light. “Oh, look! Sweet rolls!”
She pointed toward a stall where a fae woman with delicate green vines tattooed along her arms—a Sylvan Court marker—was pulling fresh pastries from a stone oven. The scent of cinnamon and sugar wafted through the air, drawing a small crowd.
Soraya darted forward, breaking away from my side. “Can we get one? Please? I’ve been dying to try one since I first saw them in that marketplace.”
“We don’t have much money,” I reminded her. “We need to save it for—”
“I haven’t eaten anything since I died, and I’m starving. Please? Just one?” she asked again, and something in those blue eyes made arguments die in my throat.
My resolve crumbled embarrassingly fast. “Fine. One.”
Her face lit up with such genuine delight that it made my chest tighten in a way I didn’t want to examine too closely. I purchased her a sweet roll, handing over a few coins from the pouch Selyse had given us.
Soraya took hers with reverent hands, bringing it to her nose and inhaling deeply before taking a bite. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she made a small, pleased moan that sent an unexpected jolt through my body. I had to force out the images that invaded my mind of her moaning in a very different way.
“Oh my god,” she breathed, opening her eyes. “This is amazing. Like, the best thing I’ve ever tasted. Even better than Cinnabon.”
A loud rumble interrupted what I was about to say. I looked down at my stomach in confusion. “What the fuck?”
Soraya laughed. “You’re hungry too! What? Did you forget what hunger feels like?”
I had, actually. The sensation was so foreign that I hadn’t recognized it for what it was.
“You haven’t eaten in eight hundred years,” she said, her eyes widening as if just realizing this. “That’s... that’s a really long time between meals. I’m glad I didn’t come back as a Reaper because I love food way too much. I would have been so sad to never taste chocolate again.”
“I haven’t needed to,” I said simply.
“Well, you need to now.” She held out her sweet roll, her eyes widening in delight “Try it! It’ssogood!”
I looked at the pastry skeptically, then with my stomach grumbling louder, took it from her and sampled a small bite.
Flavor exploded across my tongue—sweet, rich, complex. The texture was simultaneously soft and crisp, the spices warming. I hadn’t tasted anything in eight centuries, and now this simple peasant food was overwhelming my senses.
I must have made some kind of sound, because Soraya was watching me with a knowing smile. “Good, right?”
I nodded, unable to form words as I took another bite. The pleasure of it was almost too much to bear.
“Food is one of life’s great joys,” she said, then she shrugged. “Well, death’s great joys now, I guess.”
I didn’t want to stop eating the sweet roll, so I handed the vendor a couple more coins and bought Soraya another. I watched her as she ate, unapologetically savoring every bite, licking sugar from her fingers with a lack of self-consciousness that was both endearing and oddly captivating. There was something about her joy—so pure, so unrestrained—that made me feel things I’d thought long dead.
Things I didn’t want to feel.
Things I had no right to feel.
I was her protector. Her guide. Nothing more. I’d made a choice to help her find her door, to atone in some small way for my failure to save humanity. That was all this was.
So why couldn’t I stop watching the way her lips curved around each bite, the way her eyes lit up with pleasure, the way a strand of hair fell across her cheek? It did things I barely remembered to my insides the same way hunger had caused my stomach to growl.
“You’ve got a little...” She gestured to the corner of her mouth.
“What?” I furrowed my brow, unsure why she was pointing at her mouth.
