Page 47 of Reaper's Ruin
I slipped an arm around Soraya’s waist, guiding her out of the Dark Market. The faster we left this place, the safer she would be. Even though word had spread not to trifle with me, the way the men still leered at her made me itch for my scythe.
Soraya kept glancing at Taelon as we headed toward the exit, her eyes still filled with concern, no doubt wondering if he was going to try to take her. But the way she kept her body pressed to my side told me she knew that I’d never let him.
As we walked up toward Centralis proper, he continued staring at us, his face a mixture of disbelief and amusement while keeping pace just behind the veil.
“This is unbelievable,” he kept saying, shaking his head. “Absolutely unbelievable.”
I ignored him, keeping up my pace until we finally stepped out from the depths of the Dark Market into fresh air. I took a deep breath, not realizing how sweet the smell of civilization could be. The sweet smell of the living world itself.
“Where are we going? I’m dying over here to hear this story,” Taelon asked as I moved us through the crowd toward a place I’d been to several times behind the veil.
“Somewhere we can talk without it looking like I’m talking to myself.” I kept my eyes ahead, and anyone here would think I was talking to Soraya. “And somewhere we can eat. I’m starving.”
“You can eat?” Taelon’s mouth unhinged as he blinked at me. “Okay. Damn. This is nuts.”
I found the tavern I was looking for in the lower district of Centralia proper, where the mix of patrons was diverse enough that no one would look too closely at us. I secured a corner booth,tucked away from curious eyes so I could talk to Taelon freely, and Soraya slid in across from me.
Taelon stood beside our table, still behind the veil that made him invisible to everyone but us.
“So,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall with a grin spreading across his face. “Explain to me how this is happening. I’m down in the Dark Market taking out a Tide fae who wouldn’t move on, and just when I finish, I turn around and see this.” He waved a hand up and down at my physical body. “Want to tell me why you’re breaking every rule in existence, Death?”
His eyes flicked to her, a smirk tipping up his lips.
A soft grumble vibrated through my chest as I shot him a warning glare not to press that angle and tease me in front of her the way I knew, without question, he was desperate to do.
Soraya looked between us with interest. “Death? Why are you calling him that?”
Taelon’s furrowed his brow. “Because that’s his name. Or at least, what everyone calls him.” Then he grinned, a slow, devious thing. “Why? Does he have a name?”
Before I could stop her, Soraya frowned slightly and answered, “His name is Rhyker.”
I lowered my head, a soft shake accompanying my sigh as I knew Taelon wouldn’t drop this anytime soon.
Taelon’s eyebrows shot up, and he let out a low whistle. “Oh shit! Death has a name!” He looked at me with renewed interest. “Eight decades I’ve known you, and I’m just now learning your actual name?”
“Why do you call him Death?” Soraya asked, leaning forward with curiosity.
“Everyone in the Shadowveil does. He’s been there for eight hundred years, centuries longer than anyone else,” Taelonexplained, clearly enjoying this. “HeisDeath. The other Reapers scatter when he walks by. The new ones get warned not to make eye contact. You’re sitting here with Death himself, the scariest Reaper of them all.”
Her eyes locked on mine, full of something sharp and silent. It wasn’t fear. God help me, I almost wished it was.
I shifted uncomfortably. This conversation was straying into territory I preferred not to explore.
“Enough,” I said sharply. “We have more important matters to discuss.”
Taelon raised his hands in mock surrender, but the amusement never left his eyes. “Fine, fine. But you need to spill. What the fuck is going on? How are you in physical form? And why is she—” he nodded toward Soraya, “—able to see me?”
I hesitated, weighing how much to reveal. Taelon was one of the few Reapers who’d never shown fear of me, who’d persisted in treating me like a fellow being rather than some mythical monster. That didn’t necessarily make him trustworthy, but instinct told me he could be useful.
“She was the soul I was sent to reap,” I explained in a low voice. “But she’d only just discovered she was dead. She hadn’t had time to find her door.”
Taelon’s brow furrowed. “That doesn’t make sense. Souls get weeks, sometimes months to find peace before we’re sent for them.”
“Exactly,” I said, meeting his eyes.
Understanding dawned on his face. “So you didn’t reap her because it wouldn’t be right.”
I nodded. “Our core duty as Reapers is to reap souls who refuse to move on. This soul, Soraya, didn’t have time. So I feel it is my duty as a Reaper to fulfill my duty in allowing her the chance to get her door. We’re trying to figure out why she was killed, so she canfind her peace.” I didn’t add that part of me dreaded the moment she would.
