Page 85 of Reaper's Ruin
But a small, selfish part of me wondered: What would happen when I finally found the answers? When my door appeared, and it was time to leave?
I glanced at Rhyker, finding him already watching me, that same tortured expression in his eyes I’d seen earlier. He looked away quickly, but not before I caught a glimpse of something beneath the pain.
Longing.
The same longing that had been growing inside me since the moment his lips had touched mine.
And I realized, with a sinking feeling, that I was in serious danger of falling for someone I would inevitably have to leave behind. Someone who, by his very nature, couldn’t come with me when I walked through that door.
But for now, we had a mystery to solve. A murderer to expose. And a ghost princess who needed our help as much as we needed hers.
I pushed my conflicted feelings aside, focusing on the task at hand.
“Let’s get started,” I said. “We have work to do.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Soraya
The clock was ticking.
Forty-eight hours. That’s all the time Taelon had given us before he’d return for Elira. Two days to help a ghost princess find peace, to discover how her death connected to mine, and to unravel the mystery of why I’d been murdered in the first place.
For the past two days, Elira had been our eyes and ears throughout the castle, slipping through walls and closed doors, listening in on conversations no living being was meant to hear. Meanwhile, Rhyker and I smiled our way through endless royal functions, pretending to care about Storm Court politics while our minds raced with questions that remained stubbornly unanswered.
Most frustrating of all: Lord Cassius, my murderer, had vanished.
“It’s like he disappeared completely,” I said, pacing the length of my chamber as Rhyker stood by the window staring out at the endless storm in the distance. “Elira’s been searching for two days and nothing.”
“He can’t have just vanished,” Rhyker growled, his hands clenching at his sides. “He has to come back eventually.”
“Or maybe he’s gone for good. I’ll never get my answers for why I died, and you’ll have to reap me.”
He didn’t respond. His body freezing with my words. God how I wished I could climb inside that impenetrable wall he’d rebuilt around himself and find out what he was thinking... feeling.
“He will be back. And when I find him,” he continued, voice dropping to a dangerous rumble, “I’ll make him bleed for what he did to you before sending him to whatever underworld awaits his kind.”
The fury radiating from him was palpable. Since our kiss in the forest, Rhyker had been more distant, more guarded, but whenever Lord Cassius was mentioned, that careful control fractured, revealing the rage that simmered just beneath the surface.
“We need answers first,” I reminded him. “Not just revenge. We need to know why he crossed realms specifically to kill me.”
Rhyker opened his mouth to reply, but before he could speak, Elira materialized through the wall, her whole body trembling with emotion.
“He’s back,” she said breathlessly, tears streaming down her cheeks. “My uncle—Lord Cassius—he’s returned to the castle.”
Rhyker straightened immediately, alert as a predator scenting prey. “Where?”
“His chambers,” Elira replied. “But that’s not all. I saw him meet with my other uncle, Lord Marwyn. I followed them, and I—” Her voice broke. “I heard them talking.”
“What did they say?” I asked gently, wishing I could offer physical comfort to the clearly distressed ghost.
“It’s them,” she whispered, her body visibly shaking with the intensity of her emotions. “They’re the ones who killed me. My own uncles. The men who bounced me on their knees as a child, who taught me to ride, who promised they’d always protect me...” Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.
My heart ached for her. I understood betrayal, but not like this—not from family who should have loved her most.
“I’m so sorry, Elira,” I said softly.
She wiped at her tears, gathering herself with visible effort. “They were talking about what they’d been doing these past twodays. Each reporting in with what they’d accomplished. They each said they’d been successful in eliminating their targets, something about people on ‘the list’. They made it back just in time for the celebration.”
