Page 8 of Right Hand Of The Reaper
“Fine. But I don’t like it one bit.”
“Did you need me for something?” I wanted to go home and throw on my pjs. Seeing Magnus again had opened an old wound and if I didn’t go and drink myself into oblivion it was going to fester. I also wanted to figure out what happened to Thane. He might be a grumpy asshole, but he was still my friend. Well, sort of. I might have pushed my friendship onto him, and he just tolerated it. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something really bad had happened to him.
“Yeah, the Royal Guard have just turned up and the Hounds won’t release the souls to their custody.”
“Shit.” I dropped the envelope onto my desk. I’d look at it later. “I’ll deal with it. Can you keep an eye on Mr. Drake? I want to know exactly what he gets up to.”
“Sure thing, Boss,” she replied with a grin. My stomach dropped. Without Thane here I was the boss. Fuck. That meant—
Bright white light burst behind my eyelids and a scream ripped itself from my throat.
I could hear Lila panicking in the background, but I could only focus on the white hot pain that I felt all the way down to my bones. It felt like a thousand knives were carving my bones and fire was burning my very soul. My eyes squeezed shut against the pain and my legs fell from under me. Instead of feeling the hard surface of the floor, something warm and soft captured me but before I could see what it was, unconsciousness chose that moment to claim me.
Chapter Three
Roux
Roux
Theworldcamebackto me with a grogginess that made my head feel fuzzy and my mouth feel like it was full of cotton wool. I opened my eyes and winced. It was so bright.
“Roux?” The voice was a soft caress that I could listen to all day. “Roux, I need you to open your eyes for me.”
I didn’t want to. I tried to turn away, to bury myself back into unconsciousness but my nose brushed something warm and solid. I took a deep breath. Which was a terrible idea. Waves of sandalwood and leather and thrilling adventures filled my nose, and I took another deep breath. I wanted to bury myself in that scent, it was delicious.
“Roux.” The voice was firmer now. A hand captured the side of my face and tilted it upwards. “Open your eyes. Now.”
My body was seemingly unable to resist the command. I opened my eyes and stared into swirling colours of blue and purple.
“Atticus?”
What the hell was he doing here? And why was I cradled in his lap?
Oh, yeah.
I looked at my hand and yep, I was clutching the Grim Reaper’s scythe. The thing was huge. Way taller than me and covered in ancient runes and symbols that contained its power. It was only ever passed on with either the death or retirement of the current Grim Reaper so why was I inheriting it earlier? Thane wasn’t dead, was he? No. I’d have felt that. This felt different. My usual scythe was so intrinsically woven into my being that it was a part of me. This just felt… temporary. Like I was holding it for safekeeping. Which meant Thane definitely wasn’t dead. Although, when I found him, I might just kill him for all the shit he was putting me through. I scowled at the scythe and sent it into the shadows where my Reaper form hid. I was so not ready to deal with that.
“Do you think you can stand?”
I looked back at Atticus, and I was hit again with how good looking the guy was. His eyes were mesmerizing. I could stare at them for days and never see all the beautiful details in them. I roved the contours of his face until my eyes hit his mouth. His lips were made for kissing and for creating carnal screams and lingering soft caresses. They were sinful and my hand came up to touch him. Oh, Gods. I was touching this man’s face without permission. My thumb was at the corner of his mouth and my palm rested along his cheek. His jaw clenched beneath my touch.
What the fuck?
He sucked in a sharp breath and his eyes narrowed with an intensity I felt all the way down to my toes.
“Roux,” a disgruntled growl snapped from the doorway. “You’ve got to tell these Royal Guard pricks that they can’t take these souls.”
The world shot back into focus. What the hell was I doing?
I scrambled off Atticus’s lap and immediately put some distance between us. He grumbled something unintelligible and fled from my office.
I turned to Lila and found her gaping at me.
“Roux, what the hell was that?” Lila asked.
“I’ve got no idea. He just looked… really good.”
She rolled her eyes. “I get that, because hey, I’m not blind, even if he is here to shut us down. But how’ve you got Grim’s scythe? Does that mean he’s dead?”
