Page 111 of The Prince of Demons

My earlier words rang in my head.“You are a worthless immortal,”I had snapped at him, and he had dumped me into my bed like I’d offended him.

Guilt quickened my breaths. Cruelty wasn't my habit, not even to demons. But at the moment, I meant it. He had hurt me, and I felt conflicted about that.

“Reaper never speaks of this place,” I said.

Gaksi waited before answering. “He keeps those things he finds precious close to his heart,” he said. “He rarely speaks of you to others, either.”

There went Gaksi, implying that men were obsessed with me. So I was important to Reaper, really? What an insane comment. I shamefully craved his affection, yet he despised what I could represent. The gumiho, who only brought him more trouble and torment.

“It is best if he never speaks of me. Rather, it would be best if we never spoke again,” I confirmed. “You know as well as I do that I cannot be with him.”

“Would not is different than cannot,” Gaksi said. “And, my dear Luna, I do not believe there is anything that you cannot do.”

“Could I escape the Beyond if Reaper just killed me to bring me here?” I demanded.

Gaksi’s saucer-sized eyes crinkled with amusement. “I knew you’d figure it out. You’ve always been a smart girl.”

“You didn’t think the village of dead people would give it away?” Souls turned their heads toward me. They could stare all they’d like. They’d get an eternity to deal with me if I were dead.

He laughed, the sound echoing off the brisk wind. “Living creatures pass through the Beyond all the time, just as the dead return to the land of the living to haunt them. I wanted you to see this place before making a decision.”

”Before making what decision?” I asked. “To kill myself and join them?”

“To accept your destiny,” he said, clouds swirling around me.

When they disappeared, I was back in my dorm room, heart pounding hard enough to know I was fully alive.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

THE ORACLE MUSINGS

Time for a history lesson!

Once upon a time, a young goddess was lonely and desperate for companionship. She tested boundaries, day by day, until she found a young man she was ready to become one with.

However, there was a problem: he was to die, and she could not.So, she snuck around. Made some deals she was not qualified to make. Found a magic-infused herb that could bring her to mortality.

And as soon as she took it, her humanity kicked in, and after thousands of years of living, the goddess Circe died.

All good things must come to an end.

Weeks passedwith nothing significant happening, save a few demon sightings. I tried to send some away, but others usually beat me to it. I didn’t have any motivation to work harder, given that my Bulgae move had secured me so high above the competition it was hardly a fair fight.

It made me wonder whether Reaper or Gaksi had sent the Bulgae deliberately to help me climb the leaderboard. But they knew it was risky—I almost died the first time. So, who sent him?

We lost three more of our freshmen that night. One died the night of, charred to a crisp by a phoenix. The second followed a kelpie into the ocean and drowned. The third died in the infirmary last night after failing to recover from a cyclops beating.

So…why was I still here? Did I even deserve to be here?

“Yes.”My necklace warmed over my heart.

“You almost let me become a statistic last night. A zombie nearly ate my brains!”

“How was I supposed to know a recently deceased student could turn that fast?”

That entire area of campus got torched, leaving an ugly black shadow of death in the middle of the Diamond.

“You didn’t need me. You held your own without me.”

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