Page 43 of Destined to the Reaper

My cheeks heated at the memory of the jealous anger that had indeed surged within me for the briefest moment at the thought of letting him go. Sure, the immense power had been alluring. But it had been the wondrous feeling of his soul inside me, of being in perfect harmony that had been intoxicating.That, not his power, had been the real source of temptation.

“What person wouldn’t be tempted by such a gift?” I retorted defensively. “But it’s not because a thought popped into my head that I would be okay with acting on it. And clearly, I wasn’t.”

“You were not. However, most people would not only have considered it, but also acted on it. Why do you think his mother left him trapped for so long? All the people who would have wanted to go after Cornelius either didn’t have the right skill to see the mission through or the moral fortitude not to become the new prison for my brother so that they could appropriate his powers. She searched long and hard for you.”

“What? His mother searched for…? By the Gods, who is his mother?” I whispered, shocked by what I guessed his answer would be.

“The Weaver, of course,” he replied, amused.

Stunned, I let myself drop at the edge of the bed, my mind racing as I replayed my meeting with her in my head.

“She didn’t search for me,” I argued feebly. “I went to her looking for help.”

Haroth snorted. “You went to her because she made sure you would. In all these years, you never once thought of approaching the Weaver, until recently, am I right? Didn’t you find it strange how everywhere you went, random people would suddenly mention the topic of the Weaver within earshot of you? Did that not plant the seed that set you on the path to seek her?”

My jaw dropped. He was correct. Over the past three months, I’d started hearing a lot about the Weaver, and how she could help solve the most improbable challenges. It even haunted my dreams with growing urgency over the past few weeks, only relenting once I set my journey here in motion.

“But why? Why me? Surely, I couldn’t be the only person with the ability and morality to see this through?” I asked, floored.

“Because she recognized you as his soulmate. She knew you could be trusted with his soul, and that in turn, you would be able to trust him with yours, even in such a short time.”

I instantly felt myself closing off again, which irritated him.

“Look, I believe you have the best of intentions, but I have no desire to give my soul away to anyone, especially after what happened to Jasper. That’s the only reason I got involved in this entire mess to begin with. I never want to put myself in a position where I could be this helpless. I genuinely care about Pharos. From what little I’ve learned of him, I could see a long-term future with him, if he wishes for one with me. But I need time to get to know him.”

“My dear Kali, you already know my brother better than anyone else on any plane of existence, even more than Cornelius who hosted him for the past five hundred years.”

I blinked, completely taken aback by that comment.

Haroth gave me an indulgent smile. “You shared with him a more intimate bond than most beings ever will. The whole time he was Cornelius’s prisoner, my brother shielded himself as much as possible from his corruption. But today, you held his soul within you. As he freely gave himself to you, you felt and shared everything that he is. Did any of it make you cringe? Did any part of him set your senses on high alert and scream danger or deception to you?”

I froze. No, holding Pharos inside me had been like being filled by the divine lights of the Gods themselves. It had been blissful, glorious, the closest thing to feeling whole I had ever felt in my life. I didn’t speak, but the expression on his face told me that my own revealed the thoughts crossing my mind.

“You are a fledgling Soul Mage. Granted, your powers are on the weaker side, but they are strong enough for you to see when a soul is slimy or shady. Has a soul ever made you feel happier or more fulfilled than his?”

I shook my head and hugged my waist, more troubled by his words than I would ever admit.

“Exactly, and that’s because you are soulmates. Pharos felt the same when he was with you. That’s why he loves you, and why he deliberately broke the covenant to try and protect you.”

“Why do you care so much?” I suddenly asked, baffled by it all. “Yes, I’ll admit that I absolutely loved the feel of his soul for the brief moment I held him. It does move me deeply that he trusted me enough to do this. I’m not sure that I will ever wantto part with mine. But we have the rest of our lives to decide on that. Pharos is free. Once we’ve taken care of Cornelius—”

“Pharos isnotfree yet,” Haroth countered forcefully.

“What?!” I exclaimed, my stomach knotting with an automatic sense of doom.

To my surprise, Haroth thrust his scythe towards me, not in a menacing fashion, but angled in a way to show me the base of the blade, right below where it attached to the staff.

“Notice anything different than my brother’s scythe?” he asked.

I frowned and licked my lips nervously before answering as I searched my memory. “Yours is solid whereas his was ethereal. He also had two blades connected by a bone chain. But I’m assuming it’s the difference between a Grim Reaper and an Angel of Death?”

He shook his head. “A ghost scythe is the weaker, temporary version. If you see a Reaper using one, it’s because he no longer has his real weapon. My brother’s scythe is currently in the necromancer’s possession.”

“No!” I breathed out, horrified.

“Yes. And without it, Pharos is incomplete,” Haroth said in a somber tone before pointing at what I first assumed to be bone-shaped decorations at the base of the blade. “This is my spinal vertebrae. To be more specific, every Reaper grows a couple of extra cervical vertebrae that naturally come off once we reach maturity. We use them to forge our scythe. It is how Cornelius was able to trap Pharos.”

“By stealing his scythe?!” I exclaimed.

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