Page 21 of Stolen By the Reaper

But I could only watch as the demon stood and retreated toward his throne.

Clauneck tsked. “Now, now. Let’s not make this messier than it needs to be.”

With a wave of his hand, a gilded birdcage materialized. It was beautiful and grotesque—delicate filigree work adorned with tiny, screaming faces. I’d seen these cages used to house Clauneck’s sacrifices.

Used to hold my sister.

“No,” I growled, but it was futile.

Clauneck’s power wrapped around me like chains, dragging me toward the cage. I fought with everything I had, but it wasn’t enough. Never enough.

The door clanged shut behind me. Clauneck’s face appeared between the bars, his smile cruel and victorious.

“Keep the space warm for Josephine, won’t you?”

CHAPTER NINE

JOSEPHINE

Ifell, arms windmilling, reaching, reaching, reaching for that closing blip of light in the void. Darkness wrapped around me like a blanket, suffocating and absolute. I plummeted, a scream wrenched from my lungs, though no sound came out.

Then my stomach lurched, and my ass hit solid ground.

“Azrael!” His name tore from my throat, raw and broken.

But he wasn’t there. I didn’t even know if he still lived.

Whispers assaulted my senses, and the blackness took on an eerie silver glow.

“The threads of fate twist and tangle around you, child.” One voice slithered among the others.

I shoved to my feet and whirled. The far wall of the cavern crawled high above me, a massive tapestry of shimmering threads. I struggled to focus on any one; the patterns shifted and writhed like living things.

A woman bent over a loom, her fingers dancing over the web of string. Tall, willowy, with hair like spun moonlight floating around her head. Her eyes... Milky white orbs stared right through me when she whipped her attention over her shoulder.

“Veridian?” I swallowed hard, my throat dry as sandpaper. I took a cautious step forward. Azrael sent me here for a reason. “Please, I need your help. Clauneck—Clauneck has Azrael.”

Had him. Held him. Locked him away in some dank cell. Anything, so long as he stayed alive. I needed my reaper alive.

She tilted her head, those unsettling eyes never blinking. The thread dropped from her fingers. The whispers of the souls around us quieted to silence.

“Yes...” The seer’s voice was so soft, I strained to hear it. “It is time, indeed.”

“Time for what?” Frustration and fear coiled within me, my pulse quickening. “We need to get back there. We need to save him!”

A sad smile touched Veridian’s lips. “I cannot leave the Echoing Hollow, child. My power is bound to this place.”

“Can you send me back, then?” I crept closer. “Send me to where he’s being held?”

“Even if I could, what do you plan to do then?”

My hands fisted at my sides, nails biting into my palms. I had no weapon and no real means of defense. Azrael had sent me to find her, and I had. For what? What good had it done me? What good would it do him?

Despair clawed at my insides. This was it, then. My future spread out before me, miserable and full of pain. Azrael had given me a delay, only, from my planned end on Alain’s altar. I’d die alone and tortured, forgotten, as I’d always been.

Hot, unwelcome tears stung my eyes. I couldn’t fall apart. I had to stay strong, had to figure something out.

“Azrael told me to come to you,” I whispered. “I can’t go back and I can’t do anything for him. So, what do I do?”

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