Page 167 of Veil of Death and Shadow

I nodded, finding words difficult with his stare and hands and all the rest of him surrounding me in all the intensity I’d been protected from the last few days.

“I mean it, Agony.” His eyes hardened, his grasp on me gentle, though every muscle in his body seemed coiled tight. “Not a word to anyone. It will be the end of you. Promise me.”

“I . . . ” I licked my lips, my stomach dipping as his gaze fell to my mouth. “I promise.”

A low, pained groan pierced the tension.

We both turned to Thorne, who was just starting to rouse.

“Not even Thorne,” Kieran said, as if answering the question before it could even fully form in my thoughts. “Not until I decide if we can trust him. He won’t be himself. And I’m going to have to figure out what all of this means. How best to protect you.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’ll be familiar with himself,” Kieran whispered, his lips pressed close to my ear, “his tastes, his skills, the way of living in our world, but he won’t retain any memories of the people, relationships, or various things that have happened in his life. Either in the mortal realm or the Between. It might be a bit disorienting for a bit. But his memories will come back; faster than they do for most new reapers. Don’t let on that you’ve met his former self.”

Thorne’s eyes sprang open, their dark depths holding me in their stare for an uncomfortably long time. I felt almost like a rabbit meeting a lion, the way he slowly uncoiled his body and stood—not once blinking or breaking his stare.

“So,” he said, arching his brow. I took a deep breath when he finally severed the intense eye contact long enough to stretch and scan our surroundings. “I take it I’ve refreshed, then? Bloody hell, that’s disorienting.” There was something lighter in his tone than I was used to, playful almost, and when his eyes found me again, the corner of his lips curved into a soft hook. “Please tell me that you’re part of my pack, beautiful?”

I opened my mouth to respond but had apparently been struck momentarily incapable of words.

“No?” Was all that I managed, the word more a squeak than anything used to convey meaning.

The rakish grin on his face deepened. “Do you want to be?”

“Leave her be, Thorne,” Kieran growled, “she’s newly awakened.”

“Well then in that case, there’s still a chance.” Thorne scanned me from head to toe, as if reassessing this new information, his expression almost a challenge. Then his focus darted to Kieran, his body tensing. “And who are you?”

“Unfortunately,” he muttered, more to himself than the other reaper, “I am part of your pack.”

“No offense, mate,” Thorne’s expression curled in distaste, “but I would definitely prefer her.”

I turned to Keiran. “Pack?”

He took a deep breath and sighed. “I’ll explain the ways of our world later. First, we need to get you back there and I need to get shit settled with Rafi.”

“Rafi?” I asked again, ignoring the dip of fear in my stomach at the prospect of leaving this world.

“Never mind him either,” Kieran said. “Just don’t forget what we discussed, okay?”

I nodded, side-eyeing Thorne who’d moved significantly closer to me.

“Just saying,” he said, tossing another feral-looking smirk at me, “she smells like she could be mine.”

“Thorne,” Kieran groaned. “Enough. Let’s go.” Then, with his ringed hand, he made a gesture in the air, revealing a door that hadn’t been there before. When it opened, it was as if he’d created a tear between worlds all on his own.

There was the oddly quiet street we stood in, the sun sparkling down on the splatters of blood that belonged to . . .well, me, but beyond the doorway, there was also an untarnished view into the world I’d occasionally caught glimpses of since The Undoing.

Only it was more solid and real than it had ever been before, no longer the dark, willowy phantom-image of a ghostly world projected onto my own.

Thorne stepped through first, then Kieran gave my hand a squeeze of encouragement, before following suit.

For a moment, I almost considered staying here, though I didn’t know how long I could actually linger. Stepping forward meant shifting into a new world, leaving everything I knew behind.

But then Kieran turned around and offered me a soft smile, his eyes encouraging. Well, maybe not everything.

I stepped through, and the door slammed behind me.

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