Page 25 of Mystique of the Fallen
Stupidly, he wondered if he’d die as Reginald choked the breath from his lungs.
Grant didn’t want his life to end. But Reginald had never cared about his wants or desires. With all the strength he had, he fought, but it did nothing to change his horrible predicament. Reginald would not budge, and he didn’t loosen his grip.
There was no yelling. Nothing filled the air but Reginald’s heaving.
Closing his eyes, Grant escaped into the darkness. He was losing consciousness, but he’d wake soon. Grant would take his ass straight to a hospital. File charges against Reginald. Get away from him forever.
Adrenaline surged through Grant as he tried again to free himself. But there would be no escape.
Terror and desperation replaced his mad fight for life.
The world faded to black. Then it was all over.
Chapter 10
Death’s face was grim as a spirit floated slowly into her ebirlloba—the realm of the dead. The soul screamed with pain. Even separated from his human body, Grant was filled with shock and a sense of hopelessness that tugged at Death’s heart. In a few short months, Chander would cast the spell to add new fallen knights to the Council.
In his current state, Grant was nowhere near ready. Death worried that without aid, he’d never match up with the parameters of the Arch Lich’s spell. While Grant had unfinished business with his mate, his courage and hope had withered away. Thankfully, Death had recently gained resources.
With no more than a thought, Death brought Grant’s soul to her. Instead of allowing him to flow into an ethereal form to travel around theebirlloba, she encapsulated him in a bubble that stopped the shrieking of disbelief and horror. Death shrank the tiny sphere and put it in a pocket in her dress. With a pat to what was left of Grant, Death teleported to her castle.
In the Great Hall, she found Eternity.
“I can tell from your face something momentous has happened,” Eternity stated without preamble.
“Reginald murdered Grant.”
Eternity sighed. “I know you believed that was inevitable, but I hoped for better.”
“That bastard is already formulating a plan to ensure no one ever finds Grant’s body,” Death said. “The only other person who would miss Grant is his Aunt Florrie, yet I doubt she’ll invest the time to find the answers she needs.”
“A sad ending for a troubled man. But honestly, I’m far more concerned with his future than his past. Roman deserves his other half.”
Death plucked Grant’s soul from her pocket and allowed it to float in the air in front of the smoky black fire in the hearth. “Touch it.”
A heavy sigh fell from Eternity’s lips as she cupped the ball in her hand. “He gave up so long ago. Grant didn’t have love or security. Reginald is a predator and understood how easily he could manipulate Grant. Fallen knights are plucked from stalwart souls that have had the chance to process the complications of their previous lives.”
“If we don’t want Roman to have to wait years for Grant to heal, we must act decisively. We need to find Courage. His is missing. She can aid him in finding it again. I sense, given the right environment, he has it in droves.”
A redhead with furious blue eyes charged into the room.
“That asshat killed Grant,” Fate shouted.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know?” Death asked incredulously. “Do keep up, dear sister, I already have him.”
“Of course I knew you had him. I’m angry, and I want justice for him.”
Death snorted. “Good luck. Justice is too fond of my fallen knights to bother humans. They have worked too hard to put distance between themselves and the Council.”
“Some areas of humanity really need to be fixed,” Fate complained. Then she waved a careless hand through the air. “But that is Folly’s problem. Humans were her idea. Why she deprived them of so many gifts is a mystery I’ll never understand. I can’t offer them mates; magic kills them. Who does that to a race?”
“A goddess hellbent on destruction and evil,” Eternity growled. Folly was notorious for her many crimes against the rules their mother had crafted, but the stealthy goddess had been eluding capture and punishment for years.
“We’ll worry about Folly another day,” Death said. “The moment she is located, she’ll be forced to theTier’llomen. I imagine it will take many human days to list her offenses. It will be good to have her floating among the undead once her life is forfeited. For now, we must focus on Grant.”
“Have a touch,” Eternity told Fate as she handed Grant’s soul over. Thanks to Death’s spell, Grant wasn’t just trapped in a pretty black sphere. His feelings were also arrested, so he would no longer suffer from the complicated mix of emotions that had filled him as he entered theebirlloba.
“Oh dear,” Fate murmured. She closed her eyes. “Deep down in his heart, I can feel the mate Roman needs. But that man is trapped under years of placing his trust in the wrong person and the complicated circumstances of his entire sad life. Where do we start to mend him before Chander readies his spell to add fallen knights?”
