Page 114 of Reaper's Ruin
“You should be safe here for now,” he said.
“Good,” I said, taking a drink from the rustic wooden bowl. The water was cold and sweet, soothing my parched throat. “Though I’m not sure ‘safe’ is a concept that applies to me anymore.”
Silence stretched between us, heavy with all the things we weren’t saying. Finally, I couldn’t bear it anymore.
“I should have gotten my door,” I said, the words bursting out of me. “I know who killed me. I know why. I confronted him. I watched him die. So why am I still here?”
Rhyker’s expression remained unreadable. “I don’t have an answer for you.”
“Could it be because the Princess Ravenna is still alive?” I asked. “Do I need to get vengeance on her too before I can find peace? Because it was her order that killed my mother and me? And in fact, if I’m the daughter of King Aric, then she killed my sister. Elira... she was my half-sister.”
The realization hit me with the same force as that bolt of lightning. I pressed my hand to my chest, breath catching as tears welled in my eyes. “Oh my God. Elira was my sister. My actual sister.”
All those years growing up alone, wishing for a sibling, someone who understood what it was like to wonder about an absent father. And I’d had one. I’d had many.
“I helped her find her door,” I whispered, voice breaking. “All that time I spent talking to her and I never even knew she was my sister. We could have been friends. Could have grown up together. Could have—” A sob escaped me. “And Ravenna killed her. Killed all of them.”
The tears came freely now as the full weight of it crashed over me. “How many others? How many brothers and sisters did I have that I’ll never meet because that woman slaughtered them like cattle? We were a family scattered across realms, and she hunted us down one by one.”
Anger flared inside my chest, hot and intense, burning through the grief. Then a small comfort crept in. “At least five are still alive. With her brothers dead, I hope they are safe now. Safe from our aunt. Someone who should have protected her family not murdered them.”
My hands clenched into fists. “Is that what this is about? I can’t find peace because now I want Ravenna as dead as I wanted Lord Cassius? Because it’s not just about me anymore—it’s about all of us. Every single one of King Aric’s children she murdered for her sick power game?”
He hesitated. “It’s... possible. Some souls require complete justice before they can move on.”
“Great. Alaric will be King tonight when he’s crowned, so that means I don’t just need to kill a princess. I need to kill a Queen Mother? A Queen Mother who knows what we look like. A Queen Mother surrounded by her son’s army. It’s impossible.” I laughed, but it came out sounding hollow and strange. “God, when did I become this person? This... thisPunisher-style death craver? Like I can’t find peace until everyone who ever wronged me is dead? I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve it. She does. But really? Do I really need to see her dead?”
“Well, is that the kind of person you are?” he asked quietly.
I stared at him, caught off guard by the question. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. The old me—alive me—she wasn’t like that. She wouldn’t have wanted to go full John Wick on the entire world that wronged her. But maybe I am. Maybe deep down I’m an eye-for-an-eye kind of girl and I’m in full rage mode like if someone had killed my puppy. But it was my mom they killed, and me. My siblings. Maybe death changes you. Hardens you.”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps there’s another reason your door hasn’t appeared.”
My gaze moved to Rhyker as his words hit like a sledgehammer.
Maybe it wasn’t vengeance holding my soul to this plane. Maybe the thing tethering me to this world was...him. Maybe some part of me didn’t want my door to come. Not yet. Not when I finally found something—someone—I didn’t want to leavebehind.
When had everything become so complicated? When had Death himself become someone I couldn’t bear to lose?
I waited for him to continue, but he just stared into the distance, his jaw clenched tight. Frustration bubbled up inside me.
“Ugh!” I snapped. “Why is this so fucking impossible to figure out? I just want someone to give me the answers.”
“I don’t have answers to give you. I’m sorry.”
I scowled, irritation coursing through me in waves. “Fine. If you can’t tell me why I’m still here, then tell me something else.”
His eyes returned to mine. “What do you want to know?”
“I don’t know. Everything! Anything!” I threw my hands up. “Tell me about the fae courts. Tell me about my fae powers. Tell me why I could take a lightning bolt to the chest and I’m still standing here talking to you.”
Tell me why you kissed me like you’d die without me, then fucked me senseless on that desk, and now you’re acting like it never happened!
I couldn’t bring myself to say the last part, though it almost slipped out.
“I can answer some of those questions,” he said finally, his voice measured. “The fae courts each have unique powers tied to their elements. The Storm Court controls lightning and weather magic. The Flame Court masters fire in all its forms. The Tide Court commands water. The Sylvan Court bends nature to its will. The Frost Court harnesses ice and snow.”
“And my immunity to lightning? That’s because I’m Storm Court?”
