Page 34 of Reaper's Ruin
“Find your peace. Find your mother,” she replied simply. “That’s thanks enough.”
A promise I desperately hoped I could keep.
I moved forward, pulling her into a hug. She returned in, then we broke apart and I smiled at her.
Rhyker moved closer to me, then with a nod to Selyse, he said. “We do appreciate your help. But we should be getting to the Dark Market soon. Soraya, come closer and I’ll take us through the Shadowveil again.” But suddenly, his face tightened, pinching as his dark brows together. “What the fuck?”
I tipped my head, unsure what had just happened, but Selyse answered my question when she said, “Are you trying to use your Reaper powers to get back to the Shadowveil to travel?”
He nodded, pulling up his sleeve to look at his forearm where his scythe tattoo had been. The skin was smooth, unmarked. In that moment, I saw recognition dawn in his eyes, followed by something close to horror.
“I’m mortal now,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically vulnerable. “I can’t access my wings or my powers.”
He looked down at his hands, turning them over as if seeing them for the first time. These weren’t the hands of a Reaper anymore—just the hands of a man.
Selyse slowly shook her head. “No. You are mortal with all the constraints that come with your human body.”
Rhyker looked stunned. Though he appeared to just be standing there, I could see tiny movements—the flex of his shoulders, the tension in his back—as he tried repeatedly to summon wings that wouldn’t come.
“Are you okay?” I asked softly, unsure how upset he was by his new mortal constraints.
“Fine,” he answered sharply, but his clenched jaw and the muscles ticking in his cheek told a different story.
I wanted to reach out, to touch his arm, to offer some comfort—but the thunderous expression on his face kept me at a distance.
After a moment, he seemed to gather himself, straightening to his full, imposing height. “We’ll manage,” he said, his voice once again controlled and hard. But I’d seen that brief flash of vulnerability, that moment of loss.
Selyse watched him with knowing eyes. “The physical form has its own advantages,” she said diplomatically. “And its own challenges.”
He looked between us, those intense eyes finally locking with hers. “How do we get to the Dark Market? It’s halfway across Faelora.”
“Don’t worry. We can use the same portal tree I pulled you through from the Shadowveil. I’ll open you a portal to get to a tree near the Dark Market, and after that, you’ll rely on regular transportation like your own two feet or some horses if you can find them.”
Rhyker just grunted beneath his breath, and Selyse and I shared a glance.
“Come on. Let’s get you two going. Your forms are supposed to be permanent until I switch you back, but like I said, it’s my firsttime doing the spell and I’m not as strong as my mother. There is always the possibility it could wear off. The sooner you help Soraya find her door, the better.”
She then led us back outside to the ancient oak behind her cottage. Placing her hands against the bark, she began to murmur in that strange language again. The symbols that had appeared during our transition reappeared, glowing more brightly this time.
“This will take you to another Gateway Tree a couple miles outside the Dark Market,” she explained. “It’s as close as I can send you. From there, you’ll need to walk.”
“Thank you, Selyse,” Rhyker said, his deep voice surprisingly gentle. “For everything.”
She nodded, a slight smile curving her lips. “Good luck. And be careful. Faelora can be a dangerous place. Look out for each other.”
With that ominous warning, she stepped back, the symbols on the tree pulsing brighter. A vertical line of golden light appeared down the center of the trunk, widening until it formed an opening large enough to step through. Beyond it, I could see another forest, darker and less inviting than the one we stood in.
“Hold hands so you don’t get separated,” Selyse said.
Rhyker and I exchanged a look, and I glanced down at his large hand. Slowly, it opened, and I looked into those soft, shimmering grey eyes as I slipped mine inside of it, his fingers warm and solid around mine.
“Stay close to me,” he said, a command not a request. “No matter what.”
I nodded, suddenly nervous about what awaited us. But as I looked up into his shimmering silver eyes, I felt a strange certainty that as long as he was with me, I would be safe.
Together, we stepped through the glowing portal and into the unknown.
CHAPTER SEVEN
