Page 109 of Reaper's Ruin
Then...
Silence.
No trace of his ghost. No afterlife. No redemption.
Just... gone.
I should have been horrified. Terrified. Shocked. But instead, all I felt was... justice.
Rhyker turned to me, his face splattered with crimson, his eyes burning with an intensity that stole my breath. He looked like what he truly was in that moment—not just a man, but something ancient and terrible. Beautiful and avenging.
“Are you all right?” he asked, concern breaking through the rage still evident in his face.
I nodded, though I wasn’t sure if I was. Too many emotions churned inside me—grief, shock, vindication, a strange sense of closure. The man who’d murdered me just received the justice he deserved. I had my answers now. I knew why I had died. I was simply collateral damage in a power struggle I never knew existed. My mother had been nothing but an inconvenience to be eliminated.
A strange thought occurred to me—now that I knew the truth, now that I understood why I’d died, had been avenged, would my door appear? Was this the peace I needed to find?
I glanced around the room, half-expecting to see a glowing doorway materialize before me. My feelings were a jumble of contradictions—part of me desperate to see my mother again, part of me panicked at the thought of leaving Rhyker behind.
Because somewhere along this bizarre journey, I’d fallen for him. The beautiful, tormented soul who had been meant to end my existence but had instead become my protector, my lover, my everything.
I looked at him and saw the same conflict in his eyes—resignation battling with desperation, as if he too was waiting for a door to appear and tear me away from him.
But no door materialized. The room remained unchanged except for Lord Cassius’s cooling body slumped in the chair, thebloody cavity in his chest a testament to the price of threatening what Rhyker held dear.
“Why—” I began, but before I could finish, the door to the chambers burst open.
“Hey, I need—” Lord Marwyn started then stopped, freezing in the doorway as his eyes widened while he took in the scene—his brother’s murdered body, Rhyker and me standing over him, the evidence of our interrogation clear.
For one breathless moment, we all stared at each other in shocked silence. Then Rhyker moved, blindingly fast, flinging his dagger with lethal precision. It embedded itself in Lord Marwyn’s chest, but as he fell, he crashed backward through the doorway into the hall.
Shouts erupted immediately. The sound of armored boots rushing toward us echoed through the corridor.
“Shit,” I whispered, looking at Rhyker in dismay. “We’re busted.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Rhyker
Shouts echoed through the hall, the pounding of armored boots growing louder. Lord Marwyn’s body lay sprawled in the doorway, my dagger still protruding from his chest. Blood pooled beneath him, spreading across the polished stone floor.
“Run,” I told Soraya, already moving toward the door. “Stay behind me.”
We burst into the corridor just as a squadron of guards rounded the corner, their faces registering shock at the sight of Lord Marwyn’s body. Recognition followed immediately, then rage.
“Seize them!” the captain shouted, drawing his sword. “They’ve murdered Lord Marwyn!”
I pushed Soraya behind me, scanning our surroundings for escape routes. The only way out was through the guards. I pulled the dagger from Lord Marwyn’s chest and charged. The first guard raised his sword, but I was already inside his reach, driving my blade into the gap beneath his helmet. He fell without a sound. I claimed his sword, the weight familiar in my hand, awakening muscle memory from a lifetime ago when I’d been a warrior defending a kingdom.
“Stay close,” I called to Soraya as I engaged the next two guards. Their movements seemed slow, predictable—martial training was no match for my skills.
Steel clashed against steel, the sound reverberating through the hallway. I fought with cold precision, each strike calculated, eachmovement efficient. One guard fell, then another. But more were coming.
“This way!” Soraya called, pointing to a side passage I hadn’t noticed. Smart girl.
We sprinted down the narrower corridor, the sounds of pursuit close behind. My hand gripped hers tightly, keeping her at my side as we fled.
We rounded a corner and found ourselves in a grand hall—high ceilings, marble columns, enormous windows overlooking the city below. Under different circumstances, it might have been beautiful. Now, it was just another battlefield.
