Page 18 of Reaper's Ruin
Even as I knew I would almost certainly come to regret it soon enough.
CHAPTER FOUR
Soraya
“You’ll really help me?” I asked again, still not quite believing this terrifying being—this Reaper named Rhyker, which I still struggled to believe was a reality—had actually agreed to give me time.
He nodded once, a stiff, reluctant movement. “I’ll give you time to find your peace.”
Relief washed over me so intensely I could almost feel it coursing through my body. I wasn’t going to be erased from existence. At least not yet. I still had a chance to find my mom wherever she may be.
“Thank you,” I whispered, wiping away the last of my tears with shaking hands. “I just... thank you.”
Rhyker looked uncomfortable with my gratitude, his storm-gray eyes shifting away from mine. I took the opportunity to really look at him, now that I wasn’t completely paralyzed by terror.
He was... well, intimidating didn’t begin to cover it. Tall—at least six foot four—with broad shoulders and a lean, powerful build evident even beneath his black leather armor and ominous cloak. His face was all sharp angles and perfect symmetry, like something carved by a master artist who’d decided to create the most beautiful yet dangerous sculpture imaginable.
Objectively terrifying. And yet somehow, also the most breathtakingly gorgeous man I’d ever seen. Which was just... wrong on so many levels.
He was a Reaper. Like a Grim Reaper, and one sent to erase me from existence. Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about how Hollywood would be falling over themselves to cast this man in any role called “Hot and Freaking Scary.”
“So, what now?” I asked, finally breaking the silence.
He glanced around the marketplace. “We need to figure out how you got here. Why a human soul is in Faelora at all.”
“Yeah. How the hell did I get here?”
I followed his gaze, taking in the bustling market around us. Now that I wasn’t running for my... afterlife, I could actually appreciate the strangeness of this place. The roughly built market stalls, the simple look of everything. Instead of cars, it was horses carrying people along, and there was no hint of modern technology or electricity I could see. People—fae, I reminded myself—moved through the crowd wearing clothing that looked like it belonged in some fantasy movie, all flowing fabrics and intricate embroidery.
And the food... Even though I couldn’t smell anything, my mouth watered just looking at the sweet pastries stacked up in one small stall manned by a small older woman. I reached out instinctively at what looked like cinnamon rolls, my fingers passing straight through the display.
“Oh man. These look freaking amazing. I have like a serious sweet tooth. One time, at Lily’s twelfth birthday party we went to the mall. I ate like six huge Cinnabon rolls. I got so sick I puked in a plant right in the middle of the mall. It was right in front of the boy I had the biggest crush on, and everyone called me Spew for like, the entire school year. So embarrassing. They had to call my mom to come get me and I spent most of the night swearing off Cinnabon for eternity. Which, of course, didn’t last.”
I smiled at the memory, then sadness flooded me again she was gone. But to a better place I hoped, and one where I would find her soon.
“I can’t touch anything,” I said, a fresh wave of sadness washing over me as I swiped my hand through the shiny-glazed roll I considered bending down to try biting. But one look at the perplexed Reaper staring at me behind the shadowy fog made me stop myself from what would definitely be an embarrassment.
I stood up, eyeing the delicious sweets I couldn’t try. “This sucks. I can’t interact with any of this. I’m just... nothing.”
“You’re not nothing,” Rhyker said quietly. “You’re a soul without a physical form. That’s different.”
“Does it matter? I’m still... dead.” The word caught in my throat. “I still can’t do anything. I can’t talk to anyone except you.”
“There are rules to death,” he said, his deep voice matter-of-fact. “Souls can’t interact with the living. They simply linger, unseen and isolated, until they find peace. Then a door appears to take them to what comes next.” I paused. “Or a Reaper comes if they don’t move on.”
“But I died in my house. In the... what did you call it? Mortal Realm? So why am I here in Faelora? If I’m going to figure out what happened to me, that seems like the most logical first step to solve that riddle, right?”
He nodded his head. “That’s a good start, because not only should you not have been able to cross realms, but humans haven’t existed in Faelora for centuries. And souls don’t just jump between realms, so this is truly unusual.”
“Wait, so if humans don’t exist here, then are you like, Fae, or are Reapers something different?”
Darkness flooded his eyes as they narrowed. “I’m not fae.”
“Oh. Sorry,” I said quickly, taken aback over his anger at my question.
But then the darkness softened, and he looked away as he said, “I was human. Once.”
There was so much pain in those four words that I didn’t dare press further.
