Page 20 of Reaper's Ruin
He frowned, clearly conflicted. “No, at least I don’t think so. Only I have the frequency of your soul to track you, but the longer you’re here, the greater chance the Veil Lords could realize I haven’t succeeded in reaping you and send someone else. Though this has never happened before, not reaping a soul, so I don’t even know if they can reassign you while you’re imbued in my scythe. But regardless, there is one option. I think.”
I struggled to process his words.Veil Lordsbeing the ones that bounced around in my head the most. But instead of hounding himwith questions, I tried to stay focused on the plan. “What other option?”
“I could pull you into the Shadowveil with me. I think from in here, you could travel through the shadows with me.”
“You think?”
His lips pulled down. “Like I said, this has never happened before. I can’t know for certain. But we could try.”
The way he said it made it clear this wasn’t something he suggested lightly.
“The Shadowveil?” I repeated nervously. “That dark place where Reapers live?”
He nodded.
“Is it... dangerous?”
“For you? With me?” He shook his head. “No other reaper is tuned to your frequency. They wouldn’t even know you’re there, and if we move out quickly, I doubt the Veil Lords will sense you.”
“Veil Lords? You’ve mentioned them twice now. Are they... dangerous?”
“They are the Gods of the Shadowveil. And yes, they are dangerous. I don’t think they would take kindly to my actions right now, but I believe you deserve your chance to move on. And this is our best bet at getting you answers before they discover I’ve allowed a soul to survive.”
I bit my lip, considering my options. Which weren’t many. Stay here, unable to interact with anyone but Rhyker, walking for weeks to find this sorceress and hoping more Reapers didn’t come? Or trust this terrifying, beautiful Reaper to take me into his shadow realm and hope these Veil Lords didn’t notice me?
“Okay,” I said before I could overthink it. “Let’s do it.”
Something like surprise crossed his face, as if he hadn’t expected me to agree so readily.
“You’resure?”
“No,” I admitted with a shaky laugh. “I’m not sure of anything anymore. But what choice do I have?”
He stepped closer, and I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact. This close, I could see faint flecks of silver in his gray eyes, like stars in a stormy sky, but the veil between us still muted his features.
“I’ll need to hold onto you,” he said, his voice dropping lower. “To pull you through to my side.”
“Oh.” The word came out breathier than I intended. “Okay.”
“You need to go into the shadows so I can reach through.”
I bit my lip then nodded, looking around until I saw a dark shadow in the alley between two houses. He followed along beside me from his side of the veil, and then when I got into the shadow, I turned to him.
“Okay. Now what?”
He hesitated, then reached out slowly, as if giving me time to pull away. But instead of his hand passing through the veil immediately, he paused, his fingers hovering at the barrier between us. A frown crossed his features.
“Close your eyes,” he murmured, his voice carrying an edge of something I couldn’t quite identify.
“Why?”
“Just... trust me. Close them.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, fear enveloping every inch of me. In the darkness behind my eyelids, I heard something—a sound like fabric tearing, or perhaps wind through a canyon. The air around me shifted, suddenly colder.
Then his hand closed around my wrist.
My breath caught. I could feel him. Actually feel the sensation of his fingers against my skin, the strength in his grip. After so many hours of passing through everything I tried to touch, the contact was almost overwhelming.
