Page 41 of Reaper's Ruin
I leaned in. “I was Death long before I wore that title. And I don’t need a scythe to end you.”
Then, I dropped him like trash. He hit the ground gasping, writhing.
A kick to the ribs, then I placed my boot over his leg and stomped down with enough force to deliver on my promise.
There was a sickening crack.
He screamed.
Good.
He clutched his leg, sobbing and choking.
I crouched beside him, voice a whisper meant only for him.
“I told you that you wouldn’t walk away.” I leaned closer, my hand clamping around his jaw. “You’ll crawl.”
I turned back to Soraya. She was staring at me like she’d never seen me before—like something in me had shifted. Her eyes were wide, pupils dilated despite the dim light of the market.
“Are you all right?” My voice came out rough, dark, still trembling with the beast I’d barely leashed. The violence still coursed through my veins, centuries of battlefield instincts awakened in this mortal form.
I reached for her, but she stepped back just out of my grasp. Those eyes, those ones filled with so much wonder now showed another emotion.
Fear.
My heart clenched that it was me who’d put that look in her eyes.
“I won’t hurt you,” I said softly, reaching for her again.
She looked at my hand, then slowly lifted her gaze to meet mine.
Gods. The way I wanted to protect her...neededto protect her. I wasn’t sure if I would survive failing her if we couldn’t find her door and her beautiful soul was wiped from existence. I had failed every other human and it had destroyed me. Centuries spent in penance for my failure. But now, as I stared at her, that protective desire swelling inside me again, a small part of me cursed myself for not reaping her right away. Why had I paused? Why hadn’t I just ended her in a quick swipe of my scythe? Because now I wasn’t sure I would ever recover should I fail yet one more human.
Fail her.
“Soraya. I swear I won’t hurt you,” I repeated. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, slowly. Her lips parted, her breaths quick and shallow. Those small, delicate hands of hers trembled as she clutched the fabric of her dress, her knuckles as white as her face. Finally, she exhaled the breath she was holding and that fear in her eyes softened as she looked at me.
“That was...” Her voice came out hushed, breathless, like she wasn’t entirely sure what she was feeling. “Holy shit.”
I stepped closer, compelled by something deeper than duty to keep her safe beside me. She didn’t recoil, though I half expected it after what she’d just witnessed me do. Instead, she looked up at me, my heart clenching as I stared into those eyes meeting mine with a potent blend of fear and awe.
The air between us thickened, crackling with something neither of us dared name. Her pulse fluttered visibly at the hollow of her throat, and her gaze dropped to my mouth, just for a second, before snapping back up.
“I... I... um,” she started, then after letting out a lengthy sigh, the tension seemed to slip from her shoulders and she looked at me,eyes searching mine, holding my gaze before whispering, “Thank you.”
Just two words, but they landed like a strike to the chest. Not just gratitude.Trust.And something else behind it. The way she looked at me... like she didn’t know whether to run from me or reach for me... it lit something dark and primal inside me. Something I hadn’t felt in centuries.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” I said, my voice lower than before. A promise. A vow.
Her breath hitched, soft and sharp. Her lips parted like she might say something—but no words came.
But when she looked up at me like that—with awe, and maybe something dangerously close to desire—I knew:
If anyone ever touched her again, I wouldn’t stop at bones.
“We should go,” I said, my voice steadier now.
