Page 54 of Reaper's Ruin
“Why not?”
He stopped walking, turning to face me fully. In the dim moonlight, his face was all sharp angles and shadows, beautiful and terrible at once.
“Some sins can’t be forgiven, Soraya,” he said quietly. “Some failures are too great.”
There was such a weight of sorrow in those words that I instinctively reached for his hand, my fingers brushing against his. He froze at the contact but didn’t pull away.
“I don’t believe that,” I said softly. “Whatever you did, whatever happened... eight hundred years seems like more than enough penance.”
He looked down at where our fingers were just barely touching, then pulled his hand away. “We should keep moving.”
Maybe he wasn’t ready to believe he was anything but a monster yet. But I was starting to see something else entirely.
The moment broken, we continued through the maze of backstreets until Rhyker stopped at the corner of a particularly dark alley. He gestured for me to stay quiet, then pointed toward a shadowy alcove where two figures were engaged in what looked like an exchange of some kind.
“Wait here,” he whispered. “Don’t move unless I call for you.”
“Be careful,” I whispered back, concern twisting in my gut despite his obvious capability.
With surprising stealth for someone his size, he slipped into the shadows with a predator’s silent grace. I pressed myself againstthe wall, heart hammering as I watched him approach the two figures—burly fae males with hard eyes and weapons strapped to their belts.
What happened next was both terrifying and breathtaking. Rhyker moved like a force of nature—quick, efficient, devastating. One moment the two fae were counting what looked like gold coins; the next, they were on the ground, one unconscious and the other gasping for breath with Rhyker’s boot at his throat.
I couldn’t hear what Rhyker said to the conscious one, but the fae’s eyes widened in fear. Then a swift strike, and he too was unconscious. Rhyker collected a pouch from the ground, then searched both figures quickly before returning to where I waited.
“Got it,” he said, holding up the pouch with what might almost have been a smile. “Enough for proper clothes and then some.”
My heart was still racing, but not entirely from fear. Watching him move like that, so powerful and controlled, it was doing...thingsto me. Inappropriate, confusing things that made heat pool low in my belly and didn’t help that damn one bedroom montage that kept playing through my mind.
“That was... impressive,” I managed, proud that my voice sounded relatively normal.
His eyes met mine, and something electric passed between us—a recognition, perhaps, of whatever this strange tension was.
“Come on,” he said, his voice rougher than before. “Let’s get you some sleep.”
We walked back to the inn in silence, the weight of unspoken words hanging between us. When we reached the door to my room, I hesitated, half-hoping he’d change his mind and come inside.
“Thank you,” I said. “For letting me come with you.”
He nodded, his expression unreadable in the dim hallway. “Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day.”
With that, he resumed his position outside my door, a silent sentinel in the darkness.
I slipped inside the room and immediately had another wrestling match with the flint striker, trying in vain to light the lamp.
“Oh, come on,” I muttered, growing increasingly frustrated as sparks flew everywhere except the lamp wick.
After five failed attempts and one minor burn to my fingertip, I sighed in defeat and opened the door again. Rhyker stood exactly where I’d left him, his broad shoulders filling the narrow hallway.
“Um, this is embarrassing,” I said, “but could you help me light the lamp? I can’t seem to figure it out.”
He raised an eyebrow but followed me inside. I watched as his large hands deftly worked the flint, creating a perfect spark that caught the lamp’s wick. The warm glow spread through the room, casting his face in soft golden light that somehow made him look less fearsome and more... human.
“Thank you,” I said quietly. “I always slept with the TV on back home. Couldn’t stand the dark.”
“TV?” he questioned.
“Oh, it’s... nevermind. Just a light and noise thing from my world. Made it less lonely.”
