Page 83 of Reaper's Ruin
Rhyker’s eyes flashed with an understanding. “Do you think you were killed to make way for him to sit the throne instead of you? All the people being killed, were they heirs before him?”
Her face twisted. “I mean, yes. Some of the men who died would have ascended before him. But I’m a female. I can’t inherit the throne so I can’t imagine that had anything to do with it.”
“Perhaps, but it seems suspiciously convenient that the King was killed, potential heirs to the throne were killed, and the person who benefits the most is Alaric,” he said darkly.
I frowned. “You think Alaric is behind this? But he seems so nice. He’s been nothing but kind to us.”
Rhyker fixed me with a hard stare. “Never trust appearances, Soraya. Especially not with the fae. Kindness is often just a mask for deeper, darker motives.”
His tone bothered me, that hatred of the fae coming through again. I wanted to argue, but now wasn’t the time. Instead, I turned back to Elira.
“We might be able to help each other,” I said. “You see, I was murdered too. I’m trying to find out why so I can find peace and move on.”
“You were murdered?” Elira’s eyes widened with sympathy. “By whom?”
“A man,” I said, the memory still painfully fresh. “He broke into my home in the Mortal Realm. He had a strange dagger with symbols on it that glowed. I saw him today, at the hunt.”
“Can you describe him?” Elira asked.
I did my best to recall his features—the cold eyes, the severe mouth, the way he had moved with deadly purpose. She listened as I went on in detail, her face starting to twist with what looked like stunned recognition. Then when I mentioned the lightning bolt with crossed swords pendant clasping the front of his cloak, her eyes bloomed with horror.
When I was finished, she sat staring at me, eyes wide with shock. “That sounds like... no. It couldn’t be. But—” her breath hitched. “That matches the description of my uncle, Lord Cassius.”
“Your uncle?” I repeated, shock rippling through me. “Why would your uncle want to kill me? I’d never even been to Faelora before I died.”
“Well, he’s not my uncle by blood. He’s one of my Uncle Laryc’s brothers—Aunt Ravenna’s late husband. I just always called them uncles too because they were like family growing up. I don’t knowwhy he would kill you though,” Elira said, shaking her head. “None of this makes sense. Why would he travel to the Mortal Realm to kill a human?”
Rhyker and I exchanged glances, the same realization dawning for both of us. The coincidence was too great to ignore.
“The murders are connected somehow,” I said slowly. “There has to be a reason Lord Cassius targeted me specifically, and it must be related to what’s happening here in the Storm Court.”
A wild surge of hope blossomed in my chest. We had a name now. We knew who had killed me. Was this enough? Would my door appear?
I held my breath, waiting, a mixture of hope and dread washing through me. Hope that I might see my mother again soon. Dread at the thought of leaving Rhyker behind.
But as I looked around the room waiting for a magical door to appear, the room remained unchanged.
“I need to know why,” I said, as much to myself as to the others. “That’s what’s keeping me here. It’s not enough to know who killed me—I need to understand why he chose me.”
Rhyker’s expression softened slightly, tension slipping from his shoulders. I realized that he too must have been wondering if my door was going to pop up. Was that... relief on his face?
“Without my ability to shadow travel and observe from the Shadowveil, I’ve been limited in what I can discover,” he said. “But you—” he turned to Elira, “—you can go anywhere in the castle unseen. You could be our eyes and ears.”
The ghost princess straightened, a new determination replacing her despair. “You want me to spy for you? On my family?”
“Your uncle murdered me,” I said gently. “And someone murdered you. We need to know why. We need answers so we can get our doors because if we don’t find our peace, we both get wiped from existence. A reaper will come for you and rip you apart. Noafterlife. Just... nothing. And your time is running out. Don’t you want justice too? To learn the truth and maybe find your peace?”
She looked down at her hands, then back at us with a firm nod. “I do. Tell me what you need me to look for.”
We were just beginning to outline a plan when the air in the room seemed to shift, growing heavier, colder. Rhyker tensed, his eyes darting to a shadowy corner where the light from the lamp didn’t quite reach.
“Someone’s coming,” he said quietly.
Before I could ask what he meant, the shadows in the corner deepened, swirled, and I saw a figure materialize behind the Shadowveil—tall, broad-shouldered. My breath hitched, heart hammering. We’d been discovered.
But then I saw his face, splitting open into an easy grin that seemed out of place given his dark nature.
Taelon.
