Page 97 of Reaper's Ruin
I could feel the hard planes of his body, every muscle tense and ready. And then—impossible to miss given how tightly we were pressed together—I felt something else. His body’s unmistakable reaction to mine.
My eyes widened, a soft gasp escaping my lips before I could stop it as his undeniably sizeable cock pressed tight against me. His gaze locked with mine, and I saw raw hunger there, barely restrained. He shifted slightly, trying to create space between us,but in the cramped hiding spot, the movement only pressed us more firmly together.
I bit my lip to stifle another sound, and his eyes tracked the movement, darkening further. The danger of discovery, the adrenaline of our mission, the week of building tension between us—it all coalesced into this single, breathless moment.
The voices drew closer to our hiding place.
Lord Cassius and Lord Marwyn.
My heart raced with the fear of discovery. Or was it the man holding me in his arms causing it to speed like an Indy car rushing toward the finish line. A potent blend of fear and lust swirled around inside me as I clung to him, the curtain the only thing separating us from the two men on the other side.
The one my murderer.
What would happen if they discovered us? But as quickly as the fear lifted through my chest and up into my throat, I looked up and caught Rhyker’s stormy eyes staring into mine. In that moment, I knew, with certainty, that even if they discovered us, even if they ripped open this curtain in my next breath, he would protect me.
He would always protect me.
His feelings for me, the ones he couldn’t seem to claim, were real. I could feel it in his touch. See it in his eyes. Sense it with every nerve of my body that crackled to life in his arms.
We remained frozen in that endless moment, bodies pressed together, breaths mingling, surrounded by enemies. I had never felt so alive, so present, so aware of every sensation.
And as I stared up into Rhyker’s eyes—those ancient, storm-gray eyes that had seen centuries pass—I knew with absolute certainty:
Whatever this was between us, it was real.
And it was worth fighting for, even if our time together might be measured in days rather than the eternity he had alreadylived.
Because whether I was fully human or half-fae, whether I found my door tomorrow or never, I had already fallen for Death himself.
And from the look in his eyes, I was starting to wonder if the feeling was mutual.
“Get the list,” Lord Cassius’s voice drifted closer, and I felt Rhyker’s entire body coil with lethal tension.
We were trapped, pressed together behind a curtain, while my killer stood mere feet away.
And I had never felt more alive.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Rhyker
Pressed together in the darkness of Lord Cassius’s curtains, Soraya and I listened, her body molded against mine, her breath warm against my neck, my arm wrapped tightly around her waist. Each word the uncles spoke filtered through the curtain like poison.
At first, it was idle chatter. The fireworks. Court gossip. Lord Marwyn complaining about Lady Melayna—the boring, uptight favorite everyone assumed Prince Alaric would wed once he was crowned.
Cassius agreed, his voice full of disdain. “The only thing she has going for her is her father’s coin and the fact she’d do exactly what she’s told.”
“That Lady Soraya would be a far more interesting choice,” Marwyn said. I felt Soraya stiffen, her fingers curling into my jacket. “Beautiful. Clever. And with her little medical talents, not a bad person to have around when the court’s healer is off diddling peasants in the woods.”
A flicker of rage sparked in my chest, but I forced myself to focus—on the sound of creaking hinges, the scrape of something metallic. A hidden safe, maybe. We were close.
But then Lord Cassius chuckled, and the sound sent every muscle in my body taut. “He’s too soft for a woman like her. She’s too beautiful, too sharp. She’d run circles around him. We’d end upwith a queen wearing the crown while our dear King Alaric played house.”
“Then what would you do with her?” Marwyn asked, amusement in his voice.
Cassius didn’t hesitate. “Put her where she belongs. In my bed.”
Soraya’s entire body flinched, but I was already frozen, the words slamming into me like a blade.
