Page 86 of The Reluctant Reaper
“I knew nothing of a zoo.” La Croix was rubbing his hands together before the roaring fire that was making everyone sweat. “And I demand you leave me out of whatever this is.”
“Amara, we’ve been friends for years.”
“Have we, Skye?”
That checked her. “Yes! Obviously! It’s why you must listen to me now. I’m the only one in this room who has your best interests at heart.”
“Oh, I do beg your fucking pardon,” Hilly snapped.
Skye unwisely ignored the growing wrath of Hilly. “Haven’t I always looked out for you?”
“No, Skye.”
“Yes! See? I—what?”
“You’ve always looked out for yourself. Sometimes our needs aligned, and when I was younger I mistook that for empathy and friendship.”
Scáthach, the guide to death for the Isle of Skye, pulled herself up to her full height, which was intimidating, but only if you had never met Death. Or Chernobog. “What are you daring to say to me?”
“It took me a long time to see what you were doing. Partly because you fooled yourself into thinking you had my best interests at heart, which made it easier to foolme.”
“Of course I have! I always have! Fool you? You would come to me when you couldn’t go to your own mother.”
“True. But it doesn’t change the fact that you used our faux friendship as a means to secure your fondest wish: more territory. It’s always been your goal. I’m just wondering when you decided.”
“That is an absurd and hateful lie!”
“Youhavealways been there for me,” Amara admitted. “Constantly following me and pushing me. It’s why you encouraged me to hide in Death’s car when I was a little girl.”
“I didn’t—I just said?—”
“You knew it was too much for any child, and you made sure to linger long enough to comfort me when it was over. You also promised to do all in your power to see to it I would never have to take Death’s mantle. And I think that’s how it started, for you. I think that’s when you decided.”
“Jesus.” Gray’s expression was pure revulsion. “You talked a little kid into crashing a Reap so you could profit from her emotional scarring?”
“That was years ago! Why are you fishing for an apology now?”
“That’s not what I’m after. I’d like to talk about the foxes,” Amara continued.
Skye threw up her hands. “What are you babbling about now?”
“I saw one at the zoo, which was odd enough, and another one at the Air Force base during my second Reap.”
“Odd?” Hank asked.
Amara nodded. “I double-checked when Gray and I got back. The Roosevelt Zoo doesn’t have a fox exhibit. They never have. And foxes belong to you, Skye, the way the night belongs to Chernobog and the hellhounds belong to Arawn. It’s how you could keep an eye on me while poisoning my father.”
“Y’know what?” Gray asked, rumpling one hellhoundlet’s ears while scratching another’s belly as the third butted her hard little head into his leg for attention. “I’ll bet if we went back the last couple of days and dug up CCTV footage, we’d see a fox in the vicinity of everyone who disappeared.”
“No doubt. Once I found out about the foxes, I started to notice other things. Like when you claimed La Croix asked you to sit with Death. Except La Croix told me a different story:Youwere the one who offered to relievehim. Which gave you the chance to slip Death more poison. It wasn’t even that hard, was it? Manipulating us into repeatedly leaving you alone with Death? We trusted you. Why not? All this time, we’ve been such goodfriends.”
Skye had gone so pale, her freckles stood out in blotchy relief. “And you’ve convinced yourself I would indulge in such treacherous behavior because...”
“I already told you; you just can’t be bothered to listen. But I listened to you. I heard your complaints about the loss of territory. Not just when we spar, but every time you see me. I’ve seen your envy of the compound, heard you repeatedly, in the guise of friendly sarcasm, tell my parents they didn’t deserve such a wide swathe of territory. Heard your resentment that your influence over the centuries had been reduced to the six hundred miles of the Isle of Skye.
“So when I pulled all that together, it was obvious. And I can’t even take much credit for figuring it out, because you didn’t work too hard to cover your tracks. Even now, you’re not really trying. You should be projecting calm reason and logical-but-hurt outrage, but you’re shrieking like someone set your hair on fire while not actually denying anything I’ve said.”
“Demeanor doesn’t equal evidence,” Gray added, “but still.”
