And he stepped up beside me now in the face of Death and crossed his arms.
“So bold, the both of you. So much waste. Sephtis, are you done playing games now?”
“It’s not a game—” Cole started.
“Quiet, human. Immortals are speaking.” Death snapped his fingers, and I stared in horror as Cole’s eyes went wide and the green color faded… to sparks of black.
Like mine when I took a soul.
Like Death’s.
“Stop,” I gasped. It wasn’t a demand, it was a plea. I stepped forward, and Death’s eyes swinging to me were enough to hold me in place. The power—the strength he had. I’d known it, but I’d never seen him put it into practice with such ease. He should have looked out of place in the mortal world with his white hair and pale skin… with eyes like the night and veins that ran black.
Instead, he looked like he belonged here on the edge of the graveyard, a spectre brought to life to walk the world.
“Are you making demands, Sephtis?”
“No.” Even with the strength of his stare holding me in place, I twitched, trying to move forward, trying to get to Cole. “I’m begging. Please, none of this is his fault. It’s mine.”
Cole’s body jerked, and I could see it. It was like strings trailing from his frame and straight to Death’s fingers—he was a puppet, tied to his master by all those little black pieces I’d seen swimming in his veins. I hadn’t known what they meant, what they would do. I hadn’t realized that it was more than just Cole feeding off my immortality in an attempt to keep his body alive, even though he didn’t realize he was doing it.
He was tying himself to Death, becoming a part of him.
And anything that Death consideredhis, he knew he could control.
“Look at that.” Death’s smile was wicked, and the sight of his black tongue spilling out to lick his lips like he’d discovered something delicious made my stomach churn. “I see why you’re fascinated, Sephtis. Truly, I do. He dances like he was born for it. He burns bright enough that even my essence can’t steal the life from him. Honestly, he could have been a perfect Reaper under other circumstances.”
Under other circumstances—I’d never thought to ask Death about turning him. I hadn’t known that was a possibility. I’d neverseena Reaper made, just heard how it happened.
But now…
“Don’t hurt him.” The words came as a soft plea from my throat even as Death closed his fingers slowly and Cole’s body started to curl in on itself. The scream that ripped from his throat told me that Death didn’t care what I asked. He didn’t care that I was begging.
He was going to do whatever he wanted.
“How else can I take back what your little thief has stolen? Sephtis, you should have known this would happen. Do you understand what could have happened if that Vitality had spilled over and influenced this world—the damage it could have caused?” I knew, but it hadn’t mattered. Like he could read my face, could see the answer before I gave it, Death growled—his voice spilled low, endless. It was a sweeping rumble of thunder and danger. “His Vitality, his very life… it isn’t yours. It’s mine.”
Beside me, Cole groaned.
Death tsked, his eyes flicking to me as he recomposed himself. That ring of white glowed, and I felt the same pain in Cole’s body burning through mine. He could torture us both here and now, could take us apart piece by piece.
But something he’d said was echoing in my head over and over again. Mine.
Mine.
And he was wrong. He was wrong enough that it gave me the strength to push forward—the strength to move to Cole.
“You’re wrong. Maybe the Vitality is yours, but Cole… he’s mine. My soulmate. You can’t have him.”
But I knew…
I knew that Death had to have a prize, and all I could do in the end was hope that Gethin’s little barrier was as strong as it seemed.
It looked like Cole realized what I was doing a moment before I did it, because his eyes widened. The terror that streaked through his expression nearly broke me. I could see it there on the tip of his tongue.
Begging.
Pleading.
