Gods, I loved him.
“What makes you think you have any say in this? You’re breathing, existing on Vitality and my essence alone. I should take you both and rip you apart.” Death started to stalk forward, and I felt my body tense. If it came down to a fight, I didn’t know if it was one I could win… but I was willing totry.
I was willing to be unmade for him a thousand times over.
“Go ahead.” Cole didn’t take his eyes off Death. His expression was defiant, that green burning with the same fury he’d thrown at me when he first saw me. “But we’re standing here because ofFate.” He almost hissed the name out. “No matter what you do, you can’t change the fact that Sephtis never belonged to you to begin with.”
Death’s eyes narrowed, that white glow so blindingly bright it nearly burned across my skin. He stalked forward until he was inches from Cole and Aiden, his lips pulling back in a snarl.
“I can feel how broken you are, human. How much you wanted to break him along with you. I can feel your pain, your loss. You would destroy him if you kept him.”
He couldfeel?
“Ah… what a curse you suffer, darling. Damned to feel every soul that passes through your Lake.” Aiden’s eyes flicked to me, and the smirk on his face when he spoke made it obvious—he was delighted to reveal Death’s secrets… things I’d never known in the span of my existence. Things I hadn’t thought possible. “He can feel everything. Every soul you reap, all their love. Their pain, their anger.” Aiden’s eyes lifted, and they were devilish when they looked at my creator. “Their sadistic nature andvicious little needs. You can feel it all, and you can’t do anything about it, can you? Nothing but want.”
The shock that rippled through me had to be pushed aside. I didn’t have time to process it, though the way he’d acted by the Lakeside… when he’d almost seemed concerned that I was capable of feeling...
Was this why?
Because he knew what it meant?
“Quiet, Fate. Before I show you how sadistic I can be.” The hiss was full of fury. “No matter what you say, it doesn’t change the fact that the heart you hold in your hand and everything keeping it alive belongs to me.”
“Mmm… whatever you say. If you want him that badly…” Aiden wrenched his hand free of Cole’s chest, and he shivered beside me, gasping in a pained breath. “Take him.”
In Aiden’s palm, he held Cole’s heart… a glowing, burning thing. It was wrapped in Vitality and swimming with the black essence that ran through my veins. I felt it, the moment it happened. That beat echoing in my body had become second nature to me, and it faded to silence… spilled to the outside.
I could hear it now, clearer than ever.
Spilling from Aiden’s palm.
And somehow…
Somehow, the fingers in mine still held tight. That red thread trailed between us—wrapped around his heart and connecting us both. When I looked back at him, Cole’s eyes were pure light… prismatic.
But he was still smiling at me.
“Fine. Let’s be done with this, then.” Death reached out, and when his hand touched Cole’s heart, my body shivered.
That Vitality started to spill into Death’s hand, and when it did, a scream tore from my throat. I felt myself…
Flicker. I’d always wondered if Reapers could die, if we could be unmade… and in that moment I knew.
We could.
The line that tethered me to Cole seemed determined to keep us together.
Through life.
Through death.
I’d given it more times than I could count. I’d felt the fear and loss of it over the past year… but I’d never truly known whatdyingfelt like.
Until now.
My vision blurred, and a scream echoed my own.
It took a moment for me to realize it wasn’t Cole. Cole was standing beside me with my hand still in his own, his strength the only reason I was still on my feet.
