She also bows her head but without taking her eyes off him.
A silent acknowledgement passes between them.
“Please thank the Master of Demon Runes for allowing me this time with my pups,”she says to me.
“Of course,” I murmur.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t come here solely for my heart’s healing.”
Reaper stays close to Blitz and Luca as she continues.“For the last three days, Crone has been sending curses into the Forbidden Lands. These curses are seeking information, and they reek of a mutilated form of your scent, Nova. She can only be looking for your body.”
“Crone wants to confirm that I’ve died,” I murmur. Roman said that the Elimination can’t continue until I return to the city or I’m proven to have perished.
Reaper’s violet eyes gleam with anger.“I feared that she wouldn’t wait for proof, so I hurried to the outskirts of the city. I used the paths that I used to walk with your father and listened from the shadows for information.
“There are whispers that the next trial will take place tonight.”
“Tonight!” I spin to Roman. “What happens if Crone continues the Elimination without me?”
Roman’s anger is palpable. “Your death has to be proven,” he says, a deep snarl. “Without your body, she would have to convince the other royals that she’s speaking the truth. Otherwise, she’ll risk upsetting the Balance. Of course, she may think it’s worth the risk.” His lips twist. “If she can install Arga as King quickly after, then all the cracks in our world will heal.”
My heart leaps with sudden hope. “But… is this a way for me to escape the Elimination? Let Crone convince everyone I’m dead? Get my sisters out of here?”
Roman gives a firm shake of his head. The edge of anger in his voice increases when he speaks. “You’re bound to the Elimination through the royal rune. Its energy is alive within you and will kill you if you choose not to participate.”
My heart plummets. “So Crone wins.”
My power swirls across my hands, smoky tendrils into which I focus my fear, but beneath it is sadness, longing for the peace I’ve found here that’s being ripped away from me.
I knew I couldn’t stay here much longer. I was prepared to return to the city within days, but now that it’s happening, the weight of the future settles on me.
With new resolve, I cross the distance to Reaper, not daring to touch this fierce beast. “Thank you for the gift of your pups.”
“I let them go to keep you safe,”she tells me.“Jareth wanted you to survive.”
She brushes up against each of her pups again, a simple nudge, that even Ace accepts.
“But I’ve missed them every single day.”
“I wouldn’t be alive without them,” I tell her, needing her to know that her sacrifice wasn’t in vain. “They are the most incredible and loyal beasts. I’m blessed to have such strong pack members.”
Reaper lets out a low howl and turns to leave, but I call out, “You could come with us.”
She turns briefly and our eyes meet.“I’ll always be with you, Nova. Even when you can’t see me. In the meantime, you’ll be safe with the Master of Demon Runes. One day, my pups will bond with you, as you and I have bonded, and on that day, our pack will be a force that none can stand against.”
She leaps across the creek, her footprints barely forming in the sand before she’s gone.
The bittersweet reunion is over, and I wish it could have gone on longer. Part of me regrets the life that was stolen from my pups when they were sent to me, but since I can’t change the past, I make a silent promise to them that this won’t be the last time they see their mother. Whatever it takes.
Just as I’ll do anything to survive the Elimination.
Returning to Roman, my demon wolves beside me, I say, “It’s time to go back.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY
“How fast can we get to the city?” I ask Roman as we hurry toward his home.
“I have a direct route to the Citadel, as well as to the city outskirts using a series of runes I’ve set up. It will turn a two-day journey into a few hours.”
