Without giving him a chance to reply, she strode off down the tunnel, not stopping this time. But she couldn’t keep from hearing the words he called after her as they bounced off the rocky walls and echoed in her ears:
“We both know I’m your only hope of finding him. When you change your mind, I’ll be waiting.”
Viri clenched her jaw and forced herself to keep walking. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much their encounter had affected her—or how tempted she was by his offer. But she knew better. He was a reaper, and reapers were liars. No matter what he said, she couldn’t trust him.
Angry at herself for thinking their reunion might have gone differently, for the sliver of hope she’d been unable to quash—a sliver that was now fully extinguished—Viri was lost in her head by the time she reached the elevator and began speeding upward. It was clear that Reeve had never intended to cooperate. Instead, from the moment of his arrest, he’d been working on a plan to escape—and that plan was to use Viri.
Cursing him viciously under her breath, Viri was in a foul mood by the time the elevator slowed at the Nox administration level—foul enough that she decided she would let Soren know she was safe, then head straight out to the surface to blow off steam by doing what she did best: reaper hunting.
Her plans, however, were derailed as soon as the elevator doors opened.
Because standing in front of them was Meera, her hands on her hips, her dark face frowning as she spoke directly to Viri’s mind and ordered,“My office. Now.”
4
The Hunters’ Guild was located directly above the Nox Custodia—close enough that they shared the same elevator and wayportal—so Viri didn’t need to leave the lift. Meera joined her in it, the tension so thick that Viri loosed a relieved breath when the doors finally opened to the Guild’s familiar dark-green-marbled corridor.
Unlike the Nox, hunters didn’t have individual workstations, since they were almost always out searching for reapers and only visited the Guild for training, meetings, and mentor check-ins. Whenever they captured a reaper, they delivered them to the Nox to finalize the arrest and handle the paperwork. It worked perfectly for Viri, who hated being chained to a desk. She needed to be up and moving, not trapped in place—in every aspect of herlife.
Right now, she feltverytrapped as she followed Meera down the everbeacon-lit corridor, walking past tunnels that led to the sparring chambers, the theater-sized conference room, and a cluster of offices used for casual meetings. Meera, of course,had her own permanent office as head of the Guild, carved into the side of the mountain and boasting a sealed window wall that overlooked the eastern cliffs of Elverdine Isle and the roaring sea hundreds of feet below.
As Viri stepped into Meera’s office, her gaze jumped straight to the window, a shiver traveling down her spine as she took in the deadly blackmist hovering over the ocean. But her focus shifted at the sound of a clearing throat, and she spun to find Darik standing beside Meera’s mahogany desk at the back of the room, his frown as fierce as the one Meera still wore.
Both leaders were tall and strong and undeniably intimidating, but that was where their similarities ended. Somewhere in her mid-thirties, Meera had dark skin, wavy brown hair, and wore tight-fitting leathers. Darik was a good twenty years older, with salt-and-pepper hair and pallid skin beneath his buttoned-up Nox uniform. Meera’s jade-green eyes were sharp and alert, while Darik’s black gaze was severe and bordered on hostile—though that look was usually only reserved for Viri.
It was widely known that the captain of the Nox Custodia resented her, even if he was professional enough not to let it affect their interactions.Mostly.
Everyone knew the reason, tragic as it was:
He blamed Viri for his daughter’s death.
It wasn’t her fault—she’d never evenmetIstrid Farrow. But they did share history. Because sixteen and a half years ago, Istrid had been a young hunter mentored by none other than Viri’s parents, Jorth and Amity Solace. Meera, too, had been under their mentorship, both her and Istrid fresh out of training. As a newly engaged couple, Meera and Istrid had always hunted as apair, with Jorth and Amity supervising—until one night, without warning, Viri’s parents didn’t show up. That same night, a reaper caught Meera and Istrid by surprise, slashing a blade through Meera’s throat and leaving Istrid to fight alone.
Istrid managed to kill the reaper—but she didn’t survive the attack.
Meera obviously did, though her throat was so damaged that she’d had to rely on a magical amulet from that day on, an artifact left by the ancient mages that allowed her to speak mentally. Its reach was limited to line of sight and her listeners still had to respond audibly, but at least she was able to communicate.
At least she wasaliveto communicate, unlike her beloved fiancé.
Ever since Istrid’s passing, Darik had hated Viri’s family—first her parents, for not protecting his daughter, and then Viri, after their deaths.
She understood his heartache. She could even relate to it. But her patience for his misplaced grudge had its limits. If Meera, who had loved Istrid beyond measure, could get past what had happened, then Darik could, too.
He, however, refused to let go of his enmity. Even now, Viri could see it in the shadows of his eyes and the firm set of his jaw. But she met his gaze unflinchingly, and when he pointed an angry finger at the chair in front of Meera’s desk, she trudged over and slumped onto it, bracing for the scolding she was about to receive.
Deciding her smartest move was to go on the offense, Viri waited for Meera to take her seat before she jumped in first to ask, “Anything either of you would like to tell me?”
Meera’s brows shot up as she mentally repeated,“Anythingwewant to tellyou?”
“Mm-hmm.” Viri brushed lint off her cloak. “I’ll give you a hint: When the Reaper Priest’s right-hand man is arrested and says he’ll only talk to one person, maybe, justmaybe, that person should be made aware of it.”
A flash of guilt from Meera, but Darik’s black eyes were stern.
“There are protocols to follow, Solace,” the Nox captain said. “You know that.”
Viri looked to her mentor and was heartened—slightly—by the hint of frustration on Meera’s face. Darik was a rule follower and instilled that trait in his guards. Meera had a hunter’s heart and recognized that some rules were made to be broken.
“Reapers don’t have rights,” Darik went on in his deep, gravelly voice. “Just because Ashton wanted to speak to you doesn’t mean we had to agree. We followed procedure and took his request to the council; if they’d voted yes,thenwe would have brought you in.”
