He told her anyway.
“Did you really think I wasn’t aware of your brother’s escape from his cozy little prison? That I didn’t know about his plans to find the Guardian and how he intended to use his magewish? That I didn’t make sure Reeve oh-so-conveniently learned about the danger that would come with my death?” A mocking chuckle. “Poor Reeve. He played right into my hands by seeking you out, and you did exactly what I expected in freeing him from the Underlock. The two of you saved my life—just as I knew you would. So as I said, I should thank you.”
Viri hated everything he was saying. Hatedhim. “We only saved you because we had to,” she snarled, loathing how easily she and Reeve had been manipulated. “That doesn’t mean we’re not going to stop you.”
“What you still haven’t realized is that you shouldn’twantto stop me. I’m doing all thisforyou, Viridia. If you haven’t figured that out yet…” The Reaper Lord shook his head as ifdisappointed, though all Viri could think was that he was insane if he believed that. “Shame. But it matters little, because contempt alone won’t help you, and no one else is going to, either—not in the next eight hours before Aurora arrives.”
The blood drained from Viri’s face. It had been barely dawn when she’d left the Guardian’s tower. If the comet was only eight hours away, then she’d been unconscious for much longer than she’d thought.
“But I also know better than to underestimate you,” he went on, “which, unfortunately for you, means I can’t risk any problems between now and nightfall. After all, we both know how adept you are at getting yourself out of tight spots.”
Viri scowled. “You don’t know anything about me.” Though in this case, what he’d said was true, and she was going to make damn sure he found outexactlyhow adept she was.
Another dark laugh. “You think I haven’t been watching you closely for the last seven years? Before that, even?”
A shiver traveled down Viri’s spine at the thought of him spying on her. But then she processed something else he’d said.
“If I’m such a risk, why am I here? Why keep me alive?” She’d been at the mercy of whatever reaper had knocked her out, and instead of being harmed, they’d dragged her down into the dank crypt and left her there. At any other time, she’d be thanking her lucky stars. But now…something more was going on here.
“Because if things don’t go as intended tonight,” the Reaper Lord answered, “then I’m going to need you after all.”
“What does that—”
“I’m done answering your questions,” he said impatiently.“I’ll see you soon, Viridia Solace. Best you rest up before all the excitement.”
Rest was the last thing Viri would be doing. She had eight hours left and planned to use every one of them to get out of the cathedral, save the children, and stop the Reaper Lord from hurting anyone ever again.
But then she discovered his words weren’t a suggestion.
They were a warning.
Because a wave of his hand sent a surge of ellixen her way, and for the second time that morning, she fell to the ground, out like a light.
33
When Viri startled awake again, she was no longer in the underground crypt, but instead in a vast, vaulted hall, the air so cold that her breath clouded in front of her face.
Everything came back to her in a rush, adrenaline flooding her as she realized she was tied to a cracked marble pillar, one of many lining the arched inner walls of the cathedral’s immense central chamber. Moss and mold covered most surfaces, as if nature had claimed the space as its own, with vines curling around the pillars and twisting along the fractured ground like serpents waiting to strike. Everywhere she looked, there was something broken or decayed: crumbled statues, splintered pews, shattered glass, a field of debris scattered around stained white coffins, all leading up to an elevated dais, the only place that looked untouched by time. Behind it was an enormous figure of an ancient firebird—a symbol of death and rebirth—with its wings outstretched and tail feathers fanning like flames. It was as beautiful as it was terrifying, its beady eyes seeming to glow as it stared down at a raised stone slab sitting atop the dais.
Viri inhaled sharply at the sight of the slab, but it wasn’t onlyfrom realizing what it was intended for. It was also because she couldseeit—and everything else in the vast hall—due to the moonlight flowing through the smashed glass ceiling.
Bright, brilliant moonlight.
No,Viri whispered to herself, knowing that if night had fallen—
Then she was out of time.
A whimper on her left had her turning so fast that her neck cricked, the pain dull compared to the dread she felt at finding Jessalyn tied to the next pillar along. Beyond her, more children were bound, all the way around the cathedral. Like Jessy, they were beginning to rouse from whatever magic had left them there unconscious, their fearful cries and wails echoing throughout the moonlit space.
Viri wondered if they knew what purpose the Reaper Lord intended them to serve tonight, but a searing burn kept her from asking, her mark warning that a reaper was coming—or reapers, as she soon discovered, with them streaming through an archwayand marching along the debris-strewn nave toward the dais.
One…five…fifteen…thirty…She lost count as their cloaked forms continued appearing, their bare hands showing blackened veins that vanished beneath their sleeves, some even having so much stolen ellixen that the dark lines traveled up their necks and over their jaws toward their hardened eyes. None of them spared a glanced at Viri and the children, their focus solely on reaching the steps leading to the stone slab and spreading out before it, like a wall of witnesses in front of an altar.
There, they waited.
Viri’s heart was pounding in her ears, the rapid beats sounding like a clock ticking down far too quickly. She tugged againsther bonds, but a sharp sting of ellixen revealed it wasn’t rope that tied her to the pillar, it wasmagic. Rope she could saw her way through, but she didn’t have the first clue how to break out of bindings she couldn’t evensee.
A sobbing sound had her turning to Jessalyn again, finding the young girl with tears streaming down her cheeks.
