Her lungs began to constrict, but she forced herself to take steadying breaths, knowing a clear mind was the only weapon she had left. “What makes you think I have what you’re looking for?”
“Don’t play coy,” the Reaper Lord said flatly. “We both know about your connection to the obelisks.”
Viri jerked backward, a denial rising swiftly to her lips before she realized it was pointless. She’d already known that the Reaper Lord wanted access to her magic; her brother had warned as much in the garden at Nevarnost, even if he’d been unsure why. The reason—the Orion sacrifice—was an unwelcome surprise, but Viri would worry about the comet later. Right now, her most burning question was how the Reaper Lord had learned about her ward magic to begin with. The Guardian knew, having been the one to grant the magewish, and her parents, too, who had carried the secret to their graves. But the Reaper Lord…
“How—” Viri began to ask, only to be interrupted.
“I told you before. I’ve been watching you your whole life.”
“Butwhy?” she demanded. “How did you even knowtowatchme?”
“Have you really not figured it out yet?” the Reaper Lord returned, his disbelief clear despite his face still hidden by shadows. “Truly?”
“Figuredwhatout?” Viri cried, welcoming the frustration, since it offered a reprieve from her terror. But both emotions fled at what the Reaper Lord said next.
In a taunting, singsong voice, he recited, “Once upon a time there were three young hunters: a husband”—he held up one finger—“his wife”—he added a second finger—“and their best friend.” This time, he didn’t add a third finger, but instead—
He pointed at himself.
Viri’s eyes rounded in shock. “You’re—You’re—”
“The best friend of your dead parents? Yes. I was, once. Until they stole my magewish to save your life—a magewish I needed to save someoneIcared about.” His tone darkened. “When I returned to the Guardian, begging for another wish, there wasnothing he could do, but he was sympathetic enough to teach me some magic. Only, when I dared to want more, he took it all away from me. So I became this.” He waved a hand at himself. “And now I have all the power I could ever want.”
Viri gaped at him, struggling to process everything he’d just shared but still managing to rasp out, “You don’t, though, or you wouldn’t need me.”
“I don’tneedyou,” the Reaper Lord scoffed. “But I do want what only you can give me—the means to destroy the obelisks.”
“That’ll never happen,” Viri said, still reeling from what she’d just learned. Her hands fisted by her sides. “I won’t sentence Aravell to death.”
“Death?” An incredulous laugh. “I don’t want todestroythe city—I want toliberateit. And you, Viri darling, are going to help me, whether you want to or not.”
His response echoed jarringly in Viri’s ears, not because of his liberation claim, which she didn’t believe at all, but because of two words he’d used, spoken with familiarity—and mocking affection.
Viri darling.
“Who are you?” she breathed, staring into his shadowy hood.
“Finally, a question I want to answer,” the Reaper Lord said, sounding pleased. He reached for his left glove and pulled it off, revealing a black-veined hand. But before Viri’s eyes, the inky streaks faded from his skin—and as they did, the searing in her hunter’s mark eased as well, as if there weren’t a reaper standing in the room with her.
“How?” she whispered, not understanding.
“Another good question,” the Reaper Lord said, but this time,his voice was different, no longer deep and masculine. Instead, it lightened, the pitch becoming higher. Feminine.
And familiar.
Viri staggered back a step.
Then another.
She stopped only when she crashed into the bed frame, clutching the post for dear life as the Reaper Lord raised his—her—hands to lower her hood, the shadows vanishing entirely.
Viri stared in disbelief.
Inhorror.
“Surprise, darling,” Sarielle said with a dark smile, a wave of her hand making her black veins return and Viri’s mark start searing once more. “Glamour magic truly is a wonder, especially when I have to spend my days around you pesky hunters.”
Viri shook her head. “No.” She shook it again.“No.”
