The words come out sharp, incredulous, too loud in my own ears. Not now is what you say when someone asks you what you want for dinner. Not when someone is standing in front of you dead and calm and full of secrets that are actively shredding the people still breathing.
“‘Not now’ is the last thing you should be saying,” I bite out before I can stop myself.
For a second, I expect her to do what she’s been doing the past couple minutes: look through me like I’m a smudge on glass.
Instead, she finally turns.
Her gaze slides to mine, and the chill of her Reaper aura brushes my skin like cold fingertips down the back of my neck. It’s intimate in the worst way. I don’t know how my guys ever liked it when I was still a full Grim Reaper. How did I ever wear that kind of cold and didn’t notice the way it made them feel?
“It is not why I’m here now,” she says. The pitiful tremor she’d used on Talon is gone like it never existed. Her voice is all clean now, business style. “You promised to help us.”
Us.
The word hits and sticks.
“Us?” I repeat. “Who’sus?”
For a heartbeat, her expression shifts. Some crack in the marble appears. And that’s when Mark chooses to scream from the basement.
“SKYE!”
The sound punches straight up through the floorboards. My whole body jumps.
Great.
It must be my curse: I can’t ever have one problem at a time. If something is horrible enough to distract me—horrible enough to drag my attention away from the fact that Death literallyforbidme from killing my murderer—then the universe makes sure it comes with a bang.
I swallow hard, throat burning.
I was stupid when I said Mark had had enough torture.
Weak, in the spur of the moment. Delusional enough to think being “better than him” would make me feel less like a monster.
I’m severely regretting it now.
Cassian’s head snaps toward the door like he’s already halfway down the stairs in his mind. His jaw flexes. I can practically see the war behind his eyes: do we test Death’s shiny new commandment, or do we handle this whole Rhea situation first?
Because Rhea doesn’t even seem towantto hold a conversation. The girl is speaking in riddles and lovey-dovey looks toward Talon.
“Wow,” she says now. “So you did it.”
I have no doubt she’s talking to me.
“Did what?”
“You captured your ex-husband,” she clarifies. “The help from my crows let you achieve your goal.”
Um… I did indeed. And where did that get me? I don’t bother with making small talk about it. I know where this is going. Yes, I agreed to the deal. Yes, Mark in the basement is living proof of that. Unfortunately. Yes, it’s my turn to show up.
Let’s just cut to the chase.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“Help,” Rhea replies.
“You never said what that help would entail.”
“You agreed anyway.”
