Page 119 of Reaper’s Curse

Winter and I sneered at each other, Raven shrinking and swaying between us.

Her body, either too exhausted or making a choice, finally stilled and leaned into my chest. I wrapped a protective arm around her, holding her to me. With a scowl, Winter averted his gaze, his jaw tense, a muscle twitching.

I dipped my gaze to her. Her eyes were closed, and her body rose and fell with labored breaths. Needing to feel her presence more than I already could, I trailed my fingers over the curve of her cheek from her ear to her chin. Her eyes fluttered but didn’t open.

“She’s in no condition to be out like this.” That truth roared through me like a starved beast, and yet I spoke with a quiet calm.

“She is not a bird in a cage.” Winter turned back to me, his steely-blue glare full of knowing and challenge. “She chooses where to fly.”

The tendons in my neck pulled taut at the sound of my words to Raven slipping off Winter’s tongue. If the prince didn’t watch his step, I would pound the icy prick into snowy slush.

“She’s clearly in no condition to fly anywhere.” The memory of how she felt in my arms after I’d scooped her from the warehouse floor rushed back to me. Something hard and ungiving clamped down on my chest, wrapped like ice around my heart. “The warehouse was days ago. Has she not yet healed?”

Winter’s gaze dropped to Raven, and his expression softened.

“She was healing. I saw to it that she got plenty of rest,” he said, his voice soft, thoughtful.

Winter’s tenderness infuriated me further.

“Your suspicion is false. Her current condition has less to do with the warehouse and has been more heavily affected by events from earlier today.”

My fingers hovered a breath from Raven’s cheek as rage climbed through my chest at her drained condition. “What happened earlier today?”

Raven swayed as if to push away, but I tightened my grip, holding her to my side.

For her safety, I told myself, but I selfishly wanted her flesh pressed to mine. I needed to protect her. Needed to feel her alive in my arms.

Winter’s hand fluttered in the air as if he were winding the gears in his head to access speech and thought. But before he could pull a word forth, Earl bellied up to the confrontation.

“She bloody healed me this morning. That’s what happened. I didn’t…” Earl raked over Raven with a sorrowful peer. “Jobby. I didn’t realize the toll it would take on her. She was already fragile and bloody exhausted before we began, but in my riddy bogged state, before now… I was a wee tadger. Didn’t comprehend what her condition meant or how it might factor in at the end.”

Aoes slipped in at Earl’s side and dropped a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Not your fault.”

“Oh. Kay.” I snapped my attention back to Winter. “Clearly she’s not well and shouldn’t be out of bed.”

“I couldn’t deny her this.” Winter threw his arms wide as if presenting the pub. “The reward for her hard work, Earl’s healing.”

I leaned in, bared my teeth, and lowered my voice. “It’s not safe for her out here. Beyond the palace walls. I told you that.”

“That’s why I’m here.” A smug smirk popped onto the prince’s lips. “To keep her safe.”

And clearly doing a piss-poor job at it.

“I’m not impressed with your efforts. I’ll be taking over from here.”

Winter stepped into my space, his muscles flexed and tight. “You think you can do a better job than me?”

An icy wind swirled to life around us, rising off the floor and creating a thin veil of white between us and everyone else.

I countered with a forward step of my own. “I’m quite sure I can.”

Dust born of darkness dropped out of nowhere, crashed into Winter’s magic whirlwind, and slammed it to the ground, leaving nothing but melting snow particles.

We stared and snarled; two opposing predators ready to pounce at any moment.

“Guys.” Raven’s voice cut through the chaotic static humming in my head.

Pulling away from my side, she stepped between us, placed a hand to each of our chests, and gently pushed us apart. At the soft press of her hand, my reaper’s magic evaporated.