Page 101 of Reaper's Quest

Fae lived impossibly long lives. And if fae, or their descendants, were involved in this case, the task of the Citadel of Veritas should have gone to a different class of reaper. Not me and Chace. Only…

Secrets. So many secrets about this place and this reap. Things that likely involved my family. Chace’s too.

I bit my lip as Winter returned to the bedside, glass of water in hand.

Questions bloomed in my mind like wildfire. Questions not for him but other reapers. Aldine was theonly reaper I presently had access to who might have a few of the answers I sought. Only he couldn’t tell me anything. Not presently.

Winter traced a line in the condensation coating the glass. “I was given the name that represented the nature of my magic and was told it presented itself clear and strong during my birthing.”

He handed me the glass and helped lift my head so that I could take a sip. I took several, the flow of liquid into my system streaming through me with unexpected freshness.

I used those moments of quenching my thirst as an opportunity to wrap my mind around everything he’d told me and allow the information to settle into place. The male before me had magic coursing through his veins. From the looks of him, high fae magic.

“If your magic is rooted in winter, like the season, did you come into this world on a bed of ice within a windstorm?” I licked the wetness from my lips.

He set the glass down on the side table, his eyes lighting up and humor touching his cheeks and mouth.

He was beautiful, I realized with a twist in my gut. An extraordinary example of the male species.

“Had it been so, what a tale that would have made.” He returned to the chair beside the bed. “But alas, no. I was not.”

I stared at him, letting nothing other than exhaustion and discomfort touch my gaze. “Then how did they know what the source of your magic was? What does it feel like, and what can you do?”

“Sadly, not much these days.” He rested his forearms on his thighs. “When the curse fell upon our population many years ago, magic changed. Whatever those things are that attacked you and your team a few weeks ago, theyseem to feed off of magic. Draining it from the original host.”

I swallowed hard. “But my team and I… We don’t have magic.”

“Don’t you, though?” He drew a circle on top of my hand, then he folded his fingers against my skin and around my palm in a comforting, warm wrap. “Whatever you are, I suspect there is magic, known or unknown, in the creation of your kind. Magic, no matter how small, is energetic life.”

I huffed a laugh and turned my head away. Closed my eyes. I hadn’t failed to notice that he had avoided answering my question by presenting another one.

Was magic a part of what I was? I supposed so. The magic of transformation. The supernatural ability to guide others through that transformation. The magic wasn’t useful in other ways, but it was magic all the same. Plus, the magic of the gods enabled the creation of my kind. Magic that likely lingered in one form or another in our bloodlines.

I heaved a breath and pulled my hand free from his hold yet again. “I’m tired.”

And I was. A mere few minutes of conversation had depleted my energy.

At this rate, I could end up taking a month or longer to get back in proper reaping form. I didn’t have that kind of time. Didn’t want to spend that long trapped within the citadel walls. The few days Chace and I had attempted to reap were already too much.

A jolt seized my body, and I turned my head toward Winter, my eyes wide.

He stood to leave but paused at my movement.

“You said few?” I said.

He peered down at me, a look of confusion in his expression.

“You said it had been a few weeks since those things attacked me and my team.”

He nodded once. “Yes. Give or take a handful of days. Maybe two weeks.”

“How long have I been here? Been like this?” I lifted a weak hand, indicating my condition.

“A couple of days…roughly.”

A couple of days was far better than what his two-week comment had implied. Two days, added to my time spent attempting to work the task, put my presence in the citadel at less than a week and a half. Still…

“Roughly? What doesroughlymean?” My voice sounded tight. How could I have let myself miss days?Days! “What about Chace or Aldine? Chace has to be wondering where I am.”