Page 130 of Reaper's Quest

I sucked in a deep breath. If the two knew each other…

“Yes, well. I do enjoy surprising people,” Aldine replied, a slight shrug lifting one shoulder. “But I did not come here to catch up on old times. I came here to find my charge.”

My jailer narrowed his eyes. “How did you find this place? And how did you unlock this cell?”

“The cell was already open and empty when I got here, but the scent of neglect and mistreatment is thick in this place.” Aldine’s shoulders squared, and he swung a cursory glance over the space. “What have you done with him?”

The wordemptyreverberated through me as I glanced down at my hands covered by the cloak’s overly long material, my arms now encased in a faint silvery glow. Aldine called the key and cloak tools of the Killian. If that were true, that would imply the Killian was more than a myth and had magic tools unavailable to a reaper at my level.

I peered past Aldine to the bastard who had been a source of torture for days on end. The captor didn’t register my presence one bit. Apparently, the cloak did indeed grant invisibility.

Hope bloomed in me for the first time in days. I swallowed hard and took a small step back, careful to keep the chain at my ankles silent.

Aldine had told me to use the key.

If the cloak works so expertly, and the key works on any lock…

I extracted the key from my thigh pocket and, able to see it through the cloak, studied the thin design.

The jailer swung a glance over the cell, moving past mewithout a pause. “I suspect you know where this individual is that you seek. The real question is, what are you up to? After all these years, Liam, what brings you to my basement?”

Aldine released a low, gruntled laugh. “Basement.”

I kneeled and (gritting my teeth and sending a prayer to the gods) tried the key in the lock at my feet. Holding the iron shackle, careful not to let the casting hit the ground with a clamor, I turned the key. The lock released, and I gently…silently…set the cuff on the stone floor. I repeated the process with the lock upon my other ankle.

Whether Aldine’s location or the cloak hid me from the jailer’s view, or if the jerk simply found himself distracted, it remained unclear. Whatever the reason, I thanked the death gods that my torturer didn’t notice the slight scrape of iron on stone, movement caused by the brush of my coverings, as I took several steps, removing the chain from the cover of the Killian cloak.

Did the robe muffle or hush any noise within the drape of its material?

The bastard stepped closer to Aldine. Dangerously close. Yet Aldine stood his ground without showing an ounce of fear or concern.

I circled around the side of the two males, keeping at a safe distance. If the bastard couldn’t see me, then I wanted to make damn sure he didn’t hear, feel, or sense me, either.

Aldine pocketed his hands in the open ends of his sleeves and took several paces back, drawing both himself and the bastard deeper into the cell and creating more space near the open door. “Something tells me you know exactly why I’m here.”

On numb feet that no longer registered the cold floor, I slipped into the darkened hall beyond. My shaky movements managed to remain soundless as I walked backward, holding my focus on the confrontation taking place.

I could possibly glean some insight into Aldine’s plan to get us both out of the situation safely and intact if I knew him better. Unfortunately, I did not know Aldine. I knew only the unskilled version of the reaper Ubel had shared with me. That bumbling, unqualified reaper did not stand before me now.

Aldine appeared every bit the strong-willed manipulator and fighter of the mind.

And his familiarity to my captor might be the reasonhewas chosen for the Citadel of Veritas reaping task.

“In fact,” Aldine said. “I have it on good authority that my team is not the first to visit you, be it in yourbasementor elsewhere.”

“Yes,” the jailer drawled. “Not the first. And likely not the last. You would think the powers that be would have learned by now to leave things well enough alone. Although, we do appreciate the sacrifices. We have put all of them to good use.”

I’d only ever seen my captor and his clearly simple-minded minion. Who constituted the rest of “we?”

Aldine didn’t ask the question.

Standing here watching the exchange proved too painful. I needed to get out—needed to rest. But not without Aldine. I had to somehow help extract him from the situation. Maybe find a way to put the bastard down or entice him to leave.

Only, I noted nothing available that I’d consider useful. No weapons. No loose items one could toss to a far corner ofthe room in an attempt to draw the male away. Maybe I could lift the wall torches from their holders, do something with them.

Should I hit him over the head or set him on fire?

A solid whack to the head seemed sufficient enough…hopefully.