Page 66 of Reaper's Quest

Raven’s and Aoes’s laughter in the pub below carried through the floorboards. The tenor of their mirth dragged at my already weighted mood. I dried off, tugged on my pants, and headed barefoot down the hall to check on Aldine.

We cared for our elder as best we could manage. A healer visited him multiple times a day, but I didn’t rely on the hearsay of others and liked to observe Aldine myself.

As I passed by Raven’s room, a tiny noise caught my attention. I paused, tilted my ear toward the door, then pressed against the wood. A softtap,tap,tap, like a knock upon a mirror or glass, came from the other side.

My mind jumped to the figure I’d seen in the shadows. The one that directed the specter-infected citizens upon Raven. Had they intended to hurt her? Infect her? Something worse?

Was the person behind the assault now in Raven’s room, doing reaper knew what?

I threw open the door and stepped inside.

Into a dark and empty space with nothing amiss.

Except…

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A large black bird sat perched outside the window, pecking at the glass. A message clutched in its claw.

Raven had mail?

The raven gonked.

With a soft curse on my lips, I marched forward, opened the window, and grabbed the letter. Tore it open. Read it.

Bloody hell.

A soft gasp sounded at my back.

18

Chace stood in my room.

Does the personal space of others mean nothing to him?

And not only did he stand in my room, but he had shown up partially clothed.

What in reaping hell?

I lowered my gaze, the intricate tattoo across his back snagging and holding my attention. I sucked back a sharp breath. What was I seeing on his skin?

Too quickly for me to comprehend the inked design, he spun to face me, and my gaze snapped upward. I met his sour expression and then darted my attention to his hand held high.

“What is this?” He clutched?waved?a letter, as if I wouldn’t know what he was talkingabout.

My unease from earlier had only recently settled thanks to the distractions of Aoes and Winter. Now a fresh cut of anxiety tore across my soul and ripped it open wide.

I stepped into the room and closed the door, granting us privacy from Aoes’s ever-open and alert ears. He presented friendly enough, but I didn’t doubt that he listened and heard everything. Like and trust didn’t always go hand in hand.

Crossing my arms, I kept my gaze pinned on Chace’s face and refused to let my attention dip to his muscled, post-bath damp, bare chest.

“What are you doing in my room?” My eyes fluttered, and I followed the flow of the inked art wrapping forward, over his shoulder and…

My lips parted, and I attempted to hold back the tiny gasp that bubbled forth.

When I had entered the room and found him with his back to me, the glimpse?gulp?all too brief, yet long enough to know his magical, shifting tattoo covered the majority of his back. And now…

Now facing him, I struggled not to drag my gaze along the tattooed chain circling his body, curving over itself in a loop like a snake just below his pectoralis. It lazily changed directions, twisting across his stomach and looping once more before dropping out of sight below the waistline of his pants.