Page 69 of Reaper's Quest

I weakly punched the softness of my pillow.

“Raven,” Aoes called.

“I’m up.” I yawned, released my fist, and stretched wide. The light beyond the window shone too weak, not yet the day’s sunrise. “What do you want?”

The hour clearly too early for such rude awakenings, added to my failure to successfully reap, made me less than eager to start another unproductive day. I didn’t even want to consider the messy knot in my gut that 100 percent revolved around Chace and whatever thoughts and emotions I’d experienced the previous two nights.

“You have a visitor. You must come down right away.” The sound of Aoes’s retreat echoed through the outer hall.

With my body and mind weary, I pushed myself into a rash prep for work and then headed to the pub below. Chace already sat there, alone. He had his attention glued to a group of three huddled at the next table over: Aoes, a young woman, and an older gentleman.

At my approach, all three of them leaped to their feet.

Chace also rose, albeit slower, and, slipping his hands into his pockets, turned to face me. “Can you explain this?”

His words dropped like an anchor in my gut. Once again, he accused me of something, but of what, I had no clue. With heat rising over my cheeks and burning into my brow, I peered past him and Aoes to the two visiting strangers.

They looked unfamiliar to m?—

No. It can’t be.

My heart clenched.

Aoes rounded the room.

He grabbed my shoulders, shook me, and stared into my eyes, his own chocolate-brown orbs sparking with excitement. “This is a miracle. I had no idea… I thought… How did you do it?”

I honestly. Didn’t. Know.

I peered past Aoes to the unnervingly awestruck smiling couple by the table—specifically to the woman. Thewoman who, in her zombified state, had attacked me the day before. The woman who was no longer afflicted.

“Raven?” Chace prompted, my name surprisingly gentle on his tongue.

I stayed glued in place, rooted by the surprise.

He shifted beside me and cupped my arm. “Did you know?”

How could I possibly have had a single clue? I was a reaper, not a healer.

Unable to urge my voice to work, I shook my head.

His brow pinched, and he turned away to study the newly improved woman in our midst.

The visitors shifted forward. They pressed their hands to their hearts and tipped their heads. Spoke in unison. “M’lady.”

Their gazes turned both anxious and searching, like they wanted something from me. Something they likely wouldn’t receive. They clearly believed me to be the source of the woman’s improved state, but they had it wrong. I couldn’t have had anything to do with her recovery. It just wasn’t possible.

My eyes fluttered to a weak close as I shook my head ever so slightly. I fisted my hands against their trembling. I was no lady, no person of title, no revered individual. And I didn’t have an ounce of healing ability.

I was Raven—a reaper and servant to the passage of souls. A guide. I could not and would not be anything more. Whatever they thought I’d done, I didn’t have a clue how such results had manifested.

I would have stripped the woman of her soul had I been able.

“I am no lady,” I said.

The woman pushed Aoes out of the way and stood directly in front of me.

So close. Too close.