Page 72 of Reaper's Quest

And…he appeared to have zero luck.

Aoes leaned into my side and dropped his voice. I blinked back to the conversation before me, shifting my position to block Aoes’s view of Chace. Not that I suspected Aoes had the ability to see the unearthly glow because…not a reaper.

“You’re the only thing thatdoesmake sense.” Aoes glanced to the couple and back. “When she showed up here looking for the visiting lady stranger—you—she told me that she remembers all the fuzzy thoughts that come with the MD state. But minutes after you touched her…her mind began to clear.”

Me being the source didn’t make sense. Not in my mind.

Apparently finished with his sneakyinvestigational attempt, Chace stepped up beside Aoes, holding two mugs of coffee. “And you believe the woman’s claims?”

Aoes nodded, momentarily shifting his gaze to my coreaper. “They told me the entire healing process took a few hours, but…look at her.” He jabbed his indicating arm forward. “What other explanation can there be other than Raven having healed her?”

How could the things being said be true? The explanation didn’t fit with my nature. What I’d always been. None of it made sense.

If I had truly healed the woman, then shouldn’t Chace have been able to reap her soul?

I wanted to drop my head closer to the table and sink deeper into the ground, but in the presence of others, I held my stance steady.

Chace claimed a seat across the table from me and slid one of the coffees in my direction like some sort of peace offering.

Not fully lifting my head, I peered at him through the fall of my hair. Unspoken questions and accusations filled his intense, searing gaze. I sensed him silently probing me in every possible way.

Sitting up and shifting forward, I whispered, “I saw what you did.”

“It didn’t work.” He cupped his hands around his mug but didn’t take a sip.

“Obviously.”

“So… what’s going on here?” His assessing gaze narrowed. “What are you doing?”

Fretting over our predicament. Stressing about Aldine. Totally freaking out about how long the task would take andif we even had a chance of completing it successfully. I definitely wasn’t going over my checklist on how to fix the afflicted. Andcertainlynot considering why I was the probable cause.

“Currently? Nothing.” I slouched against the back of my seat and dropped my open palms on either side of the table, indicating my neglected breakfast.

Aoes grew silent but stayed at the table. He couldn’t quite hide the tiny smile curling the edge of his lips. It wassoutterly pleasing how he found me and Chace entertaining.

Is he able to follow the conversation? Has he begun to piece together who and what we are?

I shouldn’t have spoken in front of him, but I was too tired and too confused to care.

“You know what I mean. The raven, then crow. The message. This woman.” He dipped his head toward my wrapped hand marred with the previous day’s injury. Then tilted his temple toward the bruise running across my other palm. “What happened on your last task? The reap with magical means.”

I jerked straight. “What are you accusing me of?”

Chace squared his shoulders. “I made no accusation. I merely asked a question.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Don’t try to tell me you aren’t secretly blaming me for everything that has gone wrong since we arrived. I’m a Gunn, and you’re a Badden. I know how your family feels about mine.”

Rivals. Forever rivals.

He wet his lips and stared at me, no words coming to his defense…or to defuse my mood.

But his lip action…Thatmomentarily muddled my thoughts.

My breath hitched.

What was I doing, staring at his lips? I didn’t want a thing from his lips…or him.

The thoughts and feelings that jumbled my mind the previous night… They were a mistake. They were nothing.