“Screw your rules,” I growled. “I’m back to square one, unable to see my daughter or my granddaughters or any other fae in this place. On top of that, I now know of a way to slow down the Hermessi’s influence and stop it from killing us… and you… you won’t do anything because of your precious friggin’ rules. You’re cowards.”
“Don’t say anything you’ll regret,” Kelara warned me, but it was too late. I was too angry.
“You are! You’re all cowards, sticklers, adhering to rules with no regard for life. You’re just mindless drones, punching in that Reaper card to rack up dead people and cart them off into the next world, without any consideration for the fact that, instead of helping the Hermessi kill them with your inaction, you could help me… us! Shame on you!”
I took deep breaths, trying to control myself. Kelara did have a point there—I was still here, with her, and I sure as hell didn’t want to alienate her. I had an angle now, and despite my rage and crippling helplessness, I could still work it.
However, for that I needed Kelara’s support. Glancing at my wife, the longing to hold her again trumped my despair once more. Solutions began to form in the back of my head, possible options for how to proceed.
I could try to get Kelara to rebel again. Maybe she could let me speak to other Reapers, like that Seeley fella, instead of Malleus. If we succeeded in making all the fae here visible to one another, we could try touching and seeing if what had happened between Grace and me could be done again. Slowing the Hermessi’s influence down had become my priority—and possibly my only way to survive, ahead of the ritual.
If the fae refused to die, even if there were five million of them, perhaps the Hermessi wouldn’t be able to complete their ritual. Imagine that. Five million of us just saying no, choosing love and hope and holding each other, fighting to keep our life-chains glowing…
Wishful thinking, I thought. Reapers weren’t allowed to get involved. But, then again, it only took one or two like Kelara and Seeley to break the rules. One or two to get me to see the other fae and tell them what Grace and I had just discovered. From there on, we’d still have a shot at resisting the Hermessi’s influence.
And I’d still get a chance to go back to my family and my friends.
Taeral
With our crew only partially recovered and still rattled by the ghosts’ ability to attack us, along with more than two dozen Reapers having shown up to prevent us from reaching the waterfall building—Baethal, Wrik and Theoth included—our choices were limited. Either we stayed and fought, or we got out of here, preferably without agents of Death tailing us.
The former option was insane and downright suicidal. Even with all our abilities combined and Yamani’s scythe, the chances of defeating all these Reapers were slim to none. The latter came with a downside. I could teleport everyone out of here, easily, but there was a risk that the Reapers would follow us. On top of that, our objective was clear and immovable. We needed to get to the waterfall palace and past the murderous ghosts in order to speak to Death.
The contradiction of circumstances was also baffling. The Reapers and the spirits that surrounded that palace were determined to stop us from getting in, while every atom in my body begged me to go there. My instincts were flaring, and my nerves were stretched. Lumi exhaled, looking rather concerned—her Word flash of light had worked once before, but it didn’t seem like it was an option now. As much as I appreciated the craft of swamp witches, the insecurities it came with had a tendency to put me off.
“One last time,” Baethal said, his midnight-sky eyes set on me, specifically. “Leave, and you won’t be hurt. You know your way back now. Take this chance we’re giving you.”
Glancing around, his fellow Reapers were equally determined to stop us from advancing. Their curved blades were out, each of them capturing the moonlight along the sharp edges. From where I stood, they looked as though they’d been carved out of glistening diamonds.
“I’m sorry,” I replied. “We’ve come too far, and our entire worlds depend on this. Why can’t you just stand back? I’m sure Death won’t mind, once she hears what we have to say.”
Wrik laughed, though it was difficult not to notice the mocking musicality in his tone. “What part of ‘We were ordered not to let you anywhere near her’ didn’t you understand?”
“She doesn’t even know what we’re here for,” Amelia said.
Meanwhile, Raphael and I exchanged knowing glances. We’d already talked about this worst-case scenario regarding the Reapers, though we hadn’t anticipated so many of them. Eira, Lumi, and I would skedaddle out of here, while the rest of our crew would split into teams of two and keep the Reapers busy. It was easier for me to teleport only two other people straight to the waterfall palace—hoping the ghosts wouldn’t have time to try to kill us again, since we were dead-set on entering the damn building as soon as we set foot outside.
My only concern was for the others. There were more Reapers here than we’d anticipated, and that raised the stakes a little. Either way, this needed to be done. There was no other way.
“We’re here to obey her orders, not to question them,” Baethal snapped. “Gosh, you’re so hard-headed.”
I raised my scythe at them, wondering if I’d get the desired effect. Baethal just grinned, while his two friends scoffed with sheer contempt. The rest of the Reapers frowned—some were downright wary of the blade, from what I could tell. Varga gave me a sideways glance. “They’re actually scared of it,” he whispered. “They might not look it, but they are.”
It was me they wanted, then. It was me they were trying to convince to leave Mortis, and it was me holding a stranger’s scythe. All these elements combined made me realize that the Reapers would likely be less interested in my crew, and more focused on me, even after I disappeared. That made my part of the mission even more dangerous.
“You don’t like me holding this scythe, do you, Baethal? I do remember I nearly slit your throat with it not that long ago,” I said.
Wrik and Theoth scowled at him. They didn’t know.
“You may be able to hurt me with it, but you cannot kill me. Only a Reaper can kill another Reaper,” Baethal said.
Theoth groaned. “You shouldn’t have told him that.”
“There are more of us than there are of them,” Baethal replied, visibly angered.
“Change of plan,” I said to our team. “We’re all going to the palace.”
I’d thought this through. We were all better off together, especially if the Reapers were going to come after me—they couldn’t take their eyes off my scythe, and the thought bothered me.
“Are you sure?” Raphael replied, his voice low and his gaze set on Baethal. “We could keep them busy here.”
“They’ll come after me, whatever we do,” I whispered. “You can keep them busy outside the palace, while Eira, Lumi, and I go in.”
“Makes sense,” Herakles chimed in. He looked at Riza. “You ready to kick some Reaper asses?”
Riza giggled. “Frankly, I look forward to seeing what these creepers can do.”
Lumi gave me an approving nod. “We’ll have to be fast,” she said. “You know they won’t let you out of their sight.”
At first, I’d thought the Reapers would be skittish about anyone else holding the scythe—but that meant they would’ve intervened much sooner, since Amelia had been in possession of it. No, things got extra tense after I’d taken hold of it, which reinforced my decision to bring the whole crew with me to the palace. From there, they’d keep the Reapers at bay for as long as they could, using every single weapon and spell and ability in their arsenal. All I needed were a few seconds to zap myself, Eira, and Lumi inside, where Death was bound to be waiting.
From there, we’d see what would happen. But we had to get there first.
“You’re remarkably stubborn.” Baethal sighed. “I’m afraid you’ve left me with no other choice but to kill you, Taeral, Prince of the Fire Star.”
He knew my full title, though that shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Even so, it didn’t deter me. On the contrary. It made me feel like this was a good opportunity to show him and the rest of his cohort why I’d been given that title and why, one day, I would lead the Fire Star.
“It’s going to get crazy, fast,” I muttered. Taking Eira’s hand in mine to begin with, I nodded. “Link hands.”
