Page 253 of May: Bloom & Bane

“You are loud.”

Ice floods through me.

Eden! I shout. Think of Eden!

His body goes still.

“... Eden.” The name rolls slowly off his tongue, as though tasting it for the first time.

“Yes, of course,” he says. “I’m looking for her.”

He sounds like a hunter tracking an injured deer.

Ashán.

He continues to climb the ledges.

Ashán, stop. We need to talk.

“You continue using that name,” he says curiously. “It does not appear to be effective.”

My heart feels like it’s going to fall from my body. You are him! You are Ashán!

“Incorrect.” He pauses. “I am simply a reaper. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

No! I scream. That isn’t true. You love her!

“Do I?”

You would die for her, I say. You cut your own wings off twelve times, Ash. Twelve times. Just to avoid this very thing.

His claws tighten around the next stone.

“Perhaps,” he says without inflection. “The pull remains.”

Oh, thank the gods. He remembers. Some piece of him remembers.

“The reason does not,” he murmurs.

No. I’m not letting you take her from him, I scream at the curse.

If I can’t wake his mind—I will break his vessel.

I gather every thread of my magic and aim for our center of gravity.

I’m sorry, Ash.

Our body tips backward, the world dropping away as we plunge into the chasm. We crash against the lower shelf of rock. The sound is sickening—a sharp, splintering crack that echoes through the ravine as the impact snaps both of Ashán’s legs.

Get up from that, I pant.

His eyes open, staring blankly at the purple twilight sky. The heart in our chest doesn’t skip a single beat. Slowly, the reaper sits up.

“Hm,” is all he says.

I watch in horror as he looks down at his shattered limbs. With a steady hand, he reaches down and grips his left ankle. A grinding screech rings out as he pulls and twists the leg back into a straight line. He doesn’t flinch as he moves to the right leg and repeats the same process.

You’re a monster, I whisper. Stop using his body!