Page 46 of Reaper’s Curse

“Give him hell, my lady,” he murmured. “And regarding the hidden entrance to your rooms, ask the prince to knock and await your approval. I’m quite sure he’ll abide.”

With that, Lucas spun on his heels and marched back into the palace.

I wished he were joining me on the daytime excursion. I might not know Lucas well, but I suspected that having the servant along for the jaunt would make Valen’s grating presence more tolerable.

Buckling on my resolve, I turned to face the approaching royal healer. A reap of a time awaited me with Valen in the citadel beyond.

I prayed to Thanatos that I could keep the new simmering darkness, the one that thrilled at the thought of violence, in check.

Several guards stood at Valen’s back, either to protect the royal healer from the people, or from me, possibly to even keep me from attempting an escape. So far, they’d basically been loitering about like unnecessary props in an ineffective show of power.

Valen grabbed my arm again, treating me like a child who required hands-on directions. I exercised all my self-control not to rip the scythe from my belt and slice him in two. That morning, more than ever, his presence incited my irritation. Even the guards pissed me off with their too-long stares.

That simmering darkness really wanted to come out and play, and I didn’t understand why or where it had come from. How had these feelings become a part of me?

“There. Try that one.” Valen pointed to an older afflicted male shuffling down a quiet alley. “Show me what it was you did the first time you healed an afflicted.”

I heaved a deep breath. “We already went over this. I have tried to recreate what was done time and time again to no avail.”

“Think.” He slammed his pointer finger to the side of my skull. “The answers have to be jumbled up somewhere in that messy head of yours.”

Red flashed across my vision as I gritted teeth and swept his finger aside. “Don’t ever do that again.”

I was so close. So very, very close.

His gaze narrowed. “Did they send you because you’re expendable?”

My ears buzzed. Heart pounded. Temperature rose. I chose not to respond, but intensified my stare upon his annoying face…and too-straight nose.

No trick of the lighting played upon the line of his nose while we were outside in the full sun. So then why did his nose sometimes look different? Was he wearing a mask that he didn’t always pull properly into place?

Something inside of me edged me to break it, rather permanently, right here, right now, to make sure it remained crooked.

“You know…” His attention skipped over the outline of guards, and when he returned his glare upon me, he lowered his voice. “You’re not the first Gunn I’ve known. The reaper I worked with was a Badden by name, but she surely had Gunn blood running in her veins. The blending of the family names had been an attempt to bring an end to the feuding. Didn’t work out so well, did it? Tell me the truth, girl. The Gunn and Badden families are a scythe’s length from destroying each other, aren’t they?”

Girl? I was not a girl. I’d stepped out of girlhood long ago. My nostrils flared, but I didn’t chance an answer, nor a move, for should I lessen my control a fraction, I might end up hitting him. Or worse.

“That branch of the families cracked and turned to ash.” A grim smile pulled at his lips. “From what I hear, the Badden family weathered that disaster. But the Gunns…well…” His smile grew wider, more wicked. “Word has it, your daddy had to breed the strength back into the blood. Your momma… Now, she’s a top-quality breeder, isn’t she? So, what does that make you?”

That’s it.

My control snapped. Clearly, Valen held knowledge to which I needed to be privy, but right then, with what he’d said…

Fury exploded in my veins. My feet shifted, bracing my stance, and my arm swung into motion.

Before my fist could satisfyingly slam into his infuriating smirk, an invisible hold clamped around my wrist, and the surrounding world came to a grinding halt. Everyone froze in a single moment. The moment right before the skin of my knuckles connected with the flesh of his cheek.

Everything visible stood immobile…except for me, who remained fully aware and able to move…aside from my arm, which was held firmly in place, a weight clamped around it.

What the…

The Killian materialized beside me, his grip tight around my wrist.

I jerked. Might have fallen onto my butt had it not been for his hold. His condescending glare raised the hairs on the back of my neck and set my nerves to tingle, to burn.

“Reaping hell,” I yelped.

Every vibe radiating off the Killian seethed. “This is not the fight you wish to pick. Not today. This one is not as he appears.”