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I can smell her from the doorway.

Smoke. Apple. Skin. Want.

Fuck.

The Revel.

Ezra realizes it too. “No.”

Sage looks at him. “No, what?”

He doesn’t answer.

Her breathing quickens, and I catch the subtle shift of her thighs pressing together. Barely a movement. Easy to miss.

But I’m the Reaper.

I don’t miss anything.

Her eyes find mine across the room and stay there.

The air changes. The same thing from the maze. Only stronger. She remembers running. I remember catching her.

Her pulse jumps.

I feel it inside my own chest.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

I take one step toward her.

Ezra blocks me. “Don’t.”

My eyes stay on Sage. “I wasn’t going to do anything.”

“Bullshit.”

Sage looks between the three of us. “Would someone please tell me why I feel like I’m crawling out of my fucking skin?”

Malakai’s thumb brushes gently over the inside of her wrist.

Her eyes flutter closed for half a second.

Ezra swears under his breath.

And suddenly, I understand.

The Harvest isn’t asking for blood.

Not yet.

The Blood already happened. It’s finishing the Revel. Through her–through us.

Malakai looks at me then Ezra. “The rite isn’t complete.”

Sage laughs breathlessly. “Of course it isn’t.” She grips the counter harder. “What does it want?”

No one answers.