Chapter 32
Sephtis
I felt it—a sharp sting that ripped through my chest. I was still standing there, staring at Death… and he stared back at me.
And then there was another squeeze, another wrench of agony. Something was wrong with Cole.
Something was wrong, and whatever it was called to me. I’d broken Death’s hold on me with Caiden’s soft whisper, and with Cole’s voice calling my name… I widened my eyes.
“Don’t.” Death’s voice was a hiss. A warning. But I didn’t have to obey.
“Can’t you feel it?” I whispered, my head turning up. “Something’s changing.”
Death’s eyes narrowed, and his head tilted… and with a snarl, he leaned forward and grabbed me by the throat, jerking me close. “He’ll destroy you, Sephtis.”
“I don’t care,” I hissed and raised my hands, wrapping them around Death’s wrist.
I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I was back in the graveyard.
I wasn’t sure if it was my desire to be there, or the fact that when I looked, there was Vitality spilling from Cole—his chest, his mouth, falling from his eyes like tears…
Or… if it was the man with his hand in his chest.
“Now, now… look who’s breaking the rules.” Aiden’s voice was velvety… and his eyes were wicked when he turned them to Death. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing, Fate? You knew spilling that Vitality would call me. It’s hardly fair to set rules when you intentionally mean to break them. Unless…” He grinned, and his teeth seemed sharper while facing Aiden. “Did you miss me?”
Aiden scoffed as Death shook me off as though I was nothing more than a pest. He’d been so consumed with what he was doing before, but now his eyes were only for the man in front of us—the one who had his hand in Cole’s chest.
I rushed to his side, but I didn’t want to touch him. I didn’t want to move him. I could almost feel the way Aiden was holding his life there, the tips of his fingers so capable of destroying everything. “Cole… are you okay?”
His lids fluttered open. The emotions that crossed his expression were nearly enough to shatter me. Worry, agony… and then a relief so sweet it made his face crumble. When tears gathered in his eyes and fell with a soft liquid shine, I nearly broke in front of him.
“You’re here.”
“Always.” I repeated my promise from before. “I told you, always.”
That word seemed to resonate, because his lips lifted into the softest smile. “It really has been that long.” His lashes fluttered. “I saw it.”
“Did you hear that?” Aiden echoed, though I noticed his eyes had never left Death. “He saw it. You’re stealing soulmates from me. Tell me, Darling Death, how many rules are you going to break?”
I was careful when I reached out, but Cole’s fingers found mine and squeezed. Just that touch was enough to realign my world, to make me feel as though the ground was still beneath my feet. Though I noticed… when my palm brushed against his, there was something in his fingers. A red petal.
The same one I’d seen in the Lake.
“As many as necessary when your cupid breaks one of my Reapers.” Death’s eyes swung back to me. “What deal did you make, Sephtis, to let your soul feel?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I wasn’t going to say Wren’s name aloud, and Gethin was blissfully silent behind us. He stood as still as a statue, as though doing so might help him not be seen.
“It doesn’t matter.” Aiden’s voice came dismissively. “They were going to spill Vitality all over this graveyard to get your attention.”
They.
My eyes flicked back to Gethin, and this time Death’s followed. The laugh that spilled behind me was a low, wicked rumble.
“Oh, I know you. How many souls have you sent me, Gethin?” Death’s eyes flicked back to Aiden, who was glaring at his wayward cupid.
“Yes, Gethin. How many?”
For his part, Gethin stayed still, his lips pressed together, his eyes wide. It was smart. Especially when Cole squirmed against Aiden’s hold, his voice spilling out for the first time.
“This isn’t about him. This is about us. Me and Sephtis. We’re not running from your damn dogs anymore, and you aren’t taking him from me again.” Cole’s eyes flicked to Death, even though he still had a hand in his chest.
He was brave.
So brave.
He was beautiful in the fading light, and his eyes glowed with the Vitality still clinging to his lashes. If Aiden hadn’t been here to catch it, he truly would have brought the entire city to chaos.
He would have damned the world to save me.
Gods, I loved him.
“What makes you think you have any say in this? You’re breathing, existing on Vitality and my essence alone.
I should take you both and rip you apart.
” Death started to stalk forward, and I felt my body tense.
If it came down to a fight, I didn’t know if it was one I could win… but I was willing to try.
I was willing to be unmade for him a thousand times over.
“Go ahead.” Cole didn’t take his eyes off Death.
His expression was defiant, that green burning with the same fury he’d thrown at me when he first saw me.
“But we’re standing here because of Fate.
” He almost hissed the name out. “No matter what you do, you can’t change the fact that Sephtis never belonged to you to begin with. ”
Death’s eyes narrowed, that white glow so blindingly bright it nearly burned across my skin. He stalked forward until he was inches from Cole and Aiden, his lips pulling back in a snarl.
“I can feel how broken you are, human. How much you wanted to break him along with you. I can feel your pain, your loss. You would destroy him if you kept him.”
He could feel?
“Ah… what a curse you suffer, darling. Damned to feel every soul that passes through your Lake.” Aiden’s eyes flicked to me, and the smirk on his face when he spoke made it obvious—he was delighted to reveal Death’s secrets…
things I’d never known in the span of my existence.
Things I hadn’t thought possible. “He can feel everything. Every soul you reap, all their love. Their pain, their anger.” Aiden’s eyes lifted, and they were devilish when they looked at my creator.
“Their sadistic nature and vicious little needs. You can feel it all, and you can’t do anything about it, can you? Nothing but want.”
The shock that rippled through me had to be pushed aside. I didn’t have time to process it, though the way he’d acted by the Lakeside… when he’d almost seemed concerned that I was capable of feeling...
Was this why?
Because he knew what it meant?
“Quiet, Fate. Before I show you how sadistic I can be.” The hiss was full of fury. “No matter what you say, it doesn’t change the fact that the heart you hold in your hand and everything keeping it alive belongs to me.”
“Mmm… whatever you say. If you want him that badly…” Aiden wrenched his hand free of Cole’s chest, and he shivered beside me, gasping in a pained breath. “Take him.”
In Aiden’s palm, he held Cole’s heart… a glowing, burning thing. It was wrapped in Vitality and swimming with the black essence that ran through my veins. I felt it, the moment it happened. That beat echoing in my body had become second nature to me, and it faded to silence… spilled to the outside.
I could hear it now, clearer than ever.
Spilling from Aiden’s palm.
And somehow…
Somehow, the fingers in mine still held tight. That red thread trailed between us—wrapped around his heart and connecting us both. When I looked back at him, Cole’s eyes were pure light… prismatic.
But he was still smiling at me.
“Fine. Let’s be done with this, then.” Death reached out, and when his hand touched Cole’s heart, my body shivered.
That Vitality started to spill into Death’s hand, and when it did, a scream tore from my throat. I felt myself…
Flicker. I’d always wondered if Reapers could die, if we could be unmade… and in that moment I knew.
We could.
The line that tethered me to Cole seemed determined to keep us together.
Through life.
Through death.
I’d given it more times than I could count. I’d felt the fear and loss of it over the past year… but I’d never truly known what dying felt like.
Until now.
My vision blurred, and a scream echoed my own.
It took a moment for me to realize it wasn’t Cole. Cole was standing beside me with my hand still in his own, his strength the only reason I was still on my feet.
The sound had come from Death, who was staring with wide eyes at the heart he still held.
“What is this?” he hissed. His gaze turned up to Aiden. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.” He looked as confused as Death did, though his expression was chased with soft amusement. It was Cole who gave the softest smile.
“Your Reapers are a part of you… and he’s a part of me. We’ve always been a part of each other. If you kill me, you’ll take everyone with you. Can Death be unmade?”
He sounded so sure. So full of faith that our connection was strong enough to tear down Death himself.
And beside me, Death’s eyes widened as he clenched his fingers around Cole’s heart and our screams echoed out in duet again.
That pale hand jerked away, and he hissed. “Put it back.”
He wasn’t talking to Cole. His eyes were all for Aiden, who arched a brow as he looked at him, actually pushing his hand forward.
“Are you sure? You don’t want it?” He pressed Cole’s heart forward like it wasn’t the most precious thing in the world, and it was only the strength of my soulmate’s fingers in mine that kept me still.
The surety in his gaze that this would work—that what we were was so strong we could survive this.
“Put it back, Fate. Before you shatter the entire balance of the worlds above and below. Souls have already been reborn before their time because of the Vitality he’s stolen.”
I’d never heard Death sound… worried. But his eyes darted between that precious red heart in Aiden’s hand and our joined fingers…
“Mmm, if I put it back, he doesn’t just belong to you anymore. You realize that, right? He belongs to me. A human and a Reaper in love… imagine the possibilities.”
“Put it back.”
With a laugh, Aiden nodded. His fingers closed, and the shining red in his hand disappeared, and Cole drew in a deep breath.
I could feel it—the beat in my chest started up again, stronger than ever, back behind my ribs where it belonged.
Cole stumbled, and I caught him, pulling him to my chest as though my arms around him could keep him safe.
I wanted to press my lips to his—wanted to taste his heartbeat on my tongue so I knew it was really real, really there.
Instead, I dragged him so my body was between his and Death’s.
There would be time for that later—I had to believe there would be time for everything later.
I had to believe as much as Cole did, because some part of me knew that it was his faith in me…
in us, just as much as the red thread that had saved us just now.
Love.
He hadn’t even said it, but I could feel it burning through our connection, pouring into me.
“You’re a clever little human, I’ll give you that.
A cheat, pulling Fate’s little red lines around you like a shield…
but that changes nothing.” Death’s voice was a furious hiss when he turned his gaze back to Cole.
“You’re full of life that doesn’t belong to you, and my essence is keeping your soul from fleeing your body.
You’re a ticking time bomb, ready to be torn apart by the soul hounds and spill Vitality and chaos across the world.
” That fury in his tone dropped, and his eyes flicked between the two of us.
“I see the connection, I feel it. But it doesn’t mean anything.
You can’t keep the Vitality running through you, and it’s the only thing keeping you alive. You have to die.”