18. Raven #2
I honestly. Didn’t. Know.
I peered past Aoes to the unnervingly awestruck smiling couple by the table—specifically to the woman. The woman who, in her zombified state, had attacked me the day before. The woman who was no longer afflicted.
“Raven?” Chace prompted, my name surprisingly gentle on his tongue.
I stayed glued in place, rooted by the surprise.
He shifted beside me and cupped my arm. “Did you know?”
How could I possibly have had a single clue? I was a reaper, not a healer.
Unable to urge my voice to work, I shook my head.
His brow pinched, and he turned away to study the newly improved woman in our midst.
The visitors shifted forward. They pressed their hands to their hearts and tipped their heads. Spoke in unison. “M’lady.”
Their gazes turned both anxious and searching, like they wanted something from me. Something they likely wouldn’t receive. They clearly believed me to be the source of the woman’s improved state, but they had it wrong. I couldn’t have had anything to do with her recovery. It just wasn’t possible.
My eyes fluttered to a weak close as I shook my head ever so slightly. I fisted my hands against their trembling. I was no lady, no person of title, no revered individual. And I didn’t have an ounce of healing ability.
I was Raven—a reaper and servant to the passage of souls. A guide. I could not and would not be anything more. Whatever they thought I’d done, I didn’t have a clue how such results had manifested.
I would have stripped the woman of her soul had I been able.
“I am no lady,” I said.
The woman pushed Aoes out of the way and stood directly in front of me.
So close. Too close.
Clutching her chest, she beamed at me. “To me, you most definitely are.”
I shook off her comment and title given.
“What shall I call you, then?” she asked.
“Just call me Raven and nothing more.”
The man remained close at the woman’s back, his face upturned, his posture straight, and a light dancing in his eyes. He didn’t allow his gaze to wander a fraction from the woman. As though, should he do so, she would disappear.
The woman’s smile widened, cracking the dry skin on the sides of her mouth.
She reached for me, seemingly planning to take my hands in her own, but then she hesitated.
Her chest rose, and then she threw her arms around me in a hug, crushing me against her bosom and warmth—her renewed, healthy warmth.
Seizing the opportunity, the man released his words. “I cannot thank you enough for returning my sweet one to me. I was certain she was forever lost.”
I wheezed. “I don’t believe I am responsible. But if I am, then I’m glad I could help.”
The words slipped from my lips even though I didn’t believe for one reaping second that I had anything to do with any healing.
I wanted to yell, I am a reaper, a bringer of death. But I held my tongue.
Extracting myself from the woman’s hold with care, I leaned forward and whispered, “I hope you can keep silent regarding the source of your recovery.”
The two visitors gasped. “But―”
“Please?”
The couple looked at each other as if engaged in a silent debate.
I caught sight of Chace’s watchful gaze, one of reluctant approval. Whether I did or didn’t have anything to do with the miraculous recovery, both of us understood the need to keep our actions secret. At least for now.
On an average reap, the knowledge of our true nature usually incited a fight-or-flight response.
But here, where people had been trapped in a never-ending life, our reception could play out differently.
We wouldn’t know the level of the people’s acceptance until we tested our welcome… our true welcome.
Given the citadel’s current state, if the reception went poorly…
“Can I count on your confidence?” I pressed.
The woman twirled a strand of her hair around her finger, then she whispered to the man and shook her head.
Thoughts of the woman crushing me in her zombified state flashed to my mind. That image quickly transformed into a nightmare of specters. Specters falling upon me. Consuming me. Involuntary shivers raced over my skin.
I didn’t want to think about the curses within the citadel walls—the specters, the afflicted, the magical barrier. Too many challenges faced us. The time didn’t yet feel right to test how Chace and I, in our true capacity, would be received by the citizens of Veritas.
Plus, if I had done something that somehow left me responsible for this woman’s returned health, I needed proof…and knowledge of what I’d done—how I’d done it.
I touched her arm. “I understand your hesitation, but please, I implore you not to say anything.”
“How can you ask such a hardship of us?” The man’s eyes widened, and he placed his hands upon the woman’s shoulders, tugging her backward into the safety of his hold. “Magical news of this magnitude is meant to be shared. Celebrated.”
“We’re not yet ready to relay the news,” I said as if sharing confidence with fellow conspirators in a game of missions and spies. “When we’re properly prepared, and the time is right, we’ll spread the news throughout the citadel.”
“Why not be ready now?” asked the man.
The woman rested her palm against his chest and spared me an apologetic frown. “May we have a moment?”
The visitors backed away from me and mumbled too quietly for me to hear.
I could already envision the flow of gossip among the people. How wildly the word would spread and how unreliably the message could morph.
I swept my gaze past Aoes, his curled fingers pressed against his lips as he attempted to hide a grin and his ever-interested observance. What would he do with the information he’d gathered?
Now that the remedy had been applied, the knowledge could not be stripped away.
A cure existed within the walls of Veritas. Be it me or something other. Would selling such information, controlling it somehow, fit in with the impression I had pieced together of the pub manager and possible smuggler?
My attention finally settled upon Chace. His stature strong—unnaturally still—and as I expected, measuring my every action. Likely trying to discern my thoughts and waiting to see how I would handle the situation.
The messages his body language sent didn’t surprise me. But something else unexpected glimmered in the corner of his eye. Something that left me unsure. Suspicion? Fear? Hope?
Like he saw me…the me beneath all the layers…for the first time.
The couple stopped mumbling and closed the gap toward me once more, drawing me from my thoughts.
I curled my lips into a smile I hoped they would find reassuring as I reached wide and slapped my palms to their upper arms. “Can we count on your confidence?”
They both threw their arms around me in a chorus of accord.
Aoes added his hug to the circle. “This makes me so happy.”
The embrace represented a show of kinship, real or false, with which I was unfamiliar. My family rarely expressed that kind of emotion openly in public, and my friendships remained few.
Not unsurprising to me, Chace held back from the exchange. We were, after all, coworkers by consequence. We were rarely friendly, and I didn’t need him judging me. I judged myself enough already. Whatever I did or didn’t do to make the woman better, I’d figure it out with or without him.
Most likely without him, I decided.
Extracting myself from the shared show of affection, I waved my hands to let them know I’d had enough hugging for now—for the day or even the week and longer, really.
A door off the kitchen swung open, and Earl shuffled in, tray in hand. He carried several steaming bowls and a large basket of bread rolls. He placed the tray on the corner of the bar and trudged toward the coffeepot.
“Earl. You’ll help Earl next.” Aoes waved his arm wide to indicate his old boss.
With a smile brightening all his features, Aoes grabbed napkins and the basket of rolls, then he offered them to his two guests.
I dropped into the nearest seat and rested my head on my hands. What should I do now? Where to begin?
My state of being left me feeling…lonely.
Aoes arrived with two bread rolls and two bowls of porridge. He settled into the seat beside me.
“Breakfast?” He slid one of each in front of me, handed me a wooden spoon, then dug into his meal. “I thought I knew why you folks were here. Collect and study. But…”
He sighed then shoveled a second spoonful of porridge into his mouth and spoke around his food.
“I’ve seen your people attempt many things.
The magic your kind wield is far different from what the people of my dear citadel used to access.
Still…never have I seen any of them, outside of maybe royalty, do anything like this.
Why didn’t you tell me you could do such a thing? ”
“Before today, there was nothing to tell.” I dipped my spoon into the porridge and swirled circles in the mush.
What exactly did he think my kind to be? I snuck a peek at the woman giggling at something the man had said. Her newfound life radiated something beautifully vibrant.
“Honestly…I don’t think I had anything to do with whatever happened to her.”
Chace stepped up to the couple’s table and exchanged a few words with them. Everything Aoes said became static in my ears. I couldn’t hear him or the conversation at the other table. I simply couldn’t draw my gaze from the way Chace moved.
He enveloped my world as my focus consumed all my senses.
His apparent ease in the way he leaned into the other table. The curve of his lips as he smiled, spoke softly. The casual slide of his hand into a position between the woman’s shoulder blades.
A pang shot through my chest. I swallowed hard and pressed my fingers against the internal sting.
Chace’s palm emanated with his reaper’s violet glow.
He’s trying to reap her. Here. In the pub.
And…he appeared to have zero luck.
Aoes leaned into my side and dropped his voice. I blinked back to the conversation before me, shifting my position to block Aoes’s view of Chace. Not that I suspected Aoes had the ability to see the unearthly glow because…not a reaper.