22. Chace
Iallowed a hint of my reaper self to flare in my features.
“Where is she?” I asked for the eleventh or twelfth time―I’d lost count.
I stood toe-to-toe with Aoes and Winter, my teeth clenched, my jaw muscles pulsing.
Sudden understanding flashed across Winter’s face. But as quickly as the unexpected expression appeared, it vanished, leaving the guy’s features cold. No doubt a defensive barrier of sorts. Winter likely still tried to figure out what Raven and I were and why we had come to the citadel.
That’s what I would do if the roles were reversed.
Neither Winter nor Aoes had given me a solid answer. I’d merely received ten or more different versions of I don’t know. But no matter how many times they denied any knowledge of Raven’s whereabouts, I smelled the lie. Winter was drenched in Raven’s scent.
I didn’t even want to consider what they had done together for her scent to cling to him with such strength. Regardless, Winter had recently been in her presence, which meant he held back an important truth.
I raked my hand through my hair and took a step back, scrutinizing the two males, attempting to see their truth and lies through their fake facades.
When Raven had stormed out of the pub that morning, I’d known her anger and frustration ran deep. That she would want time. Time away from me, and time alone to work through her thoughts.
But I had yet to tell her about the individual I’d seen in the shadows the other day. The one who’d appeared to direct the afflicted upon her. She deserved to know that bit of information before setting out into the citadel alone. Especially if she remained somewhere out there at night.
Plus…
I wanted…(and in this place, on this particularly complicated reap) needed…to know her whereabouts. The pompous ass before me had no right keeping her from me. She was―
I ground my teeth. Steadied my thoughts.
She was my coreaper. That’s what she was. No more. No less.
Still…
I’d had the oddest feeling earlier that Raven had suffered some sort of painful injury. For no other reason than that, I needed to know her location and wellness status.
I curled my hands into tight fists.
“Well?” I backed Aoes and Winter against the corridor wall.
My extra sense kicked into hyperdrive, taking in every scent, no matter how minute. I had the nose of a supernatural bloodhound, something I’d not known any other reaper to possess. And that extra sense cataloged a plethora of aromas from the corridor.
Aoes smelled heavily of tobacco, ale, bread, and broth. And Winter… He not only smelled of Raven, but of blood and something else I couldn’t quite place.
I examined the blue-eyed irritation more closely. His hands were scrubbed—they were too clean not to have been. His face as well. Fairly recently…and thoroughly. But a small dark stain smeared the edge of his sleeve. The clench of my teeth tightened.
Noting my attention, Winter glanced down and startled ever so slightly.
He began rolling up his sleeves. “Guess I managed to get a little messy in the kitchen.”
I didn’t buy his excuse for one bloody second. The prick never dressed the part of kitchen help, and the jacket he’d held carefully at his side until that point had shifted with his nervous response, exposing a glimpse of more bloodstains he tried to hide.
“That’s not blood from the kitchen.” I made no attempt to conceal the thick charge of my voice.
I knew the difference between the aroma of animal blood and the blood of other. And Winter’s smell had my hairs on end and a growl growing in my chest. I tilted my chin toward the jacket and exerted a great deal of strength not to lurch forward and grab the item.
If you’ve hurt her…
I bared my teeth. “Whose blood is it, and what happened?”
Something unreadable swam in Winter’s gaze, lightening and sharpening the color of his sky-blue eyes. His chest heaved, and he dropped his gaze to the soiled piece in his hold.
Don’t say Raven. Don’t you dare say her name.
A sense of dread clenched my heart. Cold and lethal. I pushed the emotion away. I couldn’t afford to grant energy to baseless fright.
Winter raised his head, his mouth dropping open. “It. Ahh…”
Aoes stepped between us, his eyes wide. His arms moved sharply and quickly, accentuating his words. “It was horrible. Your friend was coughing and choking and spitting up blood. I thought for sure he was a goner.”
“Aldine?” The idea that the blood on Winter’s clothing belonged to Aldine was somewhat plausible. Rather wishful.
I swung my attention to the room beside Raven’s and the unlatched door. A sliver of light from the space beyond spilled into the hallway.
I marched for the threshold, pushed the door wide open, and stepped a foot inside. “What happened?”
Aoes stood at my back. “I don’t know. It’s not my area of expertise. I seriously thought he was going to die. But then, suddenly, he was much better. And can you believe this? Somewhat lucid.”
I glanced over my shoulder.
Aoes shrugged. Grimaced. “At least, kind of lucid. Enough to utter a few words and shake his head while asking for something. Couldn’t figure out what he wanted, though.”
Aoes and Winter hovered in the doorway as I moved to Aldine’s side. The older reaper slept, but clear signs of activity cluttered the nightstand. A half-empty glass of water, a lukewarm bowl of broth, and…
I snatched the pad of paper and lifted it for Aoes to see. “What’s this?”
I pointed to the letters in rough, unfinished scribbles.
K I L
Did Aldine want to kill someone? Was someone trying to kill him? Or had someone been killed?
My brow tightened.
Aoes moved deeper into the room. “He said something like Killian. I’m not sure what that means, but it seemed to mean a lot to the dude.”
“Killian?” I asked. “Did he say the Killian?”
“Maybe.” Aoes flipped his hands out at his sides.
“Was anyone else here in this room with him, besides you and Winter?”
“Not that I was aware of.” Aoes tossed Winter a sideways glance.
Winter had backed into the hallway but continued to hold his gaze upon the situation—upon me and Aldine.
A hand clasped my wrist with an iron grip.
I startled with a hard jolt and twisted back to Aldine. Fought the urge to yank my arm free.
“Killian,” Aldine whispered, holding firmly to me. “Came for me.”
I leaned closer and lowered my voice to speak without being overheard by the others standing near the door. “The Killian is a myth. A legend created to keep us in line. Don’t speak of him in front of those who are not one of us.”
“He is real. And he was here,” Aldine said, his voice stern. “He told me my collection was temporarily suspended and that I had my charge to thank.”
Aldine’s charge? But I knew nothing of the so-called Killian. And if not me, then…
Reaping demons.
My hands clenched into white-knuckled fists.
Raven.
What did it mean?
I flicked my gaze to the doorway and the two bodies waiting there.
Winter was gone.
As I tramped down the stairs from my room and into the pub, I told myself that I had stayed up late into the night solely to further study the family journal—Chiara’s personal and work diary.
I needed to read every word because the useful facts I hoped to find could be as simple as a single word or the actual word choice.
My night of little sleep definitely had nothing to do with Raven’s absence or awaiting her return. Whatever I thought I smelled on Winter couldn’t have had anything to do with her. Nope. Not at all.
She was a part of my team, though, and we—I—couldn’t afford to lose her. Even if she was reckless, unprofessional, and clearly hotheaded.
And possibly responsible for Aldine’s improved condition.
After the improvement of the zombified woman and Aldine…yeah…Raven was fine. She was mad, mentally upset, but she was physically okay. No other option existed.
Last night, after Aldine’s apparent turn for the better, the two of us had spent a little over an hour together, talking while I helped him wash and get some sustenance in his belly.
I’d heard no sounds of Raven’s return during that time.
She must have come in later, much later, and done so with expert stealth.
I leaned across the bar and grabbed the chunk of bread and dried meat Aoes offered. Today, I would take my meal on the go. I was getting a slow start, having overslept due to my late night. Yet the hours without sleep had not been spent in vain. I’d learned something that just might come in handy.
“You seen Raven this morning?” I asked.
“Nope.” Aoes filled a large mug with water and slid it toward me.
The guy didn’t even bother asking me for my preference.
He’d quickly learned and accepted that at the start of the day, I never partook in any drink that could compromise my reflexes.
For me, water, more water, and the occasional coffee remained my drink of choice.
Ale only ever became my choice if I returned at the end of the day to find Winter hanging around.
Aoes’s gaze flashed to the stairs and back. “Probably getting a late start like yourself.”
I huffed and stifled a frown. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Aoes becoming so familiar with my schedule. Despite Aoes’s hospitality, I still didn’t trust the guy.
I poured the offered water into the skin I carried at my side. “When you do see her, would you let her know that the two of us need to talk tonight?”
Aoes nodded.
“And as for Aldine—”
“Don’t worry, Ace,” Aoes fired back. “Now that he’s on the mend, I’ve already made plans to help him get back to his old self. Physical and mental strength and all that good stuff.”
I gritted my teeth. Since our little chat the first night in the citadel, Aoes had refrained from calling me Ace. At least, to my face, anyway. Only Ubel called me Ace on occasion, and I didn’t take kindly to the nickname. Or to the reminder of my sperm donor.
“Right. Thanks. What exactly do you have planned for him?” I, rather than Aoes, should have mapped Aldine’s recovery plan, but dang if I didn’t have pressing things to attend.