36. Chace
Ikicked open the tower door and…
“Only death awaits you in there.”
I spun toward the familiar voice. The torturer stood within the palace garden, half camouflaged in shadow. He consumed space inside the royal compound’s walls. A placement too close, way too close to Raven.
“Death is everywhere in this citadel,” Aoes countered. “So putter off, Valen. Ace and I have something important to do.”
Valen? My heart kickboxed in my chest. Valen was my torturer?
But Winter and I had been in his workspace and hidden dungeon. Nothing there looked familiar.
Which only meant, he’d held me somewhere different.
My gaze tightened. Was that a tiny smile snaking across his lips?
I wanted to close the distance between us and shred the royal healer to pieces but…
Raven had been working with a deadly threat since her first day at the palace, and… He has his sights set on her now.
Reaper’s hell, I needed to get to her immediately and confirm her well-being.
Turning away from Valen, a.k.a. my imprisoner/torturer, felt like a claw sinking deep into my chest, but Raven was more important and her situation more pressing…if the crows were to be believed. And my gut said they were.
Swinging back to the tower door, I followed Raven’s aroma inside and to the stairwell under the stairs.
I rushed forward, ready for anything. Ready to fight the Killian or any other monster. Whatever measures were necessary to keep Raven safe.
But my speedy trek down to the circle chamber at the bottom (with Aoes on my tail) led to no signs of Raven. And what we did find…
“What in the living hell?” Aoes dropped to his knees beside a broken body lying on the ground, not seeming to care about the mess coating the floor.
Blood seeped into the knees of his pants and the dragging hem of his jacket. His shaky hands hovered around the perimeter of the female’s head, as if wanting to touch her but afraid to do so.
He pressed his fist to his mouth.
The woman appeared to be of reaper kind, as suggested by her coloring, clothing, and the unused tool hanging at her hip. The cut from her shoulder to waist was sharp, clean, and utterly ugly. Likely caused by a scythe wielded by a powerful force in a hard, downward strike.
My nostrils flared, taking in the surrounding scents. Raven had been here. Her strong aroma left no doubt about that fact. She reeked of shock and fear and determination.
The Killian had also been present, his scent lingering. He was likely responsible for the mess on the floor and the reaper’s violent departure. But Raven was no longer present, so—
My chest squeezed, making each breath more difficult.
So…I continued my thought…given the absence of Raven’s body, she was―hopefully―still alive. And if she were alive, I would find her.
Somewhere above, beyond the tower walls, the calling caws of the circling crows found their way to me in the darkened chamber.
The black birds appeared to have a special connection with Raven.
I’d witnessed the way they were drawn to her, and I had no doubt they would help locate her.
Although with my new soul hunter senses, the help was less needed than appreciated.
The flutter of wings drew my gaze upward. A couple of birds flew through the open doorways at the top of the stairs and circled the ceiling of the chamber.
My attention swiveled from the feathered beasts to the scene at my feet.
Beneath the deceased reaper, a magical symbol was drawn upon the stone floor.
Instinct told me the symbol was not directly related to the reaper’s demise.
Although it was likely the reason for her presence in this place.
Probably the thing that drew Raven down here…
instead of upward, to the blotch-shadowed window above.
Smudges marred the symbol. In some places, the lines fractured or erased by an apparent hard swipe of a hand, and—I bent low and sniffed—blood. Raven’s blood.
She’d done this, destroyed the markings. Had she been injured in the process?
The amount of blood I detected as hers was slight, thank the reaping god, so whatever injury she incurred wasn’t likely to be grave.
Scattered stones and bones littered the chamber floor. Had they been positioned in particular spots on or within the symbol?
What magic had Raven undone?
Aoes drew in a ragged breath. “What happened to you, Chiara? Why were you here? And where is…”
Chiara? As in my distant relative? The one who was sent to the citadel a hundred years ago, never to return? The very relative whose journal was in my possession?
I stiffened. “You knew her?”
“Yes. I mean, sort of.” Aoes straightened the hairs around her face. “I thought I’d told you. Maybe I didn’t. Or maybe I was unclear. I don’t…”
His words faded as he steepled his hands and pressed his fingers to his lips.
I didn’t have the clarity of mind to worry about Aoes or Chiara, the latter being beyond worry at that point. She was gone, and nothing in my power would change that fact. Still…
What happened here that led to her demise?
And…
In what manner is Raven involved?
I rubbed my chest and scrutinized the scene.
Raven was somehow involved, but with no one else to question about the situation, the answers to how and how much might remain elusive until I located her. Which I was going to do. Right. Now.
I marched past the death scene in the center of the room and followed Raven’s aroma toward a pitch-black tunnel at my right. Above my head, black birds cawed and dove. Swooped past me into the darkness of the passageway ahead.
Aoes jumped to his feet. “Where are you going?”
I paused and glanced over my shoulder at the pub manager. “I’m going to find Raven. She is my priority above all else.”
“But—”
“You’re over a hundred years old, right?” I asked, cutting off what I suspected would be an objection.
Aoes swallowed hard and nodded.
“Then can I trust you to do whatever needs to be done here? I’m sure your friend Winter would be quite helpful, considering the location.”
Aoes sucked back a breath through his teeth and fixed his composure, straightening his back and squaring his shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’ll do what needs to be done. You go find our girl.”
With a sharp nod, I turned back to the darkness, paused, and patted my thigh pocket.
My fingers brushed the bulk within, verifying the presence of a small journal filled with hand-drawn maps documenting the network of underground tunnels.
After finding the notebook in Raven’s room, I’d taken to keeping it on my person… just in case.
Armed with the maps and my hunter senses, I stepped into the tunnel. Several strides in, a dark shape slumped against the wall caught my attention.
My nostrils flared. The associated scent had absolutely nothing to do with Raven. Therefore, whoever lay there was not my present concern.
“There’s another body over here,” I called over my shoulder.
“I’ll check it out,” Aoes replied.
And with that, I became one with the darkness, handing over control to my soul hunter instincts.
I hunted Raven’s soul, and I would not stop until I had her back in my arms…alive, healthy, and safe.