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Cool breath breezed over my neck and collarbones, making me shiver, but not in a way that had me wanting to go anywhere else. I finally could place what Reaper’s scent reminded me of, the Caprificus forest after fresh rainfall, earthy and floral and rich. It was a comfort I wanted to shade myself under, to nestle within.

I lifted up onto my toes, fingers trailing the seam of fabric covering the bottom half of their face. “So that’s why you made the bargain?”

“It is.”

“And that’s all?” I wanted to see them. All of them. To tear away this mask between us.

Reaper’s cool hand left my jaw, and I jolted at the loss of them. Slipping their hand over mine, they guided it off of the fabric, but didn’t let go of my fist clutched in their palm as they muttered, as if to themself, “For now.”

“This is where you’ll be staying,” Reaper said, the frosted glass door sliding down into the floor. I slowly stepped over the threshold after them. There was a long cushioned chair that could fit a few people across it, a circular table, cabinets, and other cooking gadgets I’d caught only glimpses of during my time in the palace. Then there was a long narrow hallway with a few frosted glass doors.

A fireplace sat against the opposite wall, a lone rectangular stone with something situated atop it that I couldn’t quite see. Reaper waved me further into the room, and with a wave of their palm, the door lifted back into place.

“I know it’s not much but I hope over time you’ll feel more at home here. There’s not much in the way of decor but, if there’s something you want, all you have to do is ask and I’ll try my best to procure it.”

“Thank you.”

Not that I had any idea what else would belong. I’d only ever lived in the forest, the only decorations were the brightly lit stars above, the rustling leaves in their various jeweled shades, and the radiant blooms that told me the seasons.

“Kitchen is here.” Reaper pointed to the cabinets and circular table then down to the first frosted entryway. We strode closer, a few shadows sneaking out from their back and slipping down toward the ground before Reaper tugged at their pant leg, wrangling them back somewhere beneath their smooth skin. A few long scars ran across their low back, slightly silvery in the dim light. “Bathroom is that door on the left and then to your right you have the bedroom which opens out to the balcony.”

My heartbeat scattered.

One bedroom.

“Yes. Scythes don’t normally share living space with anyone other than theircompara.”

“What is that?” I asked.

“Their soul’s other half.”

“And do all scythes have one—acompara?” I said, trying to make conversation and not think anything more of it.

“We do.” The door opened, revealing a round room with a circular bed at its center with dark grey blankets over black sheets and a handful of fluffy pillows. The whole room was painted charcoal with long tapered sconces that lined the walls which illuminated the moment the door disappeared into the ground. “There haven’t been any new couplings in a long time.”

“How long?” I shifted my attention from the large, singular bed to the scythe next to me, their muscled shoulders carved in moonlight.

“I’m not sure exactly, but I think the last scythe found theirs over three decades ago.”

So long ago…“What happened?”

“I think you know.”

The lost splendors. The timing of when I’d been left was too close a match. They were the scythes’compara. No wonder they’d all been staring at me when I’d arrived.

Reaper nodded without me saying a word and dragged a finger gently along the curve of the frosted glass wall that presumably led out to the balcony. It was too dark to make out the shape of anything but how I longed to be outside beneath the stars.

“Anyways,” Reaper continued, walking back toward the doorway, “if you can help free the souls of the Emperor’s victims then they could be free to live in Occasus, and even possibly find their compara.”

“Who knows, perhaps you’ll find yours?” The words scratched up my throat and I swallowed thickly, suddenly parched.

“Perhaps, Songbird, perhaps.”

They walked through the door, not glancing back behind them. “Now let’s get you some sustenance before we really get started. I’ll give you the rest of the tour later.”

I followed Reaper out of the room, equally hopeful and haunted by everything I’d learned.

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