Page 6 of Gods and Graves

CHAPTER SIX

KRYSTIAN

T he first thing I notice is that the girl is beautiful. Otherworldly so.

Her face is small, almost delicate, though her lips are full and pouty. Kissable. Bitable.

Wavy, golden hair cascades around her shoulders like moonlight and sunlight woven together. Blue eyes, framed by thick lashes, peer back at me, wide and guileless and full of disbelief.

She wears, of all things, a dress. A goddamn ball gown.

The bodice clings to her ample breasts, the fabric adorned with hundreds upon hundreds of tiny, intricate jewels.

The skirt is short in the front, revealing the full extent of her tan legs, and long in the back.

It extends behind her like a gossamer train.

One second, the area she now stands in was empty. The next, she appeared, seemingly out of thin air, with a dagger in her hand.

A dagger she used to save my brother.

Who the fuck is she?

Why is she following us?

Did she have something to do with the hellhounds and their attacks?

“Who. Are. You?” Everett repeats, digging the sword into her skin hard enough to draw blood.

I wince instinctively, despite knowing she’s a threat. It’s hard for me to see a woman in pain. Call me old-fashioned.

I may be a womanizer, but I’m a respectful womanizer.

The crazy chick begins to laugh, tears streaming down her cheeks as she holds her stomach.

“Oh my god. What is happening?” she breathes out through peals of laughter.

She seems entirely unconcerned that Everett has a sword at her throat and Zaid has snuck up behind her.

Rafe and I stand slightly apart, though I haven’t lowered my bow yet. She’s hot as sin, but they’re usually the most dangerous. Certainly the craziest.

Rafe simply tilts his bloody head to one side, staring at her with unblinking eyes.

Then, abruptly, the woman drops to the ground and begins to pluck at the tufts of grass.

“Oh my god! Grass! This is what grass feels like!” she exclaims, a wide, beguiling smile on her face.

It somehow transforms her from simply beautiful to…ethereal. Stunning. Breathtaking.

Fuck.

“Here! Feel!” She holds a blade in Zaid’s direction, who simply gapes at her, unsure of what to say or do.

I understand his dilemma. On one hand, she saved his life. On the other…

“Who the fuck are you?” Everett repeats, exasperation tinging his tone.

“Thea.” Still sitting, she extends a hand for the surly shifter to shake.

He doesn’t.

But I, unlike my neanderthal brother, have manners.

“Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Thea,” I say, leaning over her proffered hand to press my lips against her skin.

“So that’s what a kiss feels like,” she murmurs, her gaze fixed on where my lips touched her.

A flush crawls up her neck and seeps into her cheeks.

Has this stunning woman never been kissed before?

I feel my cock stir to attention at the prospect of her being untouched. Innocent.

“Thea.” Everett says her name like it’s a curse word, though if Thea hears the derision in his voice, she doesn’t show it.

She simply turns to him and smiles, waiting for him to continue his interrogation.

“What are you doing here? Were you following us? Did you send those hellhounds after all those people?”

The smile fades from her face, and her nose crinkles in a way I almost find…adorable.

Ugh.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

“Um. I’m here because I was doing a job, same as you, apparently. No, I wasn’t following you. Not really. I only stalked you for, like, five minutes, tops. And finally, no. I did not send those hellhounds after anyone. That would lead to more work for me.”

“She’s telling the truth,” Rafe says quietly, his head still canted at an odd angle as he studies her.

As a member of the fae community, Rafe is incapable of telling a lie.

And as a blood fae, he can detect whether or not anyone else is lying.

He says their blood has a “tell”...whatever that means.

I think he’s full of shit, but I wouldn’t dare call him out on it.

The last person who challenged Rafael ended up in thirty-seven different pieces.

I don’t necessarily like the way Rafe is staring at the girl now.

That unwavering intensity… I’ve only seen it a few times before.

And every time, the person who captured his attention ended up dead.

“If you weren’t following us, then why are you here?” Everett demands, his jaw twitching.

“I told you.” Thea stares at him like he’s daft. “I’m working.”

“Were you hunting the hellhound?” I ask, and when she turns to me, I flash her an encouraging smile.

“Errr. Yes?” She phrases it as a question.

“Lie,” Rafe deadpans.

Thea huffs out a breath, blowing at a piece of blonde hair that has fallen across her face.

“Okay, fine. I was hunting you guys.” She waves her hand in the air dismissively, but I go very, very still.

She was…hunting us?

I don’t want to think that someone as tiny as her is a threat, but I can’t deny her words or the severity of them.

“You just said you weren’t stalking us,” Everett growls, digging the sword into her throat once more.

“I wasn’t. I only just arrived.” She sounds defensive.

“All of this is the truth,” Rafe tells us, his tone carefully impassive.

Dozens of questions flood my mind, each one more confusing than the last.

“We don’t want to hurt you, lovely Thea,” I tell her with another charming smile—though the effect is probably lost on her, considering I still have an arrow trained at her chest. “Just tell us the truth.”

“I’m telling you the truth.” She plucks at another blade of grass and holds it in the air to examine it, twisting it to and fro.

“I only just arrived, but I came for you guys. Or, at least, one of you. Don’t know which one for sure, though I’m ninety-nine percent sure it was for your handsome wraith. ”

She lifts her free hand…which I now see holds a strange dagger etched in runes.

“Drop your goddamn weapon!” Everett barks.

At the same moment, I pull back the string of my bow.

Please don’t make me shoot you.

Please, please don’t make me shoot you.

“You asked me for the truth!” Thea points out, sounding exasperated. “I was sent here to collect one of your souls. I don’t know what happened, or how long it’ll last, but somehow, I ended up corporeal.”

My heart hammers in my chest like a caged animal.

“Wait.” I slowly lower the bow so it’s no longer aimed at her. “Are you saying…?”

“I’m a reaper,” she explains with an eye roll, as if that fact should’ve been obvious. “And I was supposed to reap one of you. Probably the wraith, but somehow, I saved his life instead. Now…can one of you buy me popcorn? Please?”