Page 51 of Reaper’s Ruin (Reaper’s Ruin Trilogy #1)

My legs ached from hours of riding, my body sore in places I didn’t know could get sore. But the physical discomfort was nothing compared to the storm of emotions raging inside me.

The Stormsteed’s steady gallop had slowed to a trot as dawn broke over the storm-swept mountains.

We’d been riding all night, putting as much distance as possible between us and Thunderspire.

Between us and the soon-to-be Queen Mother who apparently wanted me dead enough to send her brother across realms to murder me.

“We need to rest soon,” Rhyker said, his deep voice rumbling against my back where I was pressed against his chest. “Moonshadow is tiring.”

I nodded, unable to summon the energy for a proper response. Exhaustion weighed on me, but my mind refused to quiet, churning with questions that had no answers, with one question most prominent in my mind.

Why doesn’t my door appear?

I knew why I’d died—a pawn sacrificed in a royal power struggle I never knew existed. I’d confronted my murderer, watched as Rhyker tore the heart from his chest. I’d even discovered my father was the Storm King himself, making me half-fae royalty.

Shouldn’t that be enough? Shouldn’t I have found peace ?

Unless... maybe it wasn’t enough to know why I’d died and kill the man who’d murdered me. Maybe I needed more.

Maybe I needed Princess Ravenna dead too since she’d been the one to order my death.

The thought made me shiver. When had I become this person?

This vengeful spirit craving the blood of everyone who’d wronged me?

And where would this list end? The Soraya I knew—nursing student, daughter, rule-follower—would have been horrified by the idea I needed blood for blood it seemed.

But that Soraya had died on her living room floor with a dagger in her chest.

“There’s a clearing ahead,” Rhyker said, breaking into my dark thoughts. “We’ll stop there.”

We’d left the main road hours ago, cutting across country through dense forests and shallow streams to make our trail harder to follow.

The clearing he’d spotted was small, sheltered by massive pines on three sides and a rocky cliff on the fourth—defensible, with only one obvious approach.

A small stream cut through it, the soft bubbling of the water like a soothing lullaby.

Rhyker dismounted first, then reached up to help me down. His hands spanned my waist, effortlessly lifting me from the saddle. For a brief moment, I was suspended in his grip, my face level with his, close enough to see the flecks of blue in his storm-gray eyes.

His hands lingered a moment too long, just long enough to make my breath catch. For a moment, I thought he might pull me closer, might press his lips to mine again like I so desperately wanted him to do... but then he set me gently on my feet and immediately stepped back, his expression shuttering.

And there it was again—that maddening distance he kept putting between us. One moment he was tearing out hearts for insulting me, the next he couldn’t bear to touch me longer than necessary.

“I’ll check the perimeter,” he said, already turning away. “Rest. ”

I watched him go, frustration bubbling up inside me. I sank down against a fallen log, my legs grateful for the reprieve after so many hours in the saddle. Moonshadow wandered to the edge of the clearing, lowering his head to graze on the wild grasses.

Alone with my thoughts, I returned to the question that had haunted me since we’d fled the castle: Why hadn’t my door appeared?

“Perhaps it’s not enough to know why you died,” I murmured to myself. “Maybe you need to finish what you started.”

The idea that I might not find peace until Princess Ravenna was dead was unsettling.

I’d never been vengeful before. I’d forgiven the high school bully who’d tormented me for a year.

I’d made peace with the boyfriend who’d cheated on me.

I’d even forgiven the drunk driver who’d sideswiped my car, though insurance had never covered all the damages.

I buried my face in my hands, confused and exhausted.

“Here.”

I looked up to find Rhyker standing over me, offering water in a chunk of wood it looked like he’d hollowed with his dagger. I took it with a murmured thanks, our fingers brushing briefly. Even that slight contact sent a jolt through me, a reminder of how his hands had felt on my bare skin.

He settled across from me, still maintaining that careful distance. His eyes swept the clearing one more time before returning to me.

“You should be safe here for now,” he said.

“Good,” I said, taking a drink from the rustic wooden bowl. The water was cold and sweet, soothing my parched throat. “Though I’m not sure ‘safe’ is a concept that applies to me anymore.”

Silence stretched between us, heavy with all the things we weren’t saying. Finally, I couldn’t bear it anymore .

“I should have gotten my door,” I said, the words bursting out of me. “I know who killed me. I know why. I confronted him. I watched him die. So why am I still here?”

Rhyker’s expression remained unreadable. “I don’t have an answer for you.”

“Could it be because the Princess Ravenna is still alive?” I asked. “Do I need to get vengeance on her too before I can find peace? Because it was her order that killed my mother and me? And in fact, if I’m the daughter of King Aric, then she killed my sister. Elira... she was my half-sister.”

The realization hit me with the same force as that bolt of lightning. I pressed my hand to my chest, breath catching as tears welled in my eyes. “Oh my God. Elira was my sister. My actual sister.”

All those years growing up alone, wishing for a sibling, someone who understood what it was like to wonder about an absent father. And I’d had one. I’d had many.

“I helped her find her door,” I whispered, voice breaking. “All that time I spent talking to her and I never even knew she was my sister. We could have been friends. Could have grown up together. Could have—” A sob escaped me. “And Ravenna killed her. Killed all of them.”

The tears came freely now as the full weight of it crashed over me. “How many others? How many brothers and sisters did I have that I’ll never meet because that woman slaughtered them like cattle? We were a family scattered across realms, and she hunted us down one by one.”

Anger flared inside my chest, hot and intense, burning through the grief. Then a small comfort crept in. “At least five are still alive. With her brothers dead, I hope they are safe now. Safe from our aunt. Someone who should have protected her family not murdered them. ”

My hands clenched into fists. “Is that what this is about? I can’t find peace because now I want Ravenna as dead as I wanted Lord Cassius? Because it’s not just about me anymore—it’s about all of us. Every single one of King Aric’s children she murdered for her sick power game?”

He hesitated. “It’s... possible. Some souls require complete justice before they can move on.”

“Great. Alaric will be King tonight when he’s crowned, so that means I don’t just need to kill a princess.

I need to kill a Queen Mother? A Queen Mother who knows what we look like.

A Queen Mother surrounded by her son’s army.

It’s impossible.” I laughed, but it came out sounding hollow and strange.

“God, when did I become this person? This... this Punisher -style death craver? Like I can’t find peace until everyone who ever wronged me is dead?

I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve it. She does.

But really? Do I really need to see her dead? ”

“Well, is that the kind of person you are?” he asked quietly.

I stared at him, caught off guard by the question.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. The old me—alive me—she wasn’t like that.

She wouldn’t have wanted to go full John Wick on the entire world that wronged her.

But maybe I am. Maybe deep down I’m an eye-for-an-eye kind of girl and I’m in full rage mode like if someone had killed my puppy.

But it was my mom they killed, and me. My siblings. Maybe death changes you. Hardens you.”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps there’s another reason your door hasn’t appeared.”

My gaze moved to Rhyker as his words hit like a sledgehammer.

Maybe it wasn’t vengeance holding my soul to this plane. Maybe the thing tethering me to this world was... him . Maybe some part of me didn’t want my door to come. Not yet. Not when I finally found something—someone—I didn’t want to leave behind.

When had everything become so complicated? When had Death himself become someone I couldn’t bear to lose?

I waited for him to continue, but he just stared into the distance, his jaw clenched tight. Frustration bubbled up inside me.

“Ugh!” I snapped. “Why is this so fucking impossible to figure out? I just want someone to give me the answers.”

“I don’t have answers to give you. I’m sorry.”

I scowled, irritation coursing through me in waves. “Fine. If you can’t tell me why I’m still here, then tell me something else.”

His eyes returned to mine. “What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know. Everything! Anything!” I threw my hands up. “Tell me about the fae courts. Tell me about my fae powers. Tell me why I could take a lightning bolt to the chest and I’m still standing here talking to you.”

Tell me why you kissed me like you’d die without me, then fucked me senseless on that desk, and now you’re acting like it never happened!

I couldn’t bring myself to say the last part, though it almost slipped out.

“I can answer some of those questions,” he said finally, his voice measured.

“The fae courts each have unique powers tied to their elements. The Storm Court controls lightning and weather magic. The Flame Court masters fire in all its forms. The Tide Court commands water. The Sylvan Court bends nature to its will. The Frost Court harnesses ice and snow.”

“And my immunity to lightning? That’s because I’m Storm Court?”