“Yeah, yeah. I know. You’ll cut me. What for this time?”
“Taking her side.”
“She fainted, not you. It’s suspicious.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” I throw my hands into the air. “What exactly would I have done to her, River?”
“It’s my duty to ensure you don’t do anything. It’s not like you don’t have a number of reasons to be angry.”
“I don’t want her dead.”
“Good to hear. Otherwise, I’d need to lock you up.”
His hand is under my elbow, ushering me from the room.
“Get your hands off of me,” I gripe, snapping my arm from River’s firm grasp. “I’m not a damn criminal. I simply told her something she didn’t want to hear.”
“I don’t blame her. It’s a lot of information to have dumped on her in one day.”
“Well, too damn bad,” I screech. “Isn’t that how the mother-daughter relationship is supposed to work? I’m getting caught up for a lifetime of moments just like this.”
I’m not sure where the anger is coming from, but it’s building by the second. Not that I don’t have a million and one reasons to be angry.
I have a mother and a father that were kept from me my entire life. The man I love forced me to come here, to uncover that on my own. My mother just made her thoughts on who I love very clear, by throwing herself to the ground. And the one person I know here and had hoped would be my ally is currently glaring down at me, as though I knocked out his beloved queen with my own bare hands.
“You know, River, if I had any plans of following through with the sham of a marriage with you, this would be one epic strike against you.”
“And why is that, princess?”
“You’re a turncoat, just like the angels.”
“I’m not. I’ve always been on the queen’s side. You’ll have my loyalty when your marks don’t include Camille.”
“Ugh. You’re so transparent. Get a life, River. She isn’t yours. She promised you to her daughter, for Heaven’s sake. Which—news flash—is me!”
“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.”
“Too late. You speak, you lose.”
His eyes roll back into his head, entirely too melodramatically. “For the damn record, your jealousy is ridiculous, considering you’ve made it abundantly clear that a marriage between us isn’t going to happen. So, like I said, my allegiance is still to my queen.”
That’s fair, I suppose, but I won’t admit it out loud. He’ll have to pry like usual to uncover my acceptance of his allegiances.
“Noted, princess. I’ll continue to pry away.”
“Ugh!” I groan. “You can start calling me Your Highness,” I say, sounding like a hoity-toity brat but unable to stop myself.
This reaper grates on my nerves and boils my blood, almost as well as Lucifer himself did when he reappeared.
“I can find my way back to my room. Unless you plan to lock me in a cage? Jail me? Since I must’ve permanently scarred your precious queen,” I continue to taunt, pressing my luck if River’s severe stare is any indication.
He takes a deep breath. “You’ve both had a long day, Victoria. Maybe you should head back to your room and get some rest.”
The fight bleeds out of me at the mention of how long a day it’s been. Exhaustion sweeps over me and suddenly, rest sounds like precisely what I need. “I don’t know the way back, but yes. I’d like to rest.”
“I think she can help you with that,” he says, motioning toward someone behind me.
I turn around to find Leanna standing with her arms crossed looking agitated, which leaves the door open for me to poke the bear.
“What are you? My personal angelic chauffeur?”
She doesn’t say a word but cuts me with a glacial scowl. So I continue on with my aggravation.
“Since when do you run errands for reapers?”
I manage to sound like a snotty child, but it can’t be helped. I came to the reaper kingdom a strong warrior and have regressed to an infant with lackluster jabs.
In all fairness to me, I was never allowed to be a child. Guess I’m making up for it now.
I need to get the hell out of here.
It’s making me entirely too pathetic.
Leanna shakes her head. “Glad to see you’re not in denial, Victoria.” She turns to River. “Got any of that melatonin stuff that humans drug their kids with? Really, any sleeping concoctions will work.”
River chuckles. “All out of human drugs.”
She groans. “I don’t think I can deal with whatever this is,” she says, motioning to me.
“Yeah, good luck. I need to get back in there to see what’s happening with Camille.”
Leeanna cocks her eyebrow, clearly wondering what’s up with that whole dynamic.
I shrug. “If you figure it out, let me know.”
River looks between us, confused by the unspoken conversation we’re having. I don’t need to read her mind, and she doesn’t need to read mine, to know that we’re both equally mystified.
It comes from centuries of training and fighting side by side.
“Let’s go,” she says, and I follow her, turning my back on River. I don’t glance in his direction again.
Wherever she’s taking me doesn’t look familiar.
“Is this the way back to my room?”
“No. I think you’re in need of some stress reduction.”
“Good Lord.” What does she have up her sleeve?
“Trust me, Victoria. This place is getting to you, and the effects are not pretty.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Did you just hear yourself back there? You sound like a sixteen-year-old twit. Pull yourself together. It’s embarrassing.”
I cringe at her description because there’s not a part of me that doubts the accuracy.
“All right. whatever you have in mind, I’m game. Let’s do this. Snap me be back together.”
I probably shouldn’t trust her, but I do.
We walk out the door and into the garden I could see from my window, but she keeps walking toward the tree-lined edge of the yard. When we break the barrier of the pines, we find a wide-open field, with over two dozen reaper guards in various states of combat.
“We’re gonna train?”
She nods. “Best way to release the stress.”
I could kiss her. She’s never been more right. I take back all the things I said about her . . . at least for the next hour.
“Hiya boys,” she calls, and at least five reapers look in our direction. The rest completely ignore her, too caught up in their training.
The few that look in our direction stiffen when they realize who we are.
Two step forward and one removes their cap, allowing long black hair to fall over her shoulders. I recognize her immediately.
“Hi Cat.”
She smiles at me. “Come to join us?”
“Please. I’m in desperate need of letting off some steam.”
She chuckles. “A few hours in the presence of River will have you feeling all sorts of pent-up.”
Something tells me her idea of pent up and mine where River is concerned differs greatly, but I don’t call her on it.
“This is Max. He’s one of the reaper guards.”
“Hi,” he says, tipping his chin.
“This is Princess Victoria,” Cat tells him, and every reaper who wasn’t paying us any attention before now swings toward us in shock. “River told me,” she explains. “Should I bow?”
“Good Lord, please don’t. I’m still not quite adjusted to this.”
She smiles. “Something tells me you never will be.”
I laugh. “You’re probably right.”
“Okay,” she says, getting back to the reason we’re all here. “Why don’t you two come with us,” she says, motioning towards a makeshift ring. “We’re working on martial arts. Isn’t that what they call it on Ea
rth?”
I smile. “That’s a blanket term, but yes, that’ll work.”
“Good,” she says, nodding her head one too many times. “Who is your angel friend?” she asks, finally addressing Leeanna.
“This is Lee. She’s my escort.”
“I’m her friend, not her escort,” she says.
“God made her come to chaperone me, so she’s my friend and escort today.” My tone is teasing, but Lee doesn’t appear amused.
“I’m not.”
“She is,” I counter. “Just ignore her. She’s bitter about it.”
Lee glares in my direction.
“Lee, you go with Max. I’ll train with the princess.”
I groan. “Can we maybe just stick with Tori?”
She smiles. “Whatever you want.”
For the next two hours, we train vigorously. Cat is a worthy opponent. Her skills are some of the best I’ve come across. I don’t doubt why Camille made her one of her personal guards.
When we’re done, my body aches and sweat coats my back. Drops of moisture run down my cheeks. I have not felt this good in some time.
“Ah, I had no idea how badly I needed that,” I rush out. “I really need to make sure this happens every day. It’s been killing me not to train.”
“So, you truly hunt demons on Earth?” Cat asks, sounding skeptical.
“I do. I had to contribute something.”
“But from what I’ve heard of Earth, there is so much to do. So much to see. You didn’t have any interest in exploring?”
“You’ve never been to Earth?” I ask, surprised by this revelation.
“No. I lived in another galaxy.”
I know there are other lands, the Fae lands being one, but this is the first time I’ve met someone not of Heaven, Earth, or Hell.
“I’m from a small planet too far for Earth to glimpse even with their fancy telescopes and space travel,” she explains. “It’s similar to Earth’s Scotland in way of terrain, but it’s much smaller. The entirety of my planet is the size of the United States.”
“Interesting. What’s it called?”
“Searfoss.”
“You’ll have to tell me about it sometime.”
She beams. “I will. But back to why you hunt,” she presses. “I’m so intrigued.”
I sigh, not knowing where to even begin. “To be honest, when I fell, I was miserable. I wanted back into Heaven, and the closest thing to that was hunting demons. I devoted my entire existence while I was on Earth to doing that.”
“Why did you fall if you didn’t want to leave Heaven?”
My eyes land on Lee’s, and she looks away.
“I fell in love.”
Cat’s eyes widen. “Oh . . . well I guess that’s one reason to fall.” She doesn’t seem convinced that my reasoning makes sense.
I shrug. “If you’ve never been in love, you wouldn’t understand.”
Her eyes squint in confusion. “But you said you were miserable.”
“I did,” I admit. “When I fell, I realized that the man wasn’t exactly who I thought he was.”
She gasps. “You were catfished. I’ve heard about that,” she says, sounding excited by the prospect. “Some of the reapers”—she leans in conspiratorially—“well, they kind of have a sort of Earth obsession. They collect stuff while there on assignment. Even though they’re not supposed to,” she whispers. “One smuggled in a cell phone with some YouTube clips recorded on it. We’re really not supposed to have that stuff, so don’t mention it to the queen, please.”
I mimic zipping my lips. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“So tell me, was it a woman?”
I laugh at how invested she is in something that didn’t quite happen. “No, it was not a woman.”
I suck on my teeth, trying to decide whether to admit the truth to this reaper. I’ve already made one of them faint today; should I tempt River’s wrath? What the heck do I care? She asked. They both did.
“It was Lucifer.”
Gasps, grunts, and even a shriek pop off like gunshots around us. I can’t even process all the sounds that just assaulted me. Apparently, every reaper in the vicinity had been tuned in to what I thought was a private conversation.
“Lucifer as in Satan?” Cat asks.
“One and the same,” Lee grinds.
“I’m so sorry. That’s horrible. For him to mess with you like that . . . I mean . . . I’ve never had any direct contact with him, but most of the reapers who have don’t make it seem like he’s as bad as Heaven has led people to believe.”
“He’s not,” I snap a little too forcefully in Lee’s direction. I soften my tone and turn back to Cat. “For the record, I wasn’t miserable because of who he was. I was miserable because he thought I couldn’t handle the truth, and he left.”
“Oh.” It’s all she says, looking horrified.
“That’s water under the bridge, though. We’re together again.”
She shuffles her feet, looking at the ground. “I’m sorry if this is overstepping, but aren’t you to marry River?”
Lee grunts, and I laser her with a glower. “Stay out of this. We just made amends; don’t make me take that back.”
Her hands rise in surrender, but I don’t miss the smirk she sports at my distress.
River is the second highest reaper in this kingdom and I’m about to make it clear I have no interest in him. That can’t go over well. At least, I imagine it won’t.
“That’s . . . not happening. He seems great, but my heart belongs to Lucifer.”
There, I softened it as much as possible.
“I just . . . I thought the queen . . .”
“Yeah, well . . . it’s not going to be a thing. Even if Camille demands it.”
Cat appears to ponder what I’ve said for a couple minutes, looking more confused by the second. “You don’t find him attractive?” she finally asks.
I smile. “It’s not that I don’t, but I love someone else. That matters more.”
She nods her head, but she doesn’t seem to be comprehending what I’m saying, so I change the subject.
“Are you done for the day?”
“Yeah, I think so. I have patrol shortly.”
Something crackles, and she grabs at her ears. “It’s an announcement,” she says in explanation.
That’s when I realize she’s wearing an earpiece.
“Okay boys, time to finish up. We have some preparations to work on.”
“Preparations?” Lee asks.
“Apparently there’s to be a ball tomorrow in your honor. The directive just came down from River, straight from the queen herself.”
“So the damsel’s finally awake?”
Lee snorts.
Cat looks between us, perplexed. “Awake?
“Never mind,” I say, not wanting to get into the specifics of what’s happened. “Lee, can you help me find my room? I’ll see you later, Cat.”
“See you later, princ— Tori,” she corrects, smiling shyly.
I wave over my shoulder. My mind is stuck on this ball. Reapers didn’t strike me as creatures who put stock in fancy shindigs. I’m definitely going to need a lot of rest if I’m to grin and bear a ball. Especially one in my honor.
RUN
I’m in a fresh level of Hell.
Two young reaper girls torture me with various forms of beautification, despite my every protest.
They were sent by the queen herself, tasked with making me presentable. I’m to be introduced to the whole of the kingdom, and Camille insists I look my absolute best.
Like she’d know what that even looks like.
I’ve hardly had more than fifteen minutes with my mother, and that didn’t exactly end well. I’m certainly not ready to meet her people.
The petite reaper with a black pixie cut curls one last piece of hair before stepping back and kissing her fingers like some chef at a human restaurant.
“You look incredible.”
Her Italian accent catches me off guard. This is the first time she’s spoken since she walked in the room.
I probably shouldn’t ask, but curiosity wins out. “What’s your story?”
“My story?” she asks, seeming startled at my having spoken.
“Yeah, you know . . . how did you come to be here?”
Her confusion melts into a smile. “The queen saved me. I had experienced a great level of trauma as a human, at the hands of my stepfather.” Her eyes lower. “I chose to take my own life to escape it.”
I wasn’t expecting that. Unsure what to say, I remain quiet and hope that doesn’t offend her.
“We reapers have a series of codes that determine where souls are to be taken.” My eyes meet hers through the mirror.
“The reapers choose where souls go? I thought that was God?”
“In the beginning, it was, but as the human population grew, souls needing reaping grew too. God entrusted us to make the determination,” she explains. “Based on our codes, suicide is automatic condemnation.”
I had no idea that was the case. In truth, I know little about what happens once a human dies, outside of that they go to either Heaven or Hell.
“The queen was transporting me, and due to my anxiety, I have a tendency to overshare.” She chuckles. “I was so nervous; I couldn’t stop talking. I blabbed my entire story to her, and that’s when she decided I wasn’t going to Heaven or Hell, but she was bringing me with her back to the kingdom of Solis.”
“Solis.”
The reaper kingdom was named Solis? Nobody had mentioned its name until now, and it hadn’t struck me as odd until now.
“Yes, this is Solis,” she says with furrowed brows. “Has nobody told you that?”
When naming the blade that would sit at my side, Solis had come to me like a whisper on the wind, and right now, I have a feeling it was no coincidence. But this isn’t the person to quiz on the matter.
I shake my head, eager to get back to the girl’s story. Something about it doesn’t sit right with me.
Not that I don’t trust the reapers. Every single one that I’ve met thus far has been great, but God is the all-knowing being. How can the last few minutes of a person’s life determine whether their soul should live in paradise or Hell?
The girl’s situation can’t be the only story out there like this. How many people were dragged to hell that truly didn’t deserve it? She did the only thing she knew to escape a terrible circumstance. She was let down by the people she loved on Earth. Someone should’ve known what they were dealing with.
Trust the Fall (Fallen Hunters Series Book 2) Page 18
