Page 11 of Reaper’s Curse

“Great to see you. It’s been far too long.” Aoes pulled back and beamed at the girls. “And I see you brought my two favorite bright stars.”

One of the girls glowed, a wide smile gracing her lips. The other, the afflicted one, merely stared at the pub manager. Aoes ruffled the hair on their heads.

“Myla. Kira,” he said by way of greeting before turning his attention back to Camilla. “I did have a guest by that name, but she isn’t here at the moment. May I ask how you know her?”

Exactly what I wanted to know.

Camilla bit the edge of her lower lip. “Winter didn’t tell you?”

Aoes’s body stiffened…as did mine.

“Tell me what?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She waved her hand, motioning the girls back toward the door. “My mistake. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Aoes grabbed her arm before she could escape, spinning her back to face him.

“Tell me what, Camilla?” His voice dropped all pretense of kindness, and a hint of irritation seeped into the male’s tone.

But to what did he owe the irritation? At Winter keeping secrets? Or at Winter keeping secrets about Raven?

I could admit to being irritated by both, but I didn’t trust Winter…and I didn’t trust Aoes…so, yeah. My lack of trust bloomed irritation.

Camilla shook her head. “I shouldn’t break his confidence.”

His being Winter’s.

A grumble rolled through my throat. Aoes was taking too long extracting the necessary answers. Maybe the reaper in me would do better. I certainly couldn’t do worse.

I studied the woman’s form through the spyglass. Soaked in the song of her soul. Lonely, it sang. Lonely.

Yes, I could definitely do better than Aoes. In a handful of heartbeats, I was out the door, up the stairs from the underground tunnels, and passing through the storage room to the pub beyond.

All attention in the room swung to me as I entered the space, the young twins’ eyes growing wide. They exchanged a glance and a nod, as if possessing a form of nonverbal communication.

Without releasing his hold on Camilla, Aoes shifted his full body toward me, his expression lacking the usual grin. “When Earl and I couldn’t find you after… We thought you left.”

“I didn’t go far.” I leveled a tight gaze upon the pub manager.

As I advanced on him and his guests, I had only a moment to decide my approach. I was not one of the few reapers who wielded the hypnotic ability to pull answers from the unwilling. Those reapers were rare.

No, my options were far more basic. I either had to go in hard demanding answers or charm the information out of my target.

I had an established history with Aoes in which I had already been too transparent regarding my nature, so storming in and demanding answers wouldn’t likely surprise him. Only, with a lady and two children present, going hard was not my first choice.

But Camilla… That was her name, wasn’t it? Given her soul was singing a lonely melody, I could pack on the charm for her. For answers to my newly awakening questions.

I probably should have taken a moment to clean up and shave, but I hadn’t, and there was no turning back now.

With the fluid stealth of whispering fog, I slid between Aoes and Camilla, liberating her from Aoes’s hold.

I raised her hand to my lips and dropped a warm kiss upon her skin. “Chace Badden, friend of Raven’s. Charmed to make your acquaintance.”

Her cheeks flushed, but she made no move to extract her hand from my gentle grip. “You’re a friend of Raven’s?”

“I am.” I straightened my body and dipped my head to meet her stare.

She openly ogled my features, my face, my chest and arms, my everything. I got the distinct impression she liked what she saw, and I’d allow the visual gobble if it resulted in me extracting the answers I sought.