Page 135 of Reaper’s Curse

I was staring at one of my siblings. Tortured and deformed, and reaping hell knew what else. The entity baring his gnarly teeth was my brother.

My heart caved inward, and my attention snagged on the collar around his neck. “What did they do to you, brother?”

I appeared far different than I had the last time I’d been in the company of my siblings, but I suspected their senses were greater than mine. Unlike me, they hadn’t taken the husk of another form, merging with the gifts and abilities of a different species.

My brother leered over me, pure in our original creation, albeit a deformed version.

I prayed he could detect the subtle nuances that indicated my origin.

He winced, jerked a fraction, then intensified his scrutinizing stare. His gaze wandered over every feature of my face and finally zeroed in on my eyes.

“Deo?” He shook his head. “No. You can’t be. Deo was lost to us long ago.”

“I was. And I am Deo no longer. I’ve changed, as you can see, and I now go by Chace.”

My brother lifted his hands, removing the press of weight upon my chest. “You took a new host?”

“Had no choice.” My breath heaved through my chest like sand through crushed stone. “And you, Alcander,” I said, his name settling firmly in my memory, “What has become of you? Of the others?”

I both feared and needed to know the answer.

“All original, as you can see, with a few minor changes.” Alcander moved a palm to the deformed side of his face. “But in many ways, I fare better than the others.”

My heart rate picked up, and my breath caught at the mention of my younger brother and sister. “What⁠—”

Alcander’s hand pressed lightly to my chest. “Calm the beat and pray to our maker that they’re not beyond a stable return.” His gaze flickered over my tattoo. “For you have been gone long, and I fear you may have arrived too late. Is it your intention to liberate us?”

Behind us, something clanged against the cell bars.

“What are you doing?” Winter yelled. “Take him out. Kill the bastard.”

Winter didn’t know about the connection between me and my brother. Nor did Winter understand the change in threat status. I merely needed a few more minutes to reconnect and gather information.

I reached a tentative hand toward Alcander’s collar.

The cell door creaked and moaned, thundered and crashed to the floor. Winter sprang free, arms raising, the elements responding.

“Wait!” I threw my arm up to stop him while holding my stare upon Alcander.

Panic flashed in Alcander’s eyes. He swept his gaze to Winter, then back to me. Shoving away, Alcander scampered backward. I reached for him, but he flashed across the room and huddled against the wall.

“We shall continue this later,” he whispered, dragging a scrutinizing eye over me again. He lifted his head and stretched his neck, his gaze darting to Winter and back. “He has his sights set on her now. And when he wants something, little can stand in his way.”

His hand darted to the side, swiping something from the floor, and then in a blur, Alcander vanished out the door through which he’d come. The lock clicked into place behind him.

My muscles slackened. I’d been looking for my siblings and had finally found one. My eldest, Alcander…Cander. The physical signs of torture upon his person were extreme. But now Cander was gone, and I was unsure how to feel. Sorrow for the separation once more or happiness for the brief connection, the proof of life.

And what of Cander’s parting message? He has his sights set on her now. And when he wants something, little can stand in his way.

Unless he spoke of our sister, the warning had to refer to Raven. Who else could he have meant?

But who had his sights on her? The Killian?

The Killian couldn’t step foot on the palace grounds, and if Raven remained safe within the castle walls…

What if Cander wasn’t talking about the Killian, but someone else? The same someone who had caged and tortured me.

My thoughts shot to the day I'd fought Raven in the streets of the citadel, to the following confrontation with my torturer, and my torturer’s clear interest in my Black Bird.