Reaver(67)
Reaver’s gut hit the floor. “Here? As in, inside this place?”
She nodded. “I felt him operate the entrance.”
She picked up her pace until they reached a series of portals in the wall. Harvester stopped in front of the third one, its opening constructed from the giant bones of gargantua demons and larger than any of the others, at least as wide as a semitruck’s trailer was long.
“What’s this?”
“It’s another Boregate. Sort of.” She took his hand with only the smallest of dismissive sneers. “We have to walk through together or we’ll end up in different places.”
This didn’t sound promising. “What do you mean, different places?”
“I mean that there’s no map inside. This Boregate drops you wherever it wants to. Could be anywhere in Sheoul, though it usually takes you someplace that makes sense. It’s almost as if it reads your needs. But every once in a while they’ll drop you in the place you least want to be.”
“Like your father’s realm?”
“Exactly.” She smiled with exaggerated perkiness. “But the good news is that he’s not there right now. See? I can see the bright side of things.”
“You’re a real ray of sunshine.”
“That was uncalled for.” She tugged on his hand. “You ready?”
No, but they didn’t have a choice. They stepped through the gate and into what appeared to be a black box.
“Now what?” he asked as the gate snapped shut. And remained shut.
Harvester didn’t answer. Didn’t have to. The expression on her face said it all.
They were trapped.
Twenty-One
Oh, this was not cool.
Harvester cursed as she paced around the black room, which, like almost everything else in Sheoul, was lit by an unseen light source. Not that it did much good. The inky walls, floor, and endless ceiling seemed to absorb the light, leaving them able to see in only about a ten-foot radius no matter where they moved.
“Fuck,” she snapped.
“Why hasn’t the gate dropped us anywhere?”
She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms. Couldn’t anything go right for them? Just once?
“These Boregates are glitchy. Sometimes they do this. Just hold you in these stupid boxes.”
Reaver looked up as if searching for a way out. She wished him luck. “For how long?”
“Until someone else tries to use the gate and un-glitches it.” Frustrated, she kicked at the wall. “I suggested that someone grab Bill Gates and get him to install a new operating system, but apparently, he’s not a demon.” At Reaver’s eye roll, she nodded. “Right? I was surprised, too.”
Reaver leaned against a wall as if they didn’t have a care in the world. How could he relax in a place like this? The claustrophobic crush was going to end her.
“Aside from the fact that we’re trapped for the moment, are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“I don’t know, maybe because your über-evil father was within seconds of grabbing us?”
“Spare me the false concern,” she said tightly. “I’m fine.”
Yep, the way her hands were shaking and her voice was frayed with anxiety hinted to all kinds of fine.
“Whatever.” Reaver threw up his hands. “I was just trying to be nice. You know, things normal people do.”
“Are you kidding me? We aren’t normal people. And nice? That’s how you want to play this? You drop a big bomb on me, Yenrieth, and you want to be all nice?”
During her time with Satan’s torturers, Harvester had been drawn and quartered not once but twice. It had been a huge spectacle, the premeal entertainment for two of his dinner parties.
But as agonizing as the experiences had been, they hadn’t even come close to what she’d felt when Reaver confessed his identity.
She still couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe that five thousand years after Yenrieth disappeared, he was standing in front of her. How was she supposed to process this? Could she process this?
Hell, she might be in total denial if not for the fact that her intense hatred and baffling attraction to Reaver finally made sense. So did the memory of sex with Yenrieth, where Reaver’s face had filled in the blank holes. Reaver had been in the memory because he’d actually been there. Now she knew why kissing him felt so familiar. And why, the first time she’d met Reaver, she’d sensed him before he’d fully materialized. That had never happened with anyone else before.
“Fine,” he said. “You’re right. We’re not normal. We’re the most fucked-up, star-crossed lovers in history. So let’s not play nice.” His penetrating stare seemed to look right through her. “Maybe you can tell me why you ran away that day when I kissed you.”