I let myself into the Black Crow’s “secret” room with Declan on my heels, and found Aspyn beating the pulp out of a dummy. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with issues to work out. Three days had come and gone and nothing had happened. Nada. Zilch. Diddly-squat. But each day I grew more fretful.
Not only because there hadn’t been any hallow attacks, but also because I needed to have a discussion with my little brother I never thought I would have to have. And no it wasn’t the sex talk. Unfortunately, I wished it were as basic as the birds and the bees.
Things were awkward between TJ and me. He knew I was hiding something. That I knew more about the ghosts he’d been seeing than I was revealing. Procrastination was one of my biggest flaws. Along with about twenty other things I could think of off the top of my head.
Perfect?…not even close.
But when I was stressed to the max, I tended to be more introverted, at least until I worked through the problem. Without a single hallow or spirit sighting, I started to doubt the veil had been fractured. If it was really gone, why weren’t being overrun by hallows? Why weren’t they extracting their vengeance? It didn’t make any sense. I wasn’t the only one who was concerned, either.
The entire island was on red alert.
Then there was Zane. Every day we’d practice aligning our souls, stretching our abilities. We could do some really amazing things together, but I didn’t know how any of it was going to help us.
Aspyn spun around as the door to the training swung shut with a clack. I tackled the stairs, aware that her eyes followed me. She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her arm as I approached. “I see you got a new accessory.” Her eyes lifted to a frowning Declan behind me.
Tension flittered through the air. I got the vibe there was some history between them, and it didn’t end well. Awkward. “A gift from Zane.”
“Aspyn,” Declan said flatly, his arms crossed, sunglasses shielding his eyes.
She was wearing a crop top and boy shorts, owning it. “Declan, glad to see your sparkling personality hasn’t dulled.”
My lips cracked. In the short time I’d spent with Declan, there hadn’t been a whole lot of banter. He was a pretty closed-lipped kind of dude, took his job seriously, unlike Oliver who had more of a sense of humor.
Declan stood in his bodyguard stance, peering down at Aspyn behind his shades. “Just don’t cause any trouble.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she cooed.
I rolled my eyes. Seriously, how much trouble could two girls cause in a secured training room? “I’ll be fine, Declan. You want to take advantage of the gym and work on beefing up those pythons you call arms?”
I swear his mouth twitched. It was hard to tell. “No funny business.”
“Cross my heart and hope to—”
“Don’t say it, princess,” Declan warned.
Aspyn laughed. “Epic.”
Declan walked over to the weights, shaking his head.
Gathering my hair on top of my head, I secured it into a messy bun. “Mind if I take the dummy for a few spins?”
Even with her skin glistening with perspiration, Aspyn was beautiful. If she worked out like this daily, no wonder she had a banging body. “He’s all yours. Actually, I’m surprised to see you here.”
I stepped up to the armless and legless dummy. “I needed to get out of the manor. I hate being boxed in. What about you?” I extended my leg, and gave the poor a guy a kick to the gut.
“That restlessness you feel, it’s a reaper thing.” The earlier mischief in her eyes wasn’t present. “I’ve got some baggage I’m trying to unleash.”
“Don’t we all,” I mumbled.
A strand of hair clung to her damp, pale cheek. “I still can’t believe he’s gone.”
Word of Zander’s death had spread over the island like wildfire. Everyone had a million questions, including my merger with the crows and who would be Death’s heir. I was supposed to unite the White Raven lineage with the Black Crows. It was my duty to make sure that I had a successor. The sudden pressure to marry and have a child was prickling at my neck. I was only eighteen, yet I felt like I was thirty. I pressed my back to the dummy, facing Aspyn. “Neither can I. Every morning I wake up and for a few seconds, I’ve forgotten, blissfully unaware. Then I remember what happened.” And the agony plunges inside me, so forcefully it robs me of air, I added silently.
“It sucks.” She swiped the corner of her eyes. “There’s a pit in my stomach and no matter how hard I punch that dummy, it doesn’t dull the ache.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Bob-the-punching-dummy. “So you’re telling me this isn’t going to help?”
“Nope,” she confirmed. “I know the circumstances surrounding your relationship with Zander were less than ideal, but I also know you grew to care about him.”
“I did.” There was a strange shift between us—a comprehension stemming from the depth of Aspyn’s pain. I felt it. Her heart was weeping. Since absorbing Zander’s powers, I noticed enhances in my own. Nothing major, but small things like being able to sense Aspyn’s on a different level. My connection to other reapers appeared to be heightened.
The bigger question was how had I not known Aspyn had a thing for Zander? It was a blow. The more I thought I knew about Aspyn, the more secrets she seemed to have. My mouth dropped. “Oh wow,” I whispered. “I didn’t know.”
Her eyes glassed over for a second. “It was before your engagement, but he was more than just some guy, ya know? I know I have a reputation for going through guys like hotcakes, but I’m not heartless. He made me feel…special.”
I did know. All too well. I only wished one of them had told me. I had always thought of Aspyn as a just a flirt. “I’m sorry. I never meant to—”
She waved a hand in the air. “Don’t apologize. He ended things the moment his father told him about you. Zander was an honorable guy.”
I nodded. “He was. And a good friend. I only wished I could have saved him.”
There was no blame or judgment in her gray eyes. “No matter how hard you try, Piper, you can’t save everyone. And trust me, I know you want to, but this life, it’s encompassed in death.”
Aspyn had grown up as a reaper, and death was a part of her everyday life. She had saved me once as a child. I didn’t remember it, but she was right. I couldn’t save everyone. I knew that, as hard as it was to swallow. “I’m coming to terms with it,” I replied.
“How’s Zane?”
I shrugged. “On the outside he’s a tough guy, but inside, his heart is splintered.”
“Zane’s made from a different kind of reaper cloth. And I don’t care what those elder bozo’s say. Pureblood or not, Zane is more reaper than half the ones I know.”
She wasn’t going to get an argument from me. It didn’t matter if Zane was half demon or part gargoyle, in my heart we were destined to be together. Fate had linked us for a reason, and I wasn’t about to spit on fate. We needed to embrace the power between us, not hide it. “You should tell that to Zane.”
“Don’t tell me, the Death Scythe is still resisting you.”
“No, not exactly.” But he still put up walls. It could be an old habit, or it could be he was holding back.
A ghost of a smile splayed on her lips. “So,” she said, a twinkle in her silver eyes. “Are you and Zane really together? Is it true you finally grew some balls?”
There was always something about Aspyn and her choice of words that lightened my mood. She was good for my soul. A smile tugged at my lips. “What exactly do you mean by together?” I asked, knowing how Aspyn’s mind worked.
She flipped the tail end of her pony off her shoulder. “Do you need me to spell it out for you? S-E-X.”
“Aspyn!” I shrieked, stealing a glance at Declan. He was lifting the barbell over his head with at least hundred pounds on either side. Show off. But he appeared too involved in his workout to have overheard, or he was doing a fantastic job pretending otherwise.
“Okay, by your virtuous blush and your unease at the word, sex,” she whispered over the last bit, “I’m going to assume you and Zane have not done the freaky-deaky. So I ask, what are you waiting for?”
Good question. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be with Zane. “Timing,” I replied, shrugging.
She wrapped a white sweat towel around her neck, holding onto the ends with either hand. “Let me tell you, timing is not everything. Trust me. If you wait for the perfect moment, you might never get the chance. I think we’ve proven life is precious and unexpected. None of us know how long it’s going to last. Even as the banshee, sometimes opportunity slips through your fingers.”
I pushed off the dummy. “You’re absolutely right.”
She came up beside me and karate-chopped the dummy in the chest, making him wobble back and forth. “Go get him, girl.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Now?”
“No time like the present.”
I faced the dummy, and gave him a solid whack with my fist. “I’m gross and sweaty.”
“Trust me, guys like it dirty.”
The smile spreading across my lips couldn’t be helped. “We’ve waited three months, I think a few more hours aren’t going to hurt.”
“Suit yourself.”
“Glad we cleared that up,” I muttered, turning my attention back to beating the piss out of Bob. My feet danced over the mat as I swung.
Aspyn held onto the back of the dummy, keeping his wonky form still while I took turns alternating between kicks and punches. “I’m happy for you, for both of you. I’ve known Zane my whole life, and if anyone deserves a chance at love, it’s him. But boy, you guys have some obstacles to overcome, don’t you? I bet the overlords are shitting a brick.”
“That’s one way to put it,” I panted.
“They’re going to want to make a match for your husband. We both know Zane is not a candidate. They will choose one of the overlord’s heirs.”
My fist slipped, completely missing my mark, but my body followed through with the motion. I caught my balance, planting both feet on the mat. “So again I’m not free to choose?”
“You’re free to choose one of the four. That will be the only freedoms the divine will allow,” she said, leaning a hip on Bob.
I shook my head. “No. I won’t do it.” Injustice tore through me, and an absurd idea popped into my head. “Is that why you think Zane and I should, uh, seal the deal? Would it make a difference?”
She grinned at my awkwardness. “If you’re talking about your virtue, then no, it won’t matter to them. But, if you were carrying his child…”
Sweet baby Jesus. She wasn’t suggesting— She couldn’t be implying— Dear God, she was. Me? Pregnant? “You’re joking.”
Her expression didn’t waver.
“Oh my God, you’re not joking. Is that the only way?” This conversation had taken a bizarre twist.
“There are no guarantees in life. But it doesn’t hurt to swing the odds in your direction. If you had his baby, you could prove to the stuck-in-their-way fuddy-duddys that your daughter can rule. That she will be a full-fledged banshee.”
“But what if she isn’t? What if they’re right? Then what?”
“I don’t know, Piper. All I know is, the little girl I spared so many years ago, she was destined for greatness. I felt it then. And I feel it now. If anyone can break the norm, it’s you and Zane. There is a reason why your souls resonate. And I don’t think you should ignore it.”
Once the shock wore off, the idea was…enchanting. I could see her. A little girl with raven hair and emerald eyes, with the ability to cloak herself in shadows, just like her daddy. Our daughter. She was adorable, and I fell instantly in love with the little girl in the vision.
Everything Asypn said were thoughts I’d already had, and only strengthened my resolve. “Thank you,” I replied drolly.
Her lips split into a grin. “What are friends for?”
“Now all I have to do is convince Zane. I don’t know which is going to be the bigger challenge. Standing up to the divine or telling Zane I want to have his baby.”
She winked. “Whose says you have to tell him?”
I shouldn’t have been shocked by her implied deception, but I was. “I couldn’t do that. Not to Zane.”
“And this is exactly why you’re the White Raven and I’m not.”
Another burden to shoulder. Zane didn’t have my love-conquers-all belief. It had nothing to do with his feelings for me, because he loved me. He was hung up by century-old rules and that his reaper blood wasn’t pure.
“So, I have a thing tonight,” Aspyn said lifting her brows. I interpreted the thing she was referring to as she had a soul to devour. “Why don’t you come with me? Get some hands-on experience. You can even bring tight-ass over there.”
Declan had finished his workout and was pulling on a shirt. He frowned.
I chewed on my lower lip. Zane wouldn’t like it, which, not going to lie, kind of made me want to do it even more. Everyone had their part in keeping the balance between life and death. I was the banshee, the siren of death. Reaping souls wasn’t my specialty, but if I wanted to be a kickass White Raven, I needed to know the ins and outs of all aspects of reaping. It was past time I went on a reap, and my curiosity was peaked. “What time should I be ready?” I said, jumping at the chance to get off the island, even for a night.
“Midnight, of course.”