I scoffed and got up, trying to move on. I’d screwed up too, so I decided not to let this broken relationship of ours consume me any further—not now, anyway. Not while I was here, and she was so far away. Any mistake I had made, I’d made in good faith. Death, on the other hand, had been fully aware of what she was doing. I would address that eventually.
“Shall I capture Anunit and send her back to you like we agreed?”
“Yes. Is Tristan able to do it?”
A smile bloomed on my lips. “If you’d been here to see him fight a Ghoul Reaper, you would say yes without a doubt.”
Tristan was more than capable of getting the job done. Despite the ups and downs, despite the unexpected revelations and the troubling twists and turns, our journey had finally reached its end point. I would get a chance at living beside my husband for a while. I would get the body I had longed for, and then my husband would trap Anunit and have a Reaper haul her ass back to Death.
I was conflicted about her, but even with the truths she’d shoved in my face, I agreed with my maker that Anunit was dangerous. She’d proven that even in her dealings with me. She had me right where she’d wanted me. I’d served as a pawn, even while learning Death’s dirtiest secrets.
Assuming she expected me to do something with everything she’d given me, Anunit was bound to hold up her end of the deal. She’d made my body. “Then go on,” Death said. “Go get your body. I’ll send a Reaper over to take you wherever you wish once you’re mortal. We won’t be able to communicate telepathically once you have a body, so whatever you might wish to say to me, you will have to find another way. Oh, and I will send a second Reaper to collect Anunit once Tristan has her. She cannot walk freely anymore. It’s bad enough I’ve got the World Crusher and six Ghoul Reapers to worry about.”
I didn’t imagine Eneas and his brothers to be an actual problem. They’d only wanted to leave Biriane. The World Crusher, on the other hand… The calmness she’d displayed troubled me. But Death had made herself clear. It wasn’t my problem anymore. For once, I’d have to respect my maker’s directives.
There was a silver lining in this debacle. I would do myself a favor by embracing it.
Unending
“Still mad?” Anunit asked upon my return.
Tristan gave her a cold glare, but she deliberately ignored him. The air felt thick between them, the tension gradually escalating. He was mad at her, and he had every reason to want to rip her head off—but I needed my husband focused on the next stage of this operation. We’d reached the point of no return, and I had decided to leave the World Crusher issue with Death.
If the first Reaper had wanted me gone, she would’ve obliterated me as soon as I set her free. It wasn’t me or Tristan or anyone else that she was after. Just our maker. And I was so tired of the lies and the secrets. Why bother? Why struggle?
“I’m ready for my body,” I told Anunit. “What happened was the will of the universe, so I cannot pluck my own nerves about it. I cannot undo the past, either. I can only look into the future, and after all this nonsense you’ve put us through, I figure I deserve a life.”
Anunit watched me with renewed interest for a short while, before a grin slit her face from ear to ear. “Okay. I appreciate the sentiment. Frankly, I’d be just as upset if I were you.”
So the operation is going into its final stage? Tristan asked me telepathically.
Yes. Death has sanctioned it, I said.
Tristan’s eyes widened as he looked my way. I suppose we’ll talk about it later. He took my hands in his and spoke aloud for Anunit to hear, as well. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“It’s perfectly safe, don’t worry,” Anunit cut in as she stepped back and took out her upgraded scythe. Her lips moved as she drew the silhouette of a person in the white powder dust that covered Biriane’s ground. Once one end of the line met the other, a body emerged out of thin air. My body.
I sucked in a breath, nearly losing my balance as I beheld her. She was identical to me. Anunit had made her in my image. It was a little strange but certainly more welcome than a foreign face for me to look at for some years to come. She had my hair and my pale skin. The red lips. Every inch of her had been modeled after me. “Whoa,” I breathed, unable to move.
“I figured you’d be more comfortable in a replica of yourself,” Anunit replied, clearly satisfied by my reaction. “In case you’re wondering, I used human and fae genes, which I have identified as the strongest combination to withstand your Reaper spirit. Surprising, I know, but I’ve done comprehensive tests before reaching this conclusion.”
Tristan paced around the body several times. His gaze softened, and I knew he was as pleased with what he was seeing as I was; we’d both have to live with this particular body. Anunit had managed to impress me.
“I do not question the details of your craft,” I muttered. It was my turn to circle my future meat suit. The closer I got, the more startling the details that popped out. Everything about her was me. The faintest expression lines, the shape of her knuckles, the lazy curve of her lower lip. Yes, it was me, down to the tiniest physical particle. “She’s a work of art.”
“Let me just add one thing—she won’t sustain your full nature once awakened,” Anunit said. There it was. Something had to spoil it. Otherwise, this would’ve been too good to be true. I knew that. I was expecting downsides
