Although Aulow’s suggestion was cryptic, and sounded far too good to be true, I am all the more eager to hear what she has to say about ending a Reaper’s contract.
But Acari breaks the silence before I can.
“That means…” he says slowly, staring at Aulow. His unhinged jaw widens into a grin as the realization dawns on him. “You can save my sister. The book said that the Guardians healed people—they were able to grow back people’s legs and cure them of the worst diseases. That means you can heal Gem’s lip. Then my father won’t have to…you know, send a Reaper after her. She’ll be safe. She’ll be able to live a normal life.”
Rhet shifts uncomfortably, sharing a dubious look with Aulow who inhales sharply.
“I’m afraid not,” she says to him, clasping her hands at her waist. “Not in the way you think.”
“But…the stories, they said that the Guardians healed people like her, that they helped protect them and keep them safe. That’s why I was searching for you. If you can’t save her, then…”
Tutting sweetly, Aulow approaches Acari on the cot, placing a gentle hand to his forehead, and her other to Gem’s cheek. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. The only way we can save her is by bringing her here, under the protection of the boundary, which we have done. But in order to hide her from the contract out on her life, she’d have to stay here with us. Forever.” Almost as if to prove her point, she expands further. “Living here, although we make it as normal as can be, it’s not like living a normal life. And, any time Gem would leave the encampment, she’d be at risk of a Reaper finding her.”
Glaring doesn’t begin to describe the way Acari’s eyes dart to me. I’ve never seen such hurt and betrayal in someone as I see now in him. “Not if her Reaper let her live,” he begs. “I know you don’t want this. You don’t have to do it. You could just let her live—”
“No, she can’t,” Rhet says flatly.
“Well, if she wants to stay a Reaper, she can’t. But there is another way,” Aulow continues, ignoring the other Guardian to stroke Gem’s and Acari’s faces. “A way for your sister’s contract to be terminated with her life still intact.”
Aulow shifts her gaze to mine, as if I have the answer and she knows I will explain it.
“What?” I shrug. “Become a Wraith?”
“Waife?” Gem asks, looking up at Acari expectantly, but with a cautionary glance up at me, he shakes his head at his sister and puts a finger to his lip.
“That is one way, I suppose, and perhaps it’s best to consider them all before you make your choice.” She straightens from the siblings, crossing the room back toward me. “You know the three ways to terminate a contract. Yes?”
“Three?” I protest, growing more doubtful by the second. I don’t know why I thought this person, this Guardian would know more about the ways of the Reapers than I do. Only those of us who have lived in Veltuur and lived by its rules will ever truly understand it… “There are only two.”
“Yes, well, it would be bad for business for them to tell you there were more, wouldn’t it?”
Though I’m still skeptical, I’ll admit her confidence intrigues me. I lean in closer, ready to hear whatever she is willing to share.
“The first,” she says, looking over her shoulder at Acari. “Is to claim the life—not really the outcome we’re looking for though as it in no way saves your sister. The second is to—”
“Kill the person who requested the execution,” I answer before she can finish. “But Reapers can’t take the life of someone with an active request out. The king would be immune to my touch until I kill the princess.”
“Correct,” Aulow says, tilting her head toward me before waving a hand in the air. “But that’s not important either.”
“Get to it, Aulow,” Rhet barks, and for the first time since meeting him, I find myself warming to him. I, too, dislike waiting.
“There is a third way, but it is more challenging than all of the others.” At this, Aulow reaches out to me and takes my hands into hers. At first, her eyes remain closed, as she squeezes my fingers gently. When she finally looks up at me, the sorrow I see reflected in her gaze makes me wonder if I want to hear what she’s about to tell me. “The only way for you to destroy the contract out on Gem, and not to become a Wraith in the process, is to sever your bond to Veltuur.”
For a moment, all I can do is blink. Just a moment though, before the roiling bubbling brew deep down in my stomach forces itself out in a bark of laughter. “There is no way out of being a Reaper. Once someone becomes a Reaper, they are indebted to Veltuur for life. I do not know who played this trick on you, but it is false.”
My laughter fades only when I see Aulow’s seriousness deepen. She and Rhet share a moment, one without words, but the meaning is palpable enough that I understand it. Rhet still thinks I’m not ready, and Aulow is beginning to worry the same.
I do not like people doubting me. I guess I’m stubborn like that.
My teeth grind together before I decide to indulge her. “How do I stop being a Reaper?”
Aulow blinks at me with growing delight. “Retrospection. Reconciliation. Reprieve.”
I’m at the peak of an eyeball, a growl low in my throat, when Aulow clarifies.
“All you have to do is make peace with your past.”
My eyes stop rolling. Instead, they glare over at her, liquid fire burning within them. Make peace with my past? There is only one thing I remember about my life before, and she certainly
