the forest exploded. Trees were uprooted, and fire covered the branches the moment they crashed to the ground, all while her hand stroked my cock. I was painfully slammed against the ground as she stood over me, lowering her body to take what I offered. Twin daggers appeared through her chest, as her gaze slid to them, then to me in a look of lethal hatred and shock of betrayal.
She gasped through the burning pain, and the look in her pretty eyes twisted my gut. Synthia fell onto me, and I held her, replacing my clothes as I pushed her off of me, dressing her with magic as she continued to gasp for air.
“Did you get it?” Lucian asked, forcing my gaze to the man strolling into the meadow as black ghostly creatures floated around Synthia, touching her with their mangled, green-looking fingers.
“Of course, I fucking did. Do you have any idea how long I have been gone? It took a fucking decade to find the prick who had it, and then he refused to give it to just anyone. Do you know how many souls are down there? I barely fucking escaped before I ended up reaping them all just to make them stop fucking me as I searched for one soul in a haystack.”
“Replace her soul, and then give her back her heart,” Lucian muttered as I stood, watching the reapers who picked up Synthia and held her between them as Thanatos stepped forward, staring into her eyes.
“You are not ready to be reaped, my sweet girl.” He produced a silver spool of thread and a golden needle. The entire meadow watched in silence as he began slowly sewing a glowing blue aura back into Synthia. She smiled at Thanatos, watching him with wonder as he smirked, flirting with her as he put her back together. “He had begun to consume her most treasured and loved memories. They tend to start on the juicy bits first. She won’t be the same, not until all of her memories are restored—if she’s strong enough to take them back, that is.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I demanded carefully, studying Synthia as she watched Thanatos, her glowing eyes beckoning him to touch her deeper as she flirted with him unabashedly.
“It means that Synthia was down there for a long time. Time in the Seelie prison is different than it is here. It’s slow and endless. She was brutalized, asshole. There are pieces of her scattered down there still. There are more corpses in that cave than there are fae inside Faery. She was in the worst place in the entire fucking realm. You left her there to be tortured by a creature that’s been around since the beginning of this world. Not that you could have done shit once she entered, but you could have let the rest of us know where she was. We could have saved her so that she could fulfill her destiny.
“That little hole you see when you peer down into the pit? By the time your feet touch it, you’re already lost. The reapers said I stood there, talking to them, but I didn’t wait to enter the cavern. I had my full powers, but Synthia? She apparently hadn’t accepted her powers, and when she finally did, she left a trail of her own blood on the way out. Luckily, she also left a ladder she made with their corpses, or I’d still be stuck down there. The monster showed me, but since the entire fucking pit is filled with Seelie tricks, who the fuck knows what actually happened to me down there. That creature within the pit? He’s fucking strong. I got her soul, and then I ghosted before death took over and I was stuck there until the end of time reaping their souls.” Thanatos eyed Lucian accusingly. “There we go, sweetheart. Speaking of hearts, where is yours?”
Synthia stared vacantly until Ristan moved closer, removing the bag from his hip and handing it to Thanatos. Her platinum head turned, staring at the organ that still beat wildly, increasing with speed the closer it came. Her scream rent through the air, shooting trees up into the mountain as if a hurricane had just ripped through