Page 81 of In Between Death and the Devil

He didn’t need to elaborate. I could only imagine how many other people’s lives she’d ruined. Now that I knew she was able to affect people in the World of the Living, the possibilities were endless. “Is she the reason no Successors have arrived in the In Between for so long?” That was presumably her goal in hiring Colt. Make sure I was locked up and unable to join the Order and volunteer for the Ritual.

“I suspect she is, but I haven’t been able to prove it. I didn’t know she was using Wraiths. It makes it almost impossible to track.”

“Why?”

“A Wraith doesn’t have a body when it returns to the World of Living, so it has to possess one. They aren’t picky. They usually choose the first person they come across, but we don’t know where the ones who make it out surface. So, locating the human they’ve taken over is extremely difficult.”

Anger burned hot in my chest. She didn’t deserve to be Death. It didn’t matter that I doubted my abilities to step into her shoes. Now that I’d seen who she really was, there was no other option I could tolerate. The realms deserved better, even if what they got was me. “I’m in. I’ll help you take down Death.”

Fen regarded me seriously. “Are you sure?” Something I couldn’t parse filled our bond. Whatever it was, it wasn’t the relief and excitement I’d expected.

Uncertainty flooded through me. Maybe he’d changed his mind after our last conversation. He wanted me to choose him for him, not because we needed to take down Death, but the In Between needed us to unseat her. That hadn’t changed. He needed me to work with him; he didn’t have to like it. And why should he? Even though I knew Death had been lying about her immortality, even though I saw the strain on the realm because of her choices, I hadn’t agreed to work with him. I’d let my distrust of him and my insecurities stop me from doing what was needed. Clearly, I was weak.

“I’m not asking because I don’t want you to join me,” Fen said, reading my spiraling emotions through our connection. “If you decide to, there’s no going back.”

My muscles relaxed a fraction. There already wasn’t any going back, but I didn’t say that out loud. “I’m sure.”

“Then, welcome to the team.” Relief flooded our bond.

“Thanks.” I let out a shaky breath. “So, what do we do now?”

“Now, you rest.” He ushered me towards a door on the other side of the room.

“Are you sure you don’t want to get started?” I frowned.

He’d been waiting over a century.

“My people are busy locking down the castle. Death will be doing the same on her side. We need to take time to regroup. And you need to rest.”

As if on cue, a wave of exhaustion washed over me. I let him lead me through what looked like a cross between a meeting room and a dining room—with a round table, chairs, and things tacked to the walls—into a bedroom. Much like his office, there was lots of dark wood and leather. A massive four-poster bed sat in the middle, opposite a large fireplace. A leather couch, longer than the one in his office, sat in front of it. Sumptuous velvet drapes and fur blankets made it warm and inviting and contrasted nicely with the shadowy walls. An open door on the other side of the room gave me a glimpse of a private bathing room.

My fingers curled around one of the bedposts. The room smelled like him—musk and cherries, making me want to curl up on the bed surrounded by his scent. It kindled something low in my belly.

He pulled back the covers on the bed. “Get in.”

I blinked. “This is your room.”

“Yes.”

“I’m not taking your room.” There was only one bed.

“You’re not. We’ll both be staying here.”

My eyes flew to his and then back to the bed. I tightened my grip on the bedpost. “Oh.” Maybe he’d gotten over his qualms about us being intimate.

“I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Disappointment crushed my budding hope. “There’s no need for that. I can sleep somewhere else.”

He shook his head. “This is the safest place for you to be.”

I frowned. Did he not trust his people?

“You’re the first real chance we’ve had to unseat Death since I became the Devil. I don’t want to take any chances. I’ll sleep better knowing you’re in the same room.”

It made sense, and secretly I knew I’d sleep better with him near, but it still stung. “Will my being here unbalance things?” It was the reason I hadn’t moved into Fen’s castle already.

He was quiet for a moment. The faraway look in his eyes told me he was checking in with the In Between. “No. Our Death Chord is strong enough now to hold the realm together even with both of us in one place.”