Silver Reaper

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I hadn’t been out to the Greenlakes compound since the battle. As I drove up to the large wrought iron gates I fought not to dwell on the heartache and pain endured back then.

My resolve was tested the second I gained access to the compound. When last I’d been here, the grounds had been littered with the wreckage of bodies and buildings. The c*****e was the result of an explosion Almorthanos had arranged to distract and disarm Cade’s right hand man, Killian, and his men. Though the bodies of the dead had long since been buried, the compound still looked like a warzone.

I had to pass two fenced checkpoints on my way up the long winding drive to the main house, each manned by armed guards stationed in bulky concrete bunkers. Barbed wire ran around the tops of two rings of fencing encircling the main compound, with deep trenches dug either side of the road.

Scaffolding surrounded the main house, not to repair but to build two more storeys and add reinforcement to the existing walls. Bare-chested winged Tr’lirians flew through the framework, aiding those who were doing the actual construction work.

The war had been won. Yet it looked like Killian was gearing up for a massive assault on the compound.

What had I missed by avoiding this place for the last six months?

Two Tr’lirians, wingless and with loose shirts covering their scars, waited in front of the main house for me to exit my car. I did so reluctantly, bombarded with images from the last time I was here. I wrapped my arms around my middle to ward off a chill and steeled my nerves to enter the building. My steps slowed as I walked down the long hallway where I had been captured by Almorthanos’s people. I pushed aside the memories of helplessness that threatened to swamp me and focused on the unsettling changes to Killian’s compound.

Maybe I should have called Sam, and waited for him to be able to come here with me. No, he was busy with his investigation, and it could be a coincidence that my client had been found in the backyard of the same house as the two homicides he was investigating.

Besides, I was not helpless.

Far from it.

If anything bad happened, I was ready to form a wall of aether around me, or blast my attackers with lightning. It wouldn’t kill a winged Tr’lirian, but it should slow them down long enough for me to get away.

I let my arms fall to my sides. Back straight and head held high, I marched inside the large room Killian used as his meeting room, prepared to face anything.

Anything except Chris Bradbury.

‘What are you doing here?’ I blurted out the words, heart racing at the sight of him.

‘Hello, Tyler.’ His smile was strained, face shadowed as he stared at me.

He stood in front of Killian’s desk, dressed in a dark blue suit that enhanced the colour of his eyes. I took in his unshaven chin and how his dark blond hair looked as if he’d run his fingers through it numerous times. Even dishevelled he had a presence that caught my breath.

I hadn’t seen him since the aftermath of the battle in this compound. As far as I was aware he hadn’t been back, supervising the completion of Riverside Plaza from Sydney. He’d also been missing from the social pages in the nation’s tabloids, after announcing an intention to focus more on the corporate side of the Bradbury Corporation. I hadn’t tried to contact him, aware he was hurting because I’d chosen Sam instead of him.

‘His business is with me, Miss Morgan, not you, so why don’t you tell me why you insisted on meeting with me so we can get back to our work,’ said Killian, deep voice roughened with fatigue.

He got up from the chair behind his desk and stalked towards me, not stopping until he was inches away, looming over me. He appeared to be as exhausted and troubled as Chris, though just as impeccably dressed.

‘What’s going on? What’s wrong?’

Killian’s nostrils flared. ‘It does not concern you. Why have you come here?’

I shook my head, wide eyed. ‘This place looks as though you’re preparing for another war. How can that not concern me?’

‘If your only reason for being here is to critique my architectural project, then I suggest you leave. I do not have time for a social visit or to pander to the whims of a Davilian.’

I stiffened. The derision in his voice cut. I’d thought he’d got over the matter of my Davilian heritage, going so far as to urge the leader of Clan Godden, Cade, to trust me when it came time to go up against Almorthanos. We’d been allies. Now he was looking at me as if I was dirt. Unclean.

‘Michael, Tyler obviously has something important to tell you or she wouldn’t be here.’

I frowned, the ease with which Chris used Killian’s first name suggesting a long acquaintance. Even more startling was the way Killian immediately backed down.

‘Very well. She has five minutes.’ He took a step back, arms folded in front of him, and glared at me. ‘Start talking.’

I took a deep breath, shaking off the increasing feeling of unease building in the room. ‘I just reaped the soul of a man, and I think he was Tr’lirian.’

‘What did you say?’ Killian lunged forward and grabbed hold of my shoulders.

I reacted on instinct, calling up a wall of aether and shoving him away from me. Chest heaving, breath speeding up, I put up my hands to ward him off when he tried to grab me again. ‘Touch me and you will regret it.’

Chris launched himself across the room to stand between us. ‘Everybody needs to take a step back and calm down.’

After an angry glare my way, Killian moved to his desk and poured himself a drink from a crystal decanter, taking a long swallow of an amber liquid, face averted.

Chris faced me, expression earnest. ‘What makes you think your client was Tr’lirian?’

I met his worried eyes and told him what I had discovered.

‘Have you told anyone else about the body?’

I shook my head. ‘No, I came straight here.’

‘What about Lockwood?’

I stifled the guilt that rose within me. I should have called Sam. He was a homicide detective. It was his job to investigate dead bodies in Easton, but…‘If I’m right, and the man is Tr’lirian, I thought it best to come here before the police were involved.’

Killian strode to the door and called out a command. Two winged Tr’lirians, a man and a woman, dashed inside the room. Like all the winged Tr’lirians I had ever seen, they both wore dark pants. The male was bare-chested except for a thick strap that secured the sword sheathed between his shoulder blades. The woman wore a vest tied in a way to prevent it from interfering with the large white wings that swept the floor with each step she took. She also had a sword sheathed on her back; the hilt twisted to the left to stop it banging into the back of her head.

The militant way they both moved and the muscles on display in their skimpy attire suggested they were well versed in swordplay. After a hurried conversation with their commander, they were sent winging on their way to the abandoned house.

While we waited for them to return, I examined Killian and Chris. Neither man seemed able to sit still, either pacing across the room or fidgeting with the objects on top of the desk.

‘You two are acting like caged lions, all set to pounce only you have no one to pounce on. Will one of you please tell me what the hell is going on?’

Killian didn’t even look up. ‘I already told you, this does not concern you.’

‘Really? Then I suppose you don’t want to know about the other mysterious bodies that have appeared in Easton this week?’

Killian moved so fast I had no time to think as he launched himself at me, hands wrapping around my throat. ‘What bodies? Was one of them female? Tell me.’ He shook me, hands tightening their grip.

I choked, desperate to breathe as I called on aether, ready to blast his soul to shreds. Before I could lash out, Chris appeared at my side and wrenched him away from me.

‘Calm down. Let Tyler talk. You don’t know that any of these bodies are Rebecca’s.’

‘Who is Rebecca?’ I asked, massaging my throat.

‘My daughter.’

‘My fiancée.’