"Did you see any Reapers there?" the former Empress interrupted Cixi.
The Reaper's question sent a sharp alarm through her mind. Her thoughts had already become tangled after realising what she might have done.
She did not need to think twice about that dark night on the terrace. She remembered looking around for any Grim Reaper and finding none. She had been the only supernatural presence there.
The horror slipping out from behind Cixi's defensive mask gave the Reaper her answer.
"When a Reaper is not present to collect a soul, the human survives," the Reaper informed her.
But then another thought began to disturb Cixi's reasoning. She opened her mouth, but her words tangled in her dry throat.
If Cassian had never been dying, how had he seen her?
Until now, only those taking their final breaths had been able to see her or feel her presence. That had been the one rule she had understood.
Then another thought struck her.
The young man on the terrace.
