The Reaper's Curse #1 - Complete

Enduring

Alicia is exhausted to the bone as she slumps down on the steps. Oliver looks at her with a raised brow. She just sighs and rests her chin on her palm, watching his precise fingers work through Viktor's messy locks. The boy waves at her and Alicia smiles back at him.

"I didn't know you were a barber, Oliver," she remarks, gaze following the hair that falls to the ground.

"My mother used to cut all of our hair when we were younger," he says with a shrug, focusing on his task as Alicia's eyes move to his own haircut, his dark brown hair curled over his forehead, the underside always cropped short and maintained.

"Is that why your haircut is so awful?" she asks, flashing him a grin as he chuckles softly.

"No, Alicia, my haircut was to stop lice in the trenches. Guess I've gotten used to it now."

Alicia pouts, a little disappointed not to have irked him even a little bit as he always gets under her skin.

"Alright, kid." Oliver brushes the hair from the boy's shoulders before setting his scissors down. "Now you look suitable enough for Sam's party." Viktor tugs his fingers through his now short hair, smiling up at Oliver, his scar giving him a lopsided grin. Oliver muses the boy's hair, his features soft as he looks down at him. "Go on then." Viktor leaps to his feet and jogs towards the stables, turning around to give them a quick wave before disappearing.

"And here I thought you were meant to be the bogeyman of the Commons," Alicia says with a small smile, watching Oliver place the scissors and comb back into a meagre satchel.

"Do you need a haircut too, Alicia?" he asks, getting to his feet and brushing off his pants.

Alicia tugs at her messy braid as she stands, narrowing her eyes at him. "I don't know if I should take offence to that."

"Just keep it out of the hands of the Greys," he says, Alicia's eyes widening.

"I hadn't even thought of that," she mutters, frowning.

"Come on." He grabs his satchel and takes the steps to the street, Alicia walking beside him. "Are you going to Sam's party tonight?"

"Party?" she questions with a raised brow. "Another one?"

"It's for her birthday," he replies. "Galya is insisting, and the people of the Commons love to celebrate just about anything. It does them good."

"Right," Alicia murmurs, not too thrilled about seeing Sam again. With her secrets bubbling so close to the surface, being around the princess isn't an ideal situation to put herself in. "Well, I hope you have fun and wish Samantha a happy birthday for me."

"Ah," he says, his chin dipping as he looks down at her. "You're avoiding her."

Alicia buries her hands in her coat, watching her boots as she kicks a rock. "No, I'd just rather spend time alone."

"That doesn't strike me as particularly true."

Alicia just shakes her head and lets out a breath, knowing he speaks the truth. Alicia has grown accustomed to being alone, but that doesn't mean she doesn't miss running through the streets with her brothers or learning to handle horses with her pa. She misses having Kieran to whisper all her secrets to or Adrian to play cards with. She misses a lot of things, but she won't let herself yearn for them. She's not the girl she once was.

"People are still wary of me," she says, a lame excuse and she knows it.

"There's only one way to change that." They step onto the porch of the general goods store, and Oliver opens the door for her.