Blake’s afterlife office is small, dark, and coffin‑quiet — the perfect place for a post‑mortem debrief. Lucius sits shivering in a rickety chair while Blake, in full Reaper form, looms behind a desk of glowing paperwork. The verdict arrives in Blake’s hollow echo: “You bowed.” Lucius panics. Blake repeats it. In a wedding dress. While dead. A parchment writes an incident report on its own. The cupboard creaks ominously. Lucius apologises. Blake softens — slightly — before reminding him he ruined “most things.” But then comes the twist: the Queen loved it. She called them her best comedians. Romeo and Juliet is now officially a comedy. Lucius groans. Blake gestures at his skeletal form, noting Shakespeare already tried to kill him. They laugh — a little. And when Blake reveals they’ve been promoted as the Queen’s favourite performers, both immortals groan in perfect unison… as the cupboard creaks its agreement.
","author_name":"Rachel Lawson"}