Chapter Thirty-Four
PEOPLE CROWDED US FROM ALL directions.
Some old, some young, all of them in a state of shock at having Lucien home.
More and more appeared—popping out from pavilions and corridors, bringing gifts and trinkets and welcome.
And with each person’s arrival, Lucien grew worse.
My skin burned where I clutched him as if I pressed my hands to a bubbling kettle about to blow. Dozens of staff in earthy-coloured clothes crowded us, oblivious to how dangerous Lucien was.
But Whisper knew.
He snarled and chased, prowling around Lucien and me, creating an island where his master couldn’t be touched.
“He has his father’s eyes!” A gardener—by the looks of his soil-stained hands—beamed.
“He looks exactly like Jin Ashfall!”
“Where have you been, Master Luxin?”
“Why didn’t you come home sooner?!”
Their voices collided into a rising wall of noise, never knowing that the prodigal son who’d returned home had been a lonely prisoner for most of his life.
Lucien staggered against me, his hand clamping over his metal-trapped heart as if he was moments away from incinerating. Heat coiled off him in thick, blistering waves, warping the air—
“Please,” he panted against my hair. “You have to make it stop.”
Memories of the ice plunge where I’d found him in Cinderkeep haunted me.
He needed that.
He needed a blizzard—an arctic storm to blow out his pain.
He groaned again, fumbling for my hand.
I winced as his fingers wrapped painfully tight around mine.
My own agony made everything warp and shiver. I was only standing by sheer stubbornness and a lifetime of surviving constant nausea and headaches.
Locking everything down, I stopped trying to be polite and shouted rudely over the babble of voices. “It’s been a long day! Can we do this another time? When Lucien is washed and fed and rested?”
“Oh goodness, what are we doing?!” The woman Lucien had called Auntie Mei lamented, cutting through the crowd like a tiny scythe. “Of course. Of course. Where are our manners? Of course you’re tired. Come.” She shooed a few girls away—pretty girls who couldn’t take their eyes off Lucien.
My hackles rose at their obvious interest, followed by another punch of pain.
“This way.” She bowed a little and pointed toward a corridor that swept high with winged eaves, flanked by lily-pad dotted ponds.
Black specks danced on the edges of my vision as I stepped forward, hoping Lucien wouldn’t pass out before we were behind closed doors. “Come on,” I murmured. “Let’s go.”
His scarlet-ringed eyes found mine, tight with discomfort. “Don’t stop touching me.”
“I won’t.”
Forcing himself to walk, he slung his arm over my shoulders. I knew he used me as a crutch, but I couldn’t help throwing a glance at the girls who fancied him, hoping they saw, hoping they understood, that he was mine and no one else’s.
His arm spasmed around me as we made our way toward the open-air corridor and Auntie Mei who was waiting.
Her face fell as she finally took note of the state Lucien was in. How sweat rolled down his cheeks. How he trembled uncontrollably. How the air felt uncomfortably warm around him.
“Are you...are you okay, Xiao Lu?”
Xiao Lu.
What did that mean?
A nickname? A pet name?
Whatever it was, Lucien flinched whenever it was used.
“I’m fine,” he clipped, his voice as dry as ash.
Whisper snapped at the crowd one last time before coming to join us.
“This way. I’m sure you remember the way, Xiao Lu.
” She threw him a doting smile. “I’ll bring you your favourite food once you’re rested.
” Auntie Mei guided us down the corridor and blessedly away from the crowd.
“Your quarters are just how you left them. I didn’t let anyone change a thing.
” She sniffed, tears glossing her eyes. “You know, I never thought I’d live to see the day.
We were told so often that you were dead, we even set up a memorial tablet in the ancestral temple for you.
However...there was always the fact that Brimstone kept operating that kept us doubting. ”
Turning to look at us over her shoulder, she never stopped walking. “Only Ashfall blood can turn on the reactors so...we’ve lived in hope. We tried to go to the company headquarters for answers, only to be told that operations had been moved to England.”
Her fists balled as her walk became an angry march.
“That nasty snake Marcus Ward took over far too fast for anyone to stop him. Him and that good-for-nothing board.” She spat on the ground, revealing just how she truly felt.
“The day he took you and your parents, I knew something was wrong. I watched those helicopters take off and fainted when the news came that you’d all died in a crash. ”
Lucien tripped against me, burning.
I didn’t know how much he could hear beneath his agony, but my ears pricked with rapt attention.
“So...you’re not working for Marcus?” I asked, doing my best to get answers that Lucien would undoubtedly need to hear.
I’d felt how close he’d been to a panic attack when the gates had swung closed—trapping him behind yet another wall.
I’d felt the same way. The rush of claustrophobia at being imprisoned again made me long to call Dillon.
“Pei, pei, pei.” She pretended to spit as if warding off bad luck. “Don’t ever link me to that evil demon.”
“Then how...?” I glanced around the stunning estate—at the obvious running costs of such a kingdom. “If you’re not employed, then how—?”
“The Ashfalls gave us wealth beyond our dreams. The day Luxin was born, we were no longer their housekeeper and chief steward, we were family. And that man,” Auntie Mei hissed.
“That parasite has tried to sink his claws into this place ever since. Spies in the guise of staff. Drones watching us from above.” She narrowed her eyes on mine, not looking where she was going as if she’d trod these winding open-walled halls a million times before.
“None of his tricks work. This is Ashfall land. And regardless that we never believed we’d see another, we’ve stayed custodian of their home.
” She exhaled heavily. “Hope is hard to cut out, you see. It’s like a weed that just keeps coming back so. ..here we are.”
Her gaze landed on Lucien with beaming pride, switching emotions so easily. “Here you are, Xiao Lu. Finally back where you belong.”
Lucien had given up trying to pretend he wasn’t on death’s door.
Crimson shadows danced beneath his skin, flaring up his neck and beneath his collar. Sweat poured down my spine from being tucked under his hot arm, and my skull threatened to crack open from our combined misery.
“Wait, is he okay?” Auntie Mei slammed to a stop. “Is he sick?”
“He’ll be okay once he rests.” I forced a smile. “Jetlag.”
She scowled, obviously not believing me.
Lucien groaned, his knees threatening to buckle.
“Do you mind if we keep going?” I urged.
She fell back into a walk, studying us both carefully. “You’re protective of him.”
I chose my words carefully. “Just returning the favour.”
“Are you his wife?”
I choked. “Eh...”
She studied me while I tried and failed with what to say. She took pity on me. “We can talk later. For now, let’s focus on Xiao Lu.”
“I agree.” I sagged with relief. “That’s—”
“You’ll tell me if he needs anything?”
I nodded, my migraine slipping closer to blackout.
Auntie Mei didn’t speak again as she led us deeper into the estate.
Latching onto the scenery, I used it to stay conscious.
The open-air corridor was framed with polished dark timber, its beams carved with dragons and curling clouds. Gold lattice screens filtered the sunlight, creating delicate patterns across the wooden floorboards.
Beyond the railings, sunshine gilded flowers, trees, and courtyards.
We crossed a small bridge and then another.
It felt like a maze.
An endless, ornate maze that we needed to solve as fast as possible before Lucien burned himself out.
He staggered as if his legs threatened to fail. My own knees thought that sounded like a great idea. But we kept going.
Clutching each other, we entered another corridor with carved red pillars. It guided us around an oval garden with so many flowers, the fallen petals looked like pink snow.
I didn’t think I could go on as we stepped through a huge stone wall—the circular entrance guarded by a pair of ornate bronze cranes, their wings outstretched in flight.
A fountain bubbled somewhere, making my head ache a thousand times worse. Cicadas chittered, a gnarled tree rustled, and Auntie Mei drew to a halt in front of a majestic pavilion that looked as if it’d been long forgotten.
Dried leaves scattered the front portico and the two stone lions on either side of the double entryway had dandelions growing out of their ears.
Whisper growled at them as if they might leap to life, his hackles bristling as Lucien gathered whatever strength he had left and dragged me around Auntie Mei.
“You may go,” he said softly. “I’ll come find you when I’m ready.”
Carting me up the two steps, he slammed his palm against the seam of the double doors and pushed. They swung wide as if they’d been waiting all this time for him to come home.
Lucien staggered across the threshold, clutching me so tightly it hurt. He dragged me like I was his prisoner, all while Whisper pressed against his other side, ready to catch him if he fell.
I turned to apologise to his aunt, but the moment we tripped inside, I couldn’t look away.
“I’ll send someone to clean—” Auntie Mei called.
“I don’t want anyone near this courtyard!” Lucien shouted back, just as the doors clanged shut behind us.
Pushing me away from him, Lucien lurched back and locked them. Panting hard, he planted both hands on the carved wood, his head tipping down as if basking in the silence.
I left him to breathe, drifting forward as my eyes drank in his childhood.
His pavilion was incredible.
Polished dark wood, lacquered pearlescent walls, and a ceiling so high and sweeping it looked like the innards of a temple.
The beams were painted with vibrant reds and golds, decorated with flying phoenixes and roaring dragons.
A massive circular window dominated the far wall, looking out over the endless drop of the cliff and mist-wreathed mountains.
Carved lattice partitions separated parts of the room.
Behind one—a low writing desk, neatly stacked with books as if they’d been waiting all this time for him to finally read them again. Behind another—a low dining table, complete with scattered cushions on the floor.
But it was the bed that stole my breath.
A massive four-poster draped in gauzy mosquito nets. Thick carved pillars framed each corner, etched with crackling flames—
A strangled noise tore out of Lucien.
I spun around, leaving half my balance behind.
He rested against the door, watching me. His hands balled and the heat pouring out of him suffocated the room in an instant.
“Lucien, are you—?”
He choked on a snarl, pushing off the door and clawing at his coat. “I can’t...I can’t take it anymore.” Smoke erupted from his back with thick, choking plumes. His shirt singed and crisped beneath his hands.
He glowered at me with blazing eyes. Incandescent eyes. “You’re in my bedroom. In my family home. You’re the only one who will ever visit Ashfall Cliff and before I pass out—which I seriously hope I do—you’re going to tell me everything.”
“R-Right now?”
Tripping toward me, he grabbed my shoulders and squeezed me ever so hard.
“Right now. Let’s start with the fact that you think you’re my greatest enemy.
” His forehead dropped to mine, his breath scorching my lips.
“Because I think I might be running out of time and you’re the only thing standing between me and death. ”
Letting me go, he glowered at me like a fire-licked devil straight from hell.
“Prove to me, Rook. Prove to me, right here. Right now. Show me that you aren’t like them.
Convince me that you won’t betray me. Prove to me that I can trust you.
That you won’t fucking ruin me any more than you already have. ”
My lungs seized as if I’d inhaled winter itself. Ice crystals formed in my eyes, my blood, my heart. The world rimmed with white and silver.
I tried to speak.
Nothing came out.
Frost sealed my throat shut, freezing my vocal cords and making them useless.
Lucien’s nostrils flared. “Say something.”
I shook my head, tapping my frozen neck, my breath coming out in foggy bursts.
What was happening?
Why was he affecting me so badly?
How—
“SPEAK!” he roared.
His voice ripped through me like an avalanche.
My legs gave out—