Chapter Forty-Seven
“DRINK IT, YOU DUMB BEAST.”
“What have I told you about calling him dumb?” Rook asked, dropping to her haunches beside me where I shoved my bleeding wrist under Whisper’s burned nose.
She looked as if she’d been dragged through a forest backward—which was almost true. After the uncomfortable epiphany by the river, we’d begun the journey back to Ashfall Cliff.
The trail was ridiculously overgrown, and it’d taken us two hours to hike from the bottom of the river back to the estate at the top. It also didn’t help that I was used to walking barefoot but she wasn’t. And she refused to let me carry her, even though she winced and moaned most of the way.
At least everyone was asleep as we’d slipped through the back gate and sneaked through Ashfall Cliff.
Whisper had appeared from the shadows as soon as we’d entered my courtyard.
I’d raced toward my best friend, taken one look at his weeping burns, and ordered him into the pavilion where all of this nightmare had started.
“It’s a pet name.” I offered up my cut wrist again, rolling my eyes as the panther turned his nose up. “Isn’t it, Whisp?”
Whisper sneezed and hoisted himself to all fours with a wince. His burned pelt and exposed flanks tore at my heart. Watching him limp on scalded paws...I couldn’t do it.
Shooting upright, I blocked his path and shoved out my arm again. “If you don’t take a lick, I’ll force it down your throat.”
He hissed unconvincingly.
“Lick it.”
Plonking his rump down, he sat like a pissed-off gargoyle, his tail lashing in the lamplight.
“Don’t make me ask again,” I growled. “I can’t stomach seeing you in pain so behave and let me fix you.”
He rolled his golden eyes, sniffed my wrist, then licked my strangely gilded blood with his sandpaper tongue.
Rook sucked in a breath as we both watched him—waiting for the flush of healing and impossibility of a miracle.
But...he jerked back with an offended hiss, his singed fur bristled, and he gagged as if I’d fed him acid.
“You’re so dramatic.” I rolled my eyes.
Rook laughed under her breath as the panther went to her, pressing against her as if she’d save him from me. “There, there. He’s only trying to help.” Her hands landed gently on his pelt, careful to miss the burned patches.
Whisper whimpered instead of purred.
A thick droplet of my blood splashed onto the floorboards.
A loud sizzle and blast of smoke destroyed the wood and left a coin-sized hole behind.
Whisper glowered at the smouldering spot, all while Rook gave me a wary smile. “You’re nothing if not consistent.”
Passing her the onyx-hilted dagger from the desk, I shrugged. “Your turn.”
She gulped but didn’t refuse.
Shifting a little, thanks to Whisper trying to crawl into her lap, she fisted the dagger and held it over her wrist. Gritting her teeth, she dragged it in a mirroring cut.
Instantly, her blood beaded.
Slightly metallic, almost luminous with silver.
Whisper curled his upper lip, exposing the tips of his fangs. Sniffing her bleeding wrist, he gagged even harder than he had with mine.
“Lick it.” I crossed my arms, pressing my still bleeding wound against my bare chest. “Go on.”
Grumbling loudly, he got to all fours, licked Rook’s blood, and shot backward. Spitting and growling, he smashed into one of the lattice screens, wiping his mouth on his leg.
“Guess that answers that.” I hoped I hadn’t made him worse by using him as our guinea pig, but...it seemed as though the only person I could heal was Rook.
And the only person she could heal was me.
But together...
Without a word, Rook angled her wrist, shaking it a little so blood plopped to the floor.
The wood instantly froze—frost spiderwebbing outward. Pressing her finger to the centre of the web, the crystals cracked, taking the floorboards with it...leaving a matching hole to mine.
We looked at each other.
Whisper glared at us like we’d betrayed him.
And the urgency to fix him—now that I’d tested on him—made me stalk to the dining table where covered dishes waited for us to eat.
Grabbing one of the china teacups next to the long-cold daisy-painted teapot, I angled my wrist over it.
Striding back to Rook, I dropped to my haunches beside her.
I didn’t move until a shallow red puddle had formed at the bottom before passing it to her.
Wordlessly, she copied me until she matched the same amount I’d given.
Peering into it, she swirled it gently, blending gold-tinted with silver-shine, turning it into an antiqued crimson.
“So...you can heal me and I can heal you, yet separately our blood is...”
“Poison?” I took the teacup from her, placed it carefully on the ground, then grabbed her wrist and pressed mine over hers.
Blood to blood.
Fire to frost.
We both shuddered as the bond yanked hard.
Heat flared, cold surged, and the itch and prickle of healing skin hinted that whatever we’d become—whatever they’d made us—it seemed we were invincible...as long as we had each other.
Savage lust slammed into me. Dark and hot and desperate.
I wanted her again.
She gulped and shook her head, dispelling the sexual tension between us. “You’re going to be the death of me, I swear.”
“Pretty sure that’s my line.” Collecting the cup before I became too weak to ignore her, I looked to where Whisper had slunk across the room.
I clicked my fingers at my long-suffering panther.
He snarled dramatically.
Inspecting her newly healed skin, she glanced at Whisper. “Separately, it destroys, yet together...it heals. How?”
“No idea. But Whisper is going to help prove that hypothesis right now.” Directing my voice across the room, I ordered, “Come here.”
The cat shuddered and bared his teeth.
“Don’t look at me like that. You’ve eaten far worse.”
He didn’t look convinced.
I padded toward him and scratched the ear that wasn’t singed. Dropping to his eye level, I murmured, “You’re hurt because of me. You’re in pain because of what I did. I won’t be able to rest until I make up for it, alright?”
He purred reluctantly as I continued scratching him, moving my fingers beneath his powerful jaw. “Just slurp this down and I’ll get you an entire cow as a reward. A very large one. I promise.”
He scowled and eyed up the teacup of blood.
I held it out to him. “Drink.”
He sniffed, glowered at me, then gave in.
It was gone in a few dainty licks.
The effect was immediate.
Leaping to his feet, his claws sank into the floorboards as his eyes widened. A whoosh of hot air rippled over his body, rustling his thick fur.
Rook came to join us, gasping as his skin healed, fur regrew, and the oozing injuries on his ears, nose, and paws reversed. He snarled as if the sensation felt odd, shivered as if regrowing his pelt left him itchy, then shrugged it off as it was nothing more than a bug bite.
Cocking his head, he gave us an inquisitive chirp then sat down and indulged in a bath—licking industriously between his now-healed claws.
Rising slowly to my feet, the bond pulsed between me and Rook.
Our eyes locked.
We hadn’t stopped since escaping Cinderkeep. We’d burned and resurrected an entire valley, and really needed to go to bed.
I couldn’t remember the last time we’d slept horizontally.
But...I suddenly needed something else more.
Cupping her cheeks, I pulled her in for a quick, hard kiss. “I’m either going to throw you onto that bed and take you again or...”
“Or...?” She shivered as our noses brushed.
“I practice self-control and torture both of us with delayed gratification.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.”
“Hang on. You want to drink at a time like this? But we need to talk—”
“Wrong. We need to drink.” I shrugged as if it made perfect sense. “I want to turn my mind off so we can sleep like the dead. Tomorrow is the day to figure out what the hell is going on but tonight...I plan on celebrating the fact that I’m no longer a virgin.”
Her cheeks pinked. “Hey...look at that. Neither am I.”
I smirked. “You’re welcome.”
She laughed under her breath. “I really don’t think drinking is the answer to our problems, though.”
“Oh, I think it is. Besides.” I shrugged. “I have a shit ton of revenge to reap, and before I do...I need to find a way to control my temper.”
“You mean the temper that tends to incinerate anything within a four-mile radius?”
“That’s the one.” Grabbing her hand, I headed toward the door, dragging her with me. “Let’s see if wine can help.”