Chapter Nine
EVERY STEP WAS WRONG.
Obeying my enemies clawed at my very soul. It made me want to turn inhuman because it shot me straight back to the nightmare of Cinderkeep, and no fucking way was I walking back into that cage, but...I had nothing.
No way of protecting Rook or Whisper and all those who lived in Ashfall Cliff.
I was worse off than I had been when I’d been trapped, and it made me want to fucking rage.
Hot hatred boiled inside my veins, pulsing in time with the heartbeats I could hear all around me. So much life. So much energy, but when I’d tried to steal it from the leader, I’d felt instantly nauseous.
The only energy that had helped was Rook’s.
The second I’d reached out and taken from her, I’d felt unbelievably good. The gnawing calmed for a moment. The shakes subsided. The weakness faded. But what if I irreparably damaged her? What if she never replenished what I stole? What if I ended up killing her?
Every step we took toward the main courtyard, I racked my brains on what to do.
I searched every part of my body for any inkling of the flames...
And nothing.
Another gush of fury coated my thoughts as I glanced at my hand. Rook’s awful black blood covered my fingers. No hint of the silver. Not even the usual red tint of mortality.
Yet another worry. Another question about what was happening to us.
Had we broken some unwritten rule?
Had the power abandoned us because we’d refused to die and now waited eagerly for that to come true?
“Lucien...” Rook murmured quietly, wincing with every step. “Your thoughts are giving me a headache.”
I was too deep in my temper to attempt a smile or an apology.
We continued walking in silence.
Rook squeezed my fingers as we headed down the covered corridors of Ashfall Cliff. Lucky cranes and protective phoenixes mocked us as we marched toward our death.
Whisper roared behind us, making my heart hitch.
At least the men on the wall stayed true to their word.
As we travelled further away from my pavilion, they followed us. The sight of their black boots treading along the scaled back of Whispering Dragon filled me with yet more rage.
At this rate, I’d catch fire even without the flame’s help.
My gaze travelled to the reptilian head rising high over the multiple pavilions and courtyards. The stone dragon’s whiskers turned the wind into a soft lament, its fangs bared at the blinding sun, its scales so lifelike.
Scorching disgust filled me for ever believing in the stories my mother used to tell. All those childhood fantasies where the dragon would always protect those of the Yunhui bloodline.
Bullshit.
It’d failed us once, and it’d failed us again.
My arm tightened around Rook’s waist as we staggered through a blossom courtyard, and over an ornate teak bridge. Flashes of orange and white carp glinted in the pond.
The longer we travelled, the more I could feel Rook’s pain. I wished I could take away her discomfort. To tend to her and bandage her. To keep her safe—
A black haze dripped over my vision.
Rook tripped, almost falling to her knees before I snapped my arm tight and supported her weight. “You okay?”
She nodded with a heavy sigh. “Please tell me you have a plan. Tell me this place has some sort of secret bunker or security system. Tell me we’re not really going to walk out those gates and let them take us.” Her eyes held mine with blazing hope, her skin ashy and grey.
What would I give to say yes?
To be better, smarter, stronger.
To have a way to kill these bastards and protect all those I cared about.
Instead, I was pathetically useless and couldn’t think of a single fucking way to save her...apart from sucking her dry and using her very lifeforce to hurt them.
Are you sure you can’t access the frost inside you? I held her eyes, deliberately pushing the words into her mind rather than speaking them.
Shaking her head, her face fell with sadness. There is no frost inside me.
We had another three long corridors to go before we spilled out into the central courtyard. After that...it would be too late.
Can you try? I groaned as a shockwave of pain radiated from her hip, sharing her misery. My arm locked tighter around her waist. Fuck, I’m so sorry you’re hurt. That I wasn’t able to stop him.
I’m okay. She went quiet as she closed her eyes, trusting me to lead her. And I’ll try to see if the ice will come this time. Just guide me while I focus.
I slowed our steps, buying us a little more time as the bond gave me insight into how desperately she tried to summon the cold.
I held my breath, hoping against hope.
If she could tap into the ice that fed my fire...perhaps the flames would return.
It would only take a thought to slaughter the men who’d invaded my home.
We would be free.
But the longer she tried, the harder her heart pounded. That delicate, fluttering lifeforce brushed against the darkest part of me—the part that was starving to feed.
Fuck, I wanted her.
One taste of her energy had ruined me—flooding my veins like liquid lightning. I’d felt limitless. Unstoppable. Until it faded as quickly as it’d begun.
Whatever that side of my power was, it’d grown stronger since the mountain.
And it wanted her again. It wanted to drink. Deeply. Greedily. Drink until I was drunk, so I could reap chaos.
But what exactly was I drinking? Her energy? Her power?
What about her blood—?
I froze.
Her blood had always healed me in the past. Her very presence soothed my pain back in Cinderkeep. If I took her blood right now...could I become strong and save her?
No way.
She’s already bleeding from a bullet for fuck’s sake.
I tried to smother the idea so she wouldn’t—too late.
“Do it,” she blurted. Glancing at the men in the distance, she added silently, We’re stupid to have waited this long when we know it’s helped in the past. Take whatever you need.
My teeth clenched. But you’ve already lost some from being shot.
So? Holding out her wrist, the long sleeve of her nightgown fell away. Drink. You’re right that it might fix whatever is wrong with us. We’re running out of time.
My mouth watered with urgency.
Her blood had proven, time and time again, that it could heal me.
But the thought of causing her more pain when she was already hurt...I couldn’t do it.
Don’t be stupid, Lucien. Do it.
I don’t have to bite you.
Huh?
“Stop.” Pulling her to a halt, I glanced at the men on the wall and dropped to one knee.
“W-What are you doing?” She squeaked just as I spun her to face me, gripped her hips, and pressed my mouth directly over the torn, blood-soaked fabric of her nightgown. The moment my tongue touched coppery blood, a violent shudder tore through me.
All the raw, unfinished hunger from the dreamscape slammed into us with vicious intensity. Hunger. Lust. Desperation.
Rook’s arousal flooded the bond—hot and aching. My body hardened and it took monumental effort not to pull her down to the floor.
Primal urges snarled to bury myself inside her until the only thing we cared about was being joined—writhing together, coming together.
Her breath hitched as I dragged my tongue over her wound. She pressed her thighs together, moaning quietly.
You’re going to have to stop. Her hand landed on my head for balance. Whatever happened to us when we first woke up has left me—
Starving?
Her chin tipped down as her fingers clutched my hair. I don’t understand why I need you so much. Why it feels as if sex is the most important thing when it’s the last thing we should be thinking about.
I feel the same way.
I needed her.
So. Fucking. Much.
Every instinct demanded I slip inside her tight, wet heat and—
God, Lucien. Her fingers yanked on my hair, picking up on my filthy thoughts. Stop it.
Stop it?
How?
My cock pounded with savage demand. Whatever that vision or dream we’d slipped into had ruined us. It wasn’t even about sex or pleasure but something else. Something driving us beyond rational minds and logic.
A fizzle of fire tried to spark around my heart, making me feral as I shifted from her hip to her core.
“Lucien,” she hissed, pulling my hair to stop me. “We can’t.”
I didn’t have a choice. I lost all control as I ignored her soft protest and pressed a kiss on the nightgown hiding her wetness.
I couldn’t explain it. Couldn’t stop it.
Shielding her body with mine, I blocked what I was about to do from the assassin’s view, and ran my hand up her leg.
She gasped as I found no panties. No obstruction. Whoever had dressed us when they’d found us on the mountain had done me a favour.
She swayed against me as I plunged two fingers inside her. Her inner walls clenched greedily around me as I curled them, stroking that perfect spot.
“Oh, God.” Her knees buckled.
Wrapping my arm around her thighs, I held her upright as I latched my mouth back onto her bloody hip and fucked her hard and fast with my fingers.
Hurry, I ordered. Come for me.
Her blood on my tongue and her arousal on my skin—it healed something broken inside me even as her taste flooded my mouth. Her flavour was all wrong, like old ashy pennies—
I went to pull away, but her hand turned fierce, holding my mouth against her.
My heart skipped a beat as her core tightened around my fingers. I growled against her skin, dragging my teeth lightly over the wound as I took another deep lick, chasing her release, driving her high and fast.
Her breath came in short, choppy whimpers as her hips rocked shamelessly on my hand.
Come, I growled into her mind, sucking harder, begging the rush of healing to wash through me like usual. Right now, Rook.
She shattered.
Her core clamped around my fingers in powerful, rhythmic pulses.
And...something happened.
The combination of her orgasm and blood sent strength and fire roaring through my veins—
“Oi!” a harsh voice barked from the wall. “Keep moving! No stopping!”
Withdrawing my fingers, I used her as a crutch as I staggered to my feet. The fire threatened to splutter out again and pure instinct had me bringing my fingers to lips and sucking off the remnants of her orgasm.