Chapter Fourteen
I WOKE WITH A VIOLENT JERK, my entire body burning as if I’d been thrown into a bonfire.
My eyes flared wide, narrowing against an unfamiliar room.
Where the hell am I?
For a second, I had no memories, no bearings, but then Rook mumbled in her sleep, and everything slammed back.
Brimstone. Leaving Whisper. Rook being shot. Unable to stomach food. And then...sex. Mental and physical sex that led to both of us passing out as if we’d been drugged.
Glancing down, I traced my fingers from her belly to her breast, cupping her through her nightgown. I shuddered with vicious gratitude because...she was cold.
Wondrously, freezingly cold which meant...it hadn’t been the craziest dream of my life.
Pulling her tighter against me, I buried my face in her neck and breathed her in—frost and sex and that faint trace of winter honey that was uniquely her.
The agonising ache in my chest eased a bit.
I hadn’t lost her.
She was still alive, still perfect, still mine.
My arm locked around her waist as I hardened against her backside, wanting her again, needing a repeat of what we’d shared the moment we—
Thud-thud, thud-thud.
I froze as a different heartbeat filled my ears.
Dozens more pulsed in the distance, far away and obscured, but becoming louder as I focused on them.
Fuck, they’re coming.
“Rook?” Pressing a kiss on her nape, I shook her gently. “Time to wake up. We’re about to have company.”
Her bleary eyes opened, cloudy and confused. Frowning at the cell, she gasped as memories slammed into her. She shot upright, bumping my hardness and making me hiss.
“Oops, sorry.” She blushed as she shoved her nightgown down, no doubt smelling the same musky pleasure I could. “Holy crap, it wasn’t a dream. We...really did have sex instead of trying to escape.” She swatted herself on her forehead. “God, how could we be so stupid?”
Chuckling under my breath, I lay on my back and arched my hips, pulling up my trousers. “Definitely wasn’t a dream and...I don’t think we were stupid at all. In fact, I think we did exactly what we were supposed to.”
Tucking myself away, I zipped up and rebuttoned a few buttons on my shirt. My fingers caught on the vitalsync core, reminding me that just because it kept disappearing in the dreamscape, didn’t mean it’d vanished for good.
Scrambling off the bed, Rook scrubbed her hands over her face as if trying to wipe away the dregs of sleep. She froze as faint voices sounded, coming closer with every footfall. “Oh no.”
“Yeah, they’re coming for us. And I don’t think it’s to bring us breakfast.” I pushed upright and raked back my hair, energy flowing through me with eager anticipation. “Four or five of them if I’m counting the heartbeats right. I’m still learning to focus when I can hear so many.”
“Wait...” Turning to face me, she placed her hands on her hips. The rumpled white nightgown trailed to the floor, hiding everything, even her toes. “Why do you almost sound excited about this?”
The dried black blood staining the fabric made me stiffen as a spike of protective fury shot through me. She’d bled for me. Again. I’d put her life in danger and granted her pain all because of the men hunting me. Again.
Never taking my eyes off the mess on her nightgown, I muttered, “Do me a favour.”
“What favour?”
“Check if your hip is healed.”
Her fingers flew to the slash in the fabric caused by the bullet. Widening the hole, a glimpse of perfect skin peeked back. Her gaze shot back to mine. “No cut. Not even a red line to hint I was ever hurt.”
“Everything else okay? Do you feel better?”
Running her hands over her body, she nodded. “I feel fine. Better than fine actually.” A scattering of frost appeared in her hair, twinkling like tiny stars. “Even the ice is back.”
My shoulders rolled with relief. So the dream/fantasy/mental connection had healed us. Which meant I was free to do what I’d longed to do for twenty infernal years.
The Brimstone board had brought us here. They’d abducted us, hurt those I cared about, and believed we were at their mercy. They probably had plans to harvest us again. Torture us. Breed us. And never let us see the light of day.
Pity for them, they’d just brought the devil into their midst.
“You’re smiling,” Rook whispered, coming to my side. “And it’s kind of freaking me out.”
I chuckled under my breath. “Am I?” I bent to grab the last bottle of water. “Pretty sure I wouldn’t smile when we’re in such a serious situation.”
“Ha!” She whisper-snorted. “I recognise that little smirk. You used to get it when you were about to remove one of the women thrown into Cinderkeep to kill you.”
“Yes, well...what can I say? Those bastards have done us a favour dragging us here. I was planning to pay them a visit once Marcus had been dealt with. Turned out, they were even more impatient than I was to begin.”
“What exactly are you planning on doing?”
“Take my revenge. Obviously.”
“Obviously.” She nodded along. “I can clearly see that finally taking vengeance is appealing to you, thanks to the slightly psychotic grin on your face.”
“Can you blame me?”
“No.” She came toward me a little warily. “But I can warn you to be careful. I know we both feel healed but—”
“We’ll be okay.” I cut her off, my heart fisting with her concern. “Once I’ve exterminated all those who were involved in the Requiem harvesting, we’ll leave and never come back. Alright? We’ll be back at Ashfall Cliff by tomorrow.”
Twisting off the cap on the water bottle, I held it to my lips. “Besides, we can’t be away too long because Whisper will lose his ever-loving mind.”
“He won’t eat Dillon, will he?”
“Only if he deserves it.” I took a drink, driven by a lifetime of human habits—
“Ah, fuck.” My stomach lurched with vicious nausea, doubling me over as water exploded from my mouth. The sensation of liquid on my tongue made my system retch again.
“Lucien!” Rook came to my side, grabbing the bottle from my fist and throwing it into the corner of the room. “You already know we can’t eat or drink. What were you thinking?”
Coughing, I spat out the dregs and straightened. “I forgot but...now I guess we have conclusive proof that food and water is off the table.”
Her heart skipped a beat, so much louder and perfect than the rest heading this way. “Then how are our bodies going to stay alive if we can’t feed them?” Images of us wasting away and dying of thirst filled her head.
My body gave no indication that it hadn’t eaten or drunk anything in days, yet what if our time wasn’t just running out but over? Maybe this flush of energy was what everyone felt on their death bed: a final burst of strength to achieve their last wishes.
My hands balled, smoke escaping from my wrists as fire smouldered.
“Are you okay?” Rook studied me. “Are you still feeling sick?”
“I’m not sick.” Turning to her, I cupped her cheeks. “I have no idea what I am, and you might think I’m idiotic for what I’m about to do.”
“What are you about to do?” Her fingers wrapped around my wrists, locking around the smoke coiling free.
“If you’re right that this is one of our final days on earth...I can’t die knowing they’re still alive. I will never be able to rest knowing that the men who did this to me—the men who tortured all those people in the Eastern Crucible—are still walking around without being punished.”
“I know.” Her eyes welled with tears. “I get it. Believe me.”
“So you know what I have to do.”
She sucked in a breath. “We can come back with an army. Let’s escape first and then—”
“I promise I’ll get you out of here, Rook. I vow it on whatever is left of my life, but...I can’t run like a coward. I can’t leave without hurting them first.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek as our enemy’s heartbeats came closer, echoing with the soft thud of their boots. “Just promise me you won’t burn yourself out again. That you won’t do anything without me.”
“I can’t promise that.” I kissed her exquisitely softly. “If we are dying, then I need to do whatever it takes to bring those bastards with me—”
“Then I forbid you.”
I tucked locks of midnight hair behind her ear. “I have to make this right, Rook. I’ll never forgive myself otherwise.”
“But what about me?” Her voice hitched. “What about the fact that Snowflake Corp is the reason all of this happened in the first place? My parents are the ones who messed around with immortality. They’re the reason so many others were caught up in the crosshairs, thinking they could use your blood to make more. ”
“And if we’re still alive by tomorrow, then we’ll focus on them.” I kissed the tip of her nose. “But right now, they’ve brought us to Brimstone, and I’m not leaving until I’ve burned the entire place to the fucking ground.”
“Fine.” She slouched in defeat. “I’ll help you. I’ll fight with you but only if you vow to me that you’ll stay alive. No matter what.” Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “I’ve brought you back from the dead once, Lucien Ashfall. Please don’t make me do it again.”
The raw fear in her voice broke me a little, so I kissed her.
The moment our tongues touched, energy surged between us—crystalline fiery power that didn’t just fill me, it completed me.
It didn’t feel like death but...renewal.
And if my body could no longer stomach food or drink, then...all I needed was her. With her close, I felt as if I’d devoured an entire feast and drained a river of sparkling water.
I felt invincible.
And now, it was time for war.
Ending the kiss, I hugged her tight. “I love you.”
She hugged me back, trembling a little. “What if it doesn’t go to plan? What if—”
“There are no ‘what ifs’.” Letting her go, I held up my hand and summoned the fire. It answered instantly with full obedience, encasing my fingers in a fiery glove. “I’m in control and they have no idea they’ve just brought retribution right to their doorstep.”
I focused on the heartbeats coming closer; the fire flared around my fingers.
Rook held up her own hand, ordering the ice to create razor-sharp claws on her fingernails.
She gave me a shocked look as if she hadn’t expected it to obey.
“It’s all well and good having our power back, but what if they use those frequency emitters?
No matter how strong we are, all it takes is one little zap. ”
“That’s why we have to move now. While they’re least expecting it.” Capturing her icy fingers, I pulled her toward the iron bars. I never let go of her as I placed my hand over the lock and sent a blast of heat into the mechanism.
Flames melted the metal, turning solid into dripping ore.
Kicking the door, the bars swung wide open.
Rook didn’t say a word as we stepped through and headed down the dungeon-like corridor.
Her anxiety spiked, prickling my heart.
“It will be okay.” Squeezing her hand, our eyes caught. “I’ll never leave you like I did on the mountain. Where you go, I go.”
“Where you go, I go,” she repeated, holding my gaze for an eternity before finally nodding and gathering the long train of her nightgown. “Together.”
“Together.” I wanted to kiss her, hug her, thank her for fighting beside me.
Instead, we stalked through Brimstone and prepared for battle.