Chapter 11
“Wait…” Finn hesitated, looking at me. “Do I have to do it in front of her?”
“Oh, stop.” Damen shot his brother a disapproving look. “You are far too advanced to have stage fright.”
Finn’s face turned red. “I don’t have stage fright! Just shut up. I’ll do it.”
Before I could inquire how someone summons a shikigami, Finn had already put his fingers to his mouth, and an ear-splitting whistle rang through the room. Julian grasped my hand, holding tight as the air in the room warmed.
Smoke covered the floor, and I couldn’t help but notice it hadn’t taken Damen nearly as long to summon Kasai from the time he’d whistled.
A shape formed from the mass. And an instant later, it solidified into a white and gray tiger.
My heart sank. My imaginary Kiania animal form had been so much better.
“That took like thirty seconds,” I complained. “Damen summons Kasai instantly.”
Finn flushed as his hackles rose. “Well, I’m not Damen, okay?”
“Finn’s equip time is quick for an onmyoji,” Damen said, even as his focus remained on the giant cat. She, in return, lazily stretched and began to yawn. “Kiania, you’ve some explaining to do.”
“ Hello, my lord ,” she purred. Her voice made my pulse race. She sat leisurely, her tail curling behind her as she cleaned her paw. “ Have you missed me? ”
“That’s not how I’d describe it.” Damen narrowed his eyes. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite.”
“What did it say?” Julian asked, his grip almost painful over mine.
“It said—”
“You can’t hear her?” I pulled on Julian’s hand to get his attention. He looked at me as I struggled against Titus, trying to escape.
She was so fluffy—could I pet her?
Damen focused on me, his expression becoming even more severe. “And you can .”
“Kiania.” Finn moved to stand beside his brother, and I stopped struggling as they glared at the tiger. “Why didn’t you tell me you could talk to her? You’re my shikigami.”
“ It is none of your business. The relationship between Mu and me is our own ,” Kiania said. However, she’d not once opened her mouth, but her voice still rang through me as she continued to groom herself.
Maybe she’d like to be brushed?
The tiger’s eyes flickered over to me, and she added, “For the record, she’s much nicer than you. ”
“What is your end game, Kiania?” Damen asked. “Why did you come back in the first place?”
She paused, her tongue still out, and when she opened her golden eyes, they flickered toward Damen. “ You’re as jealous as always. However, it is our business. This matter does not require your intervention at this time. ”
“What are you talking about?” Damen cut back. “In any case, you’re insanely stupid to put Mu at risk. Just once was enough. I should end you.”
“ You can try, but you’ll destroy her. ” Her voice was calm, but her tail twitched nervously. “ Part of our contract is that if I perish, she does too. You’ve no choice but to let it be. I’ve come too far to abandon my goals. ”
Both Finn and Damen paled.
“What did it say?” Julian asked again, urgency lacing his tone.
“I can’t dispose of it… yet .” Damen’s voice shook. “The contract entwines their fates.”
Julian frowned, then nodded to Finn. “Then what about him?”
I wasn’t sure what Julian was implying, although I suspected. And Kiania’s following words confirmed my thoughts. “ The contract between Mu and I would remain without the boy to bear the brunt of it. I don’t think you’d like the result. ”
Damen paled further and translated, “Bianca would be bonded to Kiania… alone.”
“Can’t you change the contract?” Miles piped in, finger raised. “You’ve already done it once.”
“Why would I consent to something so stupid? ” Kiania replied. “ This arrangement works out well for all parties. Removing Mu will kill Finn. Taking him away will kill her. ”
“You’re just protecting yourself,” Damen growled.
“ Perhaps, ” Kiania said .
“She will eventually die if you keep drawing from her,” Damen seethed. “That won’t help you in the end.”
Kiania shrugged, a strange movement for a cat. “ Life is rather low on the list of priorities.”
“No,” Damen said as he stepped forward, his shoulders squaring in determination. “I can handle another shikigami. Return to my service if you are so keen to be stuck on earth. Release Bianca. I’ll help Finn.”
She laughed—low and mocking. “ You must think I’m a fool. ”
“Why?” Damen raised his eyebrow. “I can’t kill you while you’re contracted to me.”
“ Because I don’t want to be with you anymore. ” Her voice was petulant. “ I’m staying with Mu.”
The heat flared through the room as Damen’s anger became palpable. He stepped toward Kiania, his jaw tight and his fists clenched at his sides. “Why you little—”
My vision flashed as agony shot through me, breaking through my happy haze. I was being burned alive, the flames fanning up from my feet. My head pounded, and I thought my heart might explode. And—despite the drama—I couldn’t stop the pained noise that escaped.
A growing darkness began to cover my vision, and the room was silent. My body grew impossibly warm as an uncontrollable shaking took over me.
Titus roared, his arms tightening. Julian yelled something, then shouted at Titus to let me go. And Damen…
He sounded so very far away but so angry. That was the last thing I heard before everything faded into silence.
I was in bed when I woke up. Next, my body ached, and there was the sound of loud male arguments surrounding me.
“Do you think it was done on purpose?” Julian was so close to me that his breath brushed against my ear, and the sound caused the creeping panic to fade.
“No,” Damen replied, his voice harder to hear. “It wouldn’t do Kiania any good to hurt her.” There was a pause, and he added, “Why are they fighting now ?”
“I’ll tell them to knock it off,” Titus, who’d been standing somewhere near the head of my bed, said. “Otherwise, I’ll make them move into the shed.”
Damen gasped. “I cannot believe I didn’t think of that! I can make Bryce sleep in the shed!”
“You can’t do it now,” Julian said. “You’ve already given him a room.”
“I’ll demote him,” Damen replied. “Somehow.”
“Only Bianca can demote Bryce,” Julian told him. “And I don’t think she’ll do it.”
Damen sounded venomous in his response. “Oh, I think she will.”
This pretending-to-sleep business was fascinating. I was learning all sorts of new things.
Like the fact that Bryce’s fate rested entirely in my hands.
“You’re awake.” Miles, who’d been lying on my other side, brushed his fingers over my forehead. “You’ve got that evil look on your face again.”
I opened my eyes and met Miles’s expectant expression. “I do not have an evil look,” I said.
“Leave Bryce alone,” Julian said, placing his hand over mine. “He’s a great asset, and he’s loyal. You can’t destroy that because of a rivalry. ”
Confusion and a tiny bit of self-consciousness crept up inside. “What are you—”
“Yes, Bryce was challenging you, but if you haven’t noticed, he’s stopped,” Julian told me. “However, there are some things to keep in mind. Bryce is protective and stubborn, but he’s also shy. He’s also struggled to normalize among humans—Brayden took to it more naturally.”
“Actually,” Miles cut in, running his thumb over a crease in my forehead, “I think the two of you have a lot in common. You should try to bond with him.”
Lies .
Julian moved and touched my arm. “How do you feel?”
I looked at my hands. Come to think of it, I was groggy. And somewhat stiff.
Julian patted my arm. “You’ve been asleep for almost a day.”
Julian helped me sit up while Miles stacked some pillows behind me, but my mind was too occupied to thank him. “What happened?”
“We took a risk in summoning Kiania, and there wasn’t enough medication in your system yet to negate the effects,” Damen said. “But don’t worry, it won’t happen again.”
He sat on the foot of my bed with his arms crossed. His expression was softer than I expected, considering the raw anger in his voice. But he seemed sure of his declaration.
“Damen?” I asked. Did he do something?
“Finn was right,” Julian murmured, tucking a lock of my hair behind my ear. “Kiania doesn’t want to kill you.”
“Not right now,” Damen cut in. “But there was that incident in one of our past lives. It’s probably connected.”
“Nobody knows the details,” Julian frowned.
“That’s not entirely true.” Damen’s gaze settled on me. “Haru does. ”
Before Julian could respond, Titus returned. “Why don’t you just ask?”
Julian’s expression tightened. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” Miles asked, looking at me. “Bianca wants to help, right? She might not say no.”
I frowned. “Say no to what?”
Damen pointed at Julian and answered, “Shui can read memories, even those from our past lives. It might explain why Kiania is acting this way.”
“And I told you,” Julian said. “I won’t use my abilities on her.”
“You use your abilities on her constantly,” Damen pointed out. “For example, you help her with her anxiety.”
“That’s not the same!” Julian’s cheeks flushed. “You might not care about what I see, but Mu and I have a different understanding. I won’t break that trust unless absolutely necessary.”
I pulled my hands to my chest, fighting to steady my breath. “J-Julian,” I began, and he looked at me. “How does it work?” Maybe—
He said he could control it.
“If I dive into someone’s memories, they have to relive them.
That being said, the thought patterns of someone who has trauma are entirely unpredictable, and even I cannot fully control what I see.
And Bianca…” His words faltered slightly, but his resolve remained.
“Well, she could be dragged back to that bastard’s hands, forced to reexperience everything. I won’t do it.”
Damen’s determined expression dropped, and he nodded. Titus and Miles both glared at the floor.
Throughout his explanation, I shrank back into the pillows, and my shoulders had grown so tight by the end that I might snap. “Y-yeah,” I said softly, biting my lip. “L-let’s not do t-that.”