Текст книги "Darkest distiny"

Автор книги: Pepper winters

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Текущая страница: 19 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

Lucien sucked in a breath.

My temper surged.

How dare she say that? How dare she refer to him as a—

“And while I’m being honest.” Evelyn’s eyes darted to Lydia. “I’ll tell you what I really think of you too.”

“Me?” Lydia scowled. “What the hell did I do?”

“You’re an idiot, that’s what.” Evelyn’s mask well and truly came off. “I can’t stand you. Listening to you these past weeks has been torture. If you truly believe you can rule Brimstone Industries through this bastard’s children, you’re a fucking fool.”

“Hey!” Lydia stomped toward Evelyn. “I thought we were a team—”

“Shut up.” Evelyn spun back to Lucien and hissed, “I’m so done with all of this. I’m done living in a world where your existence is a threat to everything and everyone. You and that fucking blood inside you is an apocalypse waiting to happen.” She laughed with a brittle edge. “You should’ve been put down the moment you were born, and one day, when someone finally does manage to kill you, Brimstone Industries will die with you. The world will celebrate because you’ll no longer be around to destroy it.”

Silence fell as Lucien locked gazes with her. They stared at each other, wrapped in death and anticipation.

In a flash of black hair and black leggings, Evelyn screeched and launched herself at him.

Her dagger flashed.

Lucien planted himself in place as if begging the knife to land true—

Whisper snarled and surged forward. Pure muscle and shadow as he flew through the air and knocked Evelyn aside before she came close to stabbing him.

She moaned as the panther slammed her to the ground.

Whisper planted his giant paws on her chest, towered over her, and with a savage roar, ripped out her throat.

Lydia screamed and ran—

Lucien moved as fast as his panther had.

Leaping over the massacre on the floor, he charged after Lydia and grabbed her around the waist. Spinning her so her back pressed against his front, he clutched her close and murmured, “I’ll give my condolences to your father when I get out of here.” Then he dragged his blade over her neck, severing her flesh and trachea and—

I passed out as thick spurts of blood rained over everything.

Chapter Forty-Seven

I PLACED HER DOWN GENTLY ON the bed that was now officially unoccupied.

I’d made a mental note of which girl lived in each pavilion and this one no longer had a guest.

Rook’s old one—with its smashed furniture and inconvenient corpses, would be taken care of by Marcus’s cleaning crew and handy crematorium. But for now...she would stay here.

Gathering Rook’s long hair, I laid it over the pillow and brushed aside lingering strands from her red, slightly swollen cheek. My hands balled to resurrect the ones who’d hurt her and kill them all over again.

Whisper paced, his long tail lashing with impatience. He snapped his jaws, his muzzle coated with congealing crimson.

“Will you stop?” I hissed. “Go away if you can’t calm down.”

He dropped to his belly and glowered at me.

Ignoring the opinionated panther, I ran my fingers over the cut on Rook’s neck, the bruises on her arms, and the marks on her wrists.

My temper stayed dangerously high, my heart pounding.

I’d been able to fight my way through the flames of the vitalsync core while killing, but now...I groaned as yet another gush of fire pushed me closer to that excruciating edge.

I didn’t have long before I did exactly what Rook had done.

My lips thinned in a smirk.

What a pair we made. Both of us unable to stay conscious in times of pressure. Both of us crippled with agony we couldn’t stop.

At least her wounds weren’t serious and the ones who were responsible were dead.

Sitting by her side, I pulled out my dagger and fisted the hilt.

My jaw clenched.

I’d been a fool.

I thought I had more time. I’d plotted my escape for so long, it’d become more of a dream than a reality.

But...I was done.

It was now or never.

And I didn’t know how I felt about that.

On the one hand, I’d been begging for this moment for twenty years. But on the other, I wasn’t ready to face the outside world and all the carnage that would come with it.

My fingers throttled the knife as my need for vengeance turned violent.

If I survived the next few days, the slaughter would begin.

I would take what I was owed.

One screaming life at a time—

My gaze dropped to Rook’s face, and everything snuffed out.

This goddamn girl.

She had no place in my revenge. She wasn’t supposed to have affected me. I’d been fighting the feelings she’d awakened ever since she cowered like the rest of them in the ballroom yet somehow wasn’t like the rest at all.

She stood out.

She was different.

And it seemed my poisoned heart had quietly forsaken me every time she was near, but now...now my eyes turned traitor too.

My breath caught as I really, truly looked at her.

Black hair as dark as my nightmares, flawless skin almost luminous in the light. For the first time in my life, I noticed little things that’d never been important up till now: the softness of her cheek, the sweep of her lashes, the slight pout of her perfectly pink lips.

Little things that were meaningless but somehow had the power to bewitch me.

I hated it.

I hated that only she could soften my fury and turn me dangerously...tender.

“Wake up,” I ordered. “I need to know if you’re okay.”

She didn’t move.

Cupping her cheek, feeling that unexplainable easing from her presence, I resisted the urge to tap her. “If I leave you alone, will you be functioning by tomorrow?”

No reaction.

Whisper snapped his teeth.

My fingers burned from touching her.

“I need you to be strong,” I muttered, my palm falling from her beautiful face. “I’ll have one shot, and you can’t fuck it up.”

Still nothing.

I drew back, anger crawling through me.

She was the key to prying open this cage.

Up until now, I’d had no qualms about using her but...

What if she didn’t survive?

What if she died tomorrow and I lost her?

I glanced at the dagger in my hand.

If I stood any chance of succeeding tomorrow, it all hinged on her.

“This is for your own good...and mine.” Gritting my teeth, I ran the tip of the dagger over my wrist where countless silver scars existed.

Ashfall blood welled, glossy and red, the entire reason for my misery.

Placing the knife beside Rook’s unconscious form, I grabbed her jaw with one hand and pressed my bleeding wrist to her mouth.

“Swallow and I’ll let you go.”

She did nothing.

Crimson trickled down her cheek, wasted.

She was the only one I’d ever bothered to heal. The only one I’d ever willingly given my blood.

Which was why tomorrow was so important.

It had to be now, or it would be too late.

Whisper came close, sniffing both of us.

Rook didn’t move.

“She’s not accepting it.” I glanced at him. “How do I make her?”

The panther licked his lips.

I scowled before wrenching my wrist from her mouth and pressing it against my own. “Good idea.”

Bracing myself, I sucked a mouthful of warm, salty copper. Whatever they’d done to me to make my blood different, didn’t work on me. I’d tried self-medicating when the pain grew too bad. I’d ingested far more of my own life-force than I wanted to admit, hoping, praying that it could do what Marcus had reported it’d shown in the lab, but I wasn’t so lucky.

But for her...it would work.

Holding the thick liquid on my tongue, I grabbed her jaw to hold her still, and bent over her.

I wasn’t prepared for the punch in my heart as our lips connected.

Not even a kiss, yet it scratched and clawed at my restraint.

I shifted over her, parting her lips with mine. My fingers tightened around her chin just in case she moved.

Her lips were cold and sweet and soft as I released the mouthful of blood, transferring it to her.

She moaned quietly.

She struggled weakly.

I didn’t let her go or break the kiss, waiting...

Her throat worked.

She swallowed.

A small sound escaped her, barely audible, but it stabbed my burning chest.

Tilting my head, I brought my wrist to my mouth again. I sucked another mouthful, the cut sore and stinging. Warm liquid pooled, threatening to trickle down my throat.

Lowering myself once more, I sealed my mouth over hers, forcing the second dose onto her tongue.

Her spine arched slightly, trying to fight my imprisonment.

Energy crackled where our lips pressed together. Her pulse fluttered against my fingertips. Heat gathered, heavy and hungry between my legs, burning hotter than the vitalsync core.

The longer I fed her my blood, the harder I clung to self-control.

I wanted more.

Needed more.

With a growl, I tore away.

Her lips were smeared with scarlet, the wasted blood on her cheek marking her as mine. I brushed a thumb across her lower lip. The sight of my essence on her—knowing my life-force was inside her...

I couldn’t stop myself.

My hand slipped from her mouth to her throat, driven by primal instinct. Lust roared through me, tearing through a lifetime of denial.

My fingers shook as they lingered on her pulse before following the path of heat down and down.

I sank my teeth into my bloodstained lip as I cupped the part of her that I’d felt pressed against me whenever we collided.

I wasn’t prepared.

I never expected—

Raw, savage desperation made my fingers squeeze.

I bent over her as a grunt escaped me.

The weight of her breast. The softness of her flesh. The warmth and shape and addiction—

Touching her fucking obliterated me.

I needed her.

Naked and spread and—

I leapt to my feet and staggered away.

My hand curled into a fist just as the vitalsync core flashed red.

A bolt of fire shot through me as I groaned.

What was I doing?

What the fuck was she doing to me?

I needed to leave.

Right now.

Footsteps sounded on the stone bridge outside.

Whisper shot to his paws, turning to face the unwanted visitor.

I caught a flash of mousy brown hair, the girl’s attention on crossing the small river.

I didn’t know her name, but I’d seen her with Rook enough to know they were friendly. She wasn’t like the others trying to bed me or kill me. She was like Rook: another lottery toss, given to me just in case a civilian enticed me more than the trained courtesans.

“We’re leaving.” Snatching my blade, I moved toward the back window.

The panther followed obediently, but his whiskers flared as he looked back at Rook still unconscious.

I still didn’t know what they’d done to me that made my very human blood do something very unhuman. I had no explanation for why it could take away pain or heal but...for the first time, I was grateful.

She’d be fine when she woke.

She’d be strong for what I needed her to do.

“Come,” I ordered, climbing out the window and holding it open for him. The soft thud of his bulk crushed the orchids beneath.

The flames in my blood that’d been sated while I’d stayed close to Rook returned in full force. Sweat broke out, rolling down my spine. “That girl can look after her while I can’t.”

Breaking into a fast walk, the embers in my bones caught fire.

With every breath, the ash in my lungs choked me—

“Ghh.” I doubled over as another shot of molten torture threatened to knock me out.

I shoved a fist into my stomach, fighting the urge to return to Rook. It seemed even unconscious, she had the power to ease my pain.

But I didn’t trust myself not to touch her again.

Didn’t even recognise myself with what she’d fucking done to me.

Gritting my teeth, I tripped toward my quarters.

As long as I kept my pulse calm I could—

PAIN.

White-hot fire tore through my chest, almost sending me to my knees.

Whisper whimpered, low and uneasy, pressing his solid strength against me.

“Don’t,” I rasped. “I’m fine.”

He didn’t believe me, staying plastered to my side—doing what he’d trained himself to do when I got this bad.

“Am I that weak to you?” I tried to laugh—

The next surge buckled me completely.

My vision tunnelled, spots blooming at the edges. I caught myself on his velvety shoulder, digging my fingers into his powerful muscle.

Whisper started walking, his shoulder blades undulating under my hand. I moved with him, putting most of my weight on him, using him as a walking stick.

Pressing my other hand over my smouldering heart, the world tilted—

Whisper hissed again, half-shoving me toward my home.

I wanted to push him away, to keep a scrap of dignity—but the ground lurched again, and I lost the argument.

“Stupid beast,” I muttered.

He sneezed violently, telling me exactly what he thought of my pathetic existence.

My head hung in defeat. “Just get me home. Then you can gloat all you want.”

I managed to stay awake just long enough to pass out face-first on my bed.

Chapter Forty-Eight

BLOOD SPRAYING EVERYWHERE.

A panther’s snarl. A scream—

My eyes flew wide, stopping the replay of what happened.

“Oh, thank god, you’re finally awake!” Laura’s pretty, slightly freckled face filled my vision. “You’ve been out cold for a while. Look.” She pointed at the night pouring in through the windows. “It’s dark.” Springing to her feet, she wrung her hands. “Are you hungry? I can make you something—”

“Wait.” Sitting upright, cursing the small rush of vertigo, I grabbed her hand. Golden light spilled from lanterns flickering around the room, the layout was familiar, the bed soft like mine, the furniture almost identical, and yet...not mine.

“Where...where am I?”

Laura froze, glancing at where I touched her. Slowly, she sat back on the bed again and patted my arm. “This is Evelyn’s pavilion.”

“What?” I scrambled in the blankets, trying to get up.

Memories of Whisper tearing out Evelyn’s throat made mine close up. “How did I end up here?”

“Lucien Ashfall brought you.” She tugged her hand from mine and balled them in her lap. “I saw him carrying you. You weren’t moving and I thought...I thought he’d hurt you.” She winced. “It wasn’t like I could confront him, so I went to your place to figure out how to help, and...almost threw up all over the rug.” She swallowed hard. “Evelyn and Lydia are...well.” She shook her head. “Let’s just say, staying here for now is better.”

A knife cutting.

Blood spraying—

I flinched. “You saw them?”

She caught my eyes and nodded stiffly. “What the hell happened?”

I glanced at the cuts on my hands from fighting them off. I ran my thumb over Lydia’s fingernail marks on my wrists. I flexed my arms and pressed the bruises that Evelyn had delivered and...didn’t feel much of anything.

I ought to be in agony from their abuse.

I should be stiff and swollen and in a terrible state, unless—

Lucien.

Running my tongue over my bottom lip, the flavour of earthy copper filled my mouth.

Again.

He’d fed me his blood again.

And...it helped.

Again.

But how?

“Rook...?” Laura shifted closer. “Rook...are you okay?”

“What?” I shook my head. “Yes, of course. I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Why did I feel guilty for being medicated on his blood? Why did I stiffen with the need to hoard every one of Lucien’s secrets?

She didn’t look like she believed me.

Silence stretched before she murmured, “Now that Lucien’s killed Evelyn, he’s exterminated all the girls who claimed they were here to murder him.” She fiddled with the blanket. “The only girls left are those trying to sleep with him or the other three mistakes like us.”

Her fear gave me something else to think about.

“Don’t worry, he won’t hurt us,” I said, conviction loud in my tone. “You’re not next now he’s killed the others.”

“But how can you be sure?” She shuddered. “He looked pretty pleased with himself leaving your place. Why would he stop now that he’s halfway done?”

I dropped my legs over the edge of the bed, amazed that even my headache had faded to barely noticeable levels. “I’m sure because he’s not bloodthirsty for the sake of it.” I glanced at the door, wondering where he’d gone.

Why hadn’t he been the one to wake me up?

Was he suffering on his own?

I need to find him.

Laura never took her eyes off me, her voice slightly shrill. “You say that like you trust him.”

“I do,” I said too fast to censor, too quick for lies to form. “I mean...he’s not at all like he appears.”

“Is that so.”

I stiffened at her inquisitive tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She stiffened and looked away.

“Laura?” I frowned. “What’s wrong? What did you see?”

She nibbled on her bottom lip as if trying to avoid telling me.

“Is it Lucien?” My heart slammed into speed. “Is he hurt? Do you know what happened to—?”

“If he’s not hurt, he deserves to be.” Her chin arched into the sky. “I’ll happily teach him what happens to men who take liberties with unconscious women. He’s no better than an asshole who spikes a girl’s drink and rapes—”

“Whoa, what?” I grabbed her hand. “What do you mean?”

She glanced at where I touched her. She shivered then slouched as if the confession actually hurt. “I saw him.” Her gaze met mine, slightly panicked. “I saw him kissing you. You were unconscious, Rook, but he kissed you. He...he—” Her stare dropped to my powder blue pyjamas and breasts beneath. “He touched you.”

My entire body erupted in goosebumps.

And not for the right reasons.

Not because he’d taken advantage of me but because...

He’d finally given in.

After fighting the attraction between us all this time, he’d waited until I was comatose to finally snap.

What sort of man did that?

Why couldn’t he have waited until I was coherent enough to enjoy it...or at least reciprocate?

I rubbed the heel of my palm against my left breast, right over my heart.

Had he touched me here?

Did he...did he like it?

“You...” She scowled. “You don’t seem offended by this.”

I swallowed hard, my cheeks pinking as I dropped my hand.

I struggled to form a reply, but she beat me to it. “You have feelings for him.”

I sucked in a breath, the barest of twinges in my temples. “Oh, there’s feelings alright.”

She sighed heavily. “And do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Nope.” I laughed.

She cracked a smile despite herself.

We didn’t speak before she murmured, “Well, regardless of your feelings for him, he definitely has them for you. You should’ve seen the way he looked at you. The way he kissed you. He looked like he was seconds away from tearing your clothes off like a horny Prince Charming, intent on waking up Sleeping Beauty by poking her with his ‘sword’. And by sword, I mean penis.”

A snort escaped me. “That certainly paints a vivid picture.”

A picture that would get me into far too much trouble.

She tipped her head back with a groan. “Oh my God, you’re so screwed. You just went all gooey-eyed at the thought of him having his wicked way with you while you were unconscious. That’s not normal. Neither is the fact that he killed two girls in your pavilion.”

My heart did a stupid skip.

The truth fell from me quietly, “They were going to murder me. Lucien arrived just in time.”

“Oh...” She slouched. “So what you’re saying is he’s madly in love with you and the rest of us can go home now?”

I smiled almost sadly. “Ugh, wouldn’t that be great?”

“The being in love with you part or being able to go home part?”

I pressed my lips together, trying to prevent myself from answering but a single word fell from me anyway. “Both.”

God, how had this happened?

How had my crush turned into this?

It forced me to accept the unacceptable because one, my discomfort levels were considerably eased—proving once again, somehow, someway, Lucien’s blood was different to all the rest of us.

Two, he’d come for me, protected me, killed for me...

And three...regardless of what his true feelings were, I definitely had full-blown feelings for him, and I had absolutely no idea how all of this would end.

Chapter Forty-Nine

I STOOD ON THE ROOF, GLOWERING at the stars.

Freedom.

I’d wanted it for twenty years, but standing on the edge of it now, I wasn’t sure I would survive it.

Down below, the lights in the pavilion where I’d put Rook turned off, revealing she’d finally gone to sleep. A streak of ebony loped from her courtyard, returning to me after spending most of the night at her side.

I’d come up here the moment my pain had receded.

I’d stalked her from afar—watching as her friend left, Whisper visited, and I stayed alone in the dark.

I should be asleep and preparing for tomorrow but...I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Couldn’t stop replaying the feel of her breast in my hand—the delicious fullness that didn’t feel like anything else.

I hurt.

But this time it was her fault, not the vitalsync core.

I could barely stay upright without clutching the parapet, thanks to heavily repressed urges surging past all my walls.

Ever since I’d hit puberty, I’d shut down any spark of sexuality. I’d refused to touch myself when my body made it abundantly clear it needed a release. I never watched the pornography that Marcus loaded on my tablet. And even skimmed past erotic scenes in books—not giving myself any chance to fuck up by giving in.

The longer I smothered those needs, the easier it was to pretend I didn’t have them.

Not one of the girls they gave me interested me.

I hadn’t found a single one of them attractive.

Until her.

She’d caused something to crack open inside me, and a monster had crawled out.

I should feel guilt for touching her without her consent.

I didn’t.

I should be disgusted that I’d kissed her with my blood.

I wasn’t.

I was hungry.

Fucking feral to finish what I’d never started. To abandon the only control I’d ever had and finally be with someone.

Which was why I was officially done with all of this.

Tomorrow, it would all be over.

No more death or pain or blood.

I would be free—

The door creaked open behind me. The soft thuds of predator paws.

Choking on rabid craving, I muttered, “You’re finally back, you traitor.”

The sleek panther came to my side and snorted.

Catching his golden eyes as the moon shone in them, I did my best to stand tall and ignore the tangled mess my body had become. “Abandoned me to hang out with your new friend, huh?”

A pang of jealousy.

Fuck, I was jealous.

Of a cat.

Because he’d gotten to be with her when I couldn’t.

My temper simmered, even at my best friend.

He cocked his head, the tips of his fangs showing as if he took offence to my tone.

Turning back to the flaming world below, I peered past all the torches and braziers, wishing I could see through walls and watch Rook sleep.

Whisper stood up on two legs, digging his claws into the parapet. His whiskers flared as if he scented her on the breeze, a sharp longing in his eyes that made my gut clench.

I recognised that longing.

It crippled me too.

Yet another emotion caused by her.

It was getting crowded inside me and I had no idea how much longer I could cope.

But all these fantasies and all these needs might die a miserable death tomorrow because I was about to make her do something she’d probably never forgive me for.

And once it was all over, she’d probably want nothing to do with me.

But even that couldn’t stop me.

Not now.

Not when I was so close to ending it all.