Текст книги "Burning Blood"

Автор книги: Pepper winters

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Chapter Twenty-Nine

ONE HEARTBEAT, THE BED WAS SOFT and white.

The next, it was ash.

Fire tore out of my veins in a single, savage rupture, punching through my skin before I even registered I’d lost control.

Rook shot off the bed and stood with wide eyes.

“My...greatest enemy?” I repeated quietly, my voice all wrong. Off-key and violently dangerous.

“N-Not literally,” she rushed. “Just in terms of market share.”

“Ah.” I nodded as if hearing her call herself my enemy didn’t push me toward that murderous edge. “And I’m sure you mean something else entirely when you say you’re the reason I’m burning.”

“No...” She hung her head. “That part...that part is pretty self-explanatory. I just really hope I’m jumping to crazy conclusions and stressing us both out for no reason.”

Every scorching muscle went fatally still. And not the kind of still that said I’d gotten control of myself but the kind that usually preceded an apocalypse.

“So you’re using such triggering words just for fun?” My jaw clenched until my teeth threatened to become diamonds from the pressure. “Because I’d be very, very careful if I were you, Rook. Forget the past seven weeks we’ve spent together. Ignore the fact that I need you. Pretend that I’ve never treated you kindly or that you’ve seen me at my lowest and think before you next speak.”

I forced my breathing to slow down as the room shimmered with heat thermals. “You need to think extremely carefully about what you’re going to say next because I’m dealing with a lifetime of conditioning to kill first and ask questions later and I can’t promise I won’t react badly...even if it’s you.”

The wrecked bed smouldered.

“See?” she squeaked, her eyes locking onto the ribbons of smoke. “I told you it wasn’t a good idea to start this conversation while we’re trapped on this infernal plane.”

“Rook!” I roared, rolling my shoulders and trying to lock everything down. “Tell me before I crawl out of my skin. What the fuck do you mean—?!”

A polite knock sounded on the door, followed by a faint panther growl.

“Mr. and Mrs. Ashfall?” a careful voice said from the other side.

Fucking great. The timing was almost laughable.

“We’re beginning our descent,” the airhostess called. “If you wish to freshen up, the shower is stocked, the wardrobe has complimentary clothes, and I’ll have a meal ready for you before landing. I’ve also taken the initiative to feed your, eh...cat again.”

Mr. and Mrs.

My heart kicked with fire at the thought of ever marrying this woman. Of making her mine in law...a little thief who’d stolen my heart all while hiding everything.

My eyes never left Rook’s as I snarled at the door, “Go. Away.”

“Yes, sir.”

Rook didn’t say a word as we waited for the click of pointy heels to get the hell out of listening distance. She clutched her raindrop pendant as if it could ease the agony building behind her eyes—the agony I could feel.

Pressure coiled in my chest as if my ribs were a fire grate barely holding the inferno at bay. I despised that we were linked in some confounded, unexplainable way. That I’d been such a fool—

Whisper let out a low, distressed whine from the other side of the door.

She opened her mouth to annihilate me further and—

I snapped.

Launching off the bed, I stormed into her, wrapped my fingers around her throat, and marched her backward until she slammed against the leather-padded wall.

I wanted to know what she was hiding, yet I was suddenly petrified.

I was burning. Aching. Losing control.

And the only thing that could help me was her.

Rook gasped as I kissed her.

I bit and devoured, stealing her breath, her cold, her calm—ripping it out of her like it was mine by right. Her lips parted and I drank her in, chasing the ice that flooded my veins the second we touched.

Fuck.

Her coolness hit me like a sedative. The raging fire that’d built recoiled then snuffed out, leashed and smothered by whatever power she had over me.

I groaned, pinning her against the wall, feeding off her, taking everything I needed to stay sane.

She moaned as I plunged my tongue into her mouth.

Her hands came up instinctively, gripping my shirt as if she knew how close I was to killing her, even though it would fucking kill me to do it.

My thumb pressed against her leaping pulse. I read every frantic heartbeat, felt her fluttery fear, and...had just enough strength to pull back.

Breaking the kiss, I rested my forehead against hers. My thumb strayed from her pulse to beneath her chin, pushing her head back and bringing her gaze to mine.

She didn’t speak as I studied her—watching for the smallest flicker of deceit. “You know I don’t have a good track record when it comes to being threatened.” My thumb dug into the soft hollow of her jaw. “I’m fighting with the truth that you’ve always been good to me. Doing my best to remember that you’ve helped me, defended me, and have never given any reason for me to doubt you but...I can’t change what I’ve become. I can’t stop my instinctual need to protect myself—especially from those who are closest to me because those are the ones who end up hurting me the most.”

“I know,” she breathed, trembling a little as I skated my thumb back to her pulse and squeezed just a little. “And I’m an absolute idiot for using that word. I-I was just being dramatic. Nothing more. I just meant that Snowflake Corp is—”

“You’re right that this isn’t the place for this conversation,” I cut her off as the plane swooped downward, hinting we were getting close to my homeland. A sense of lethal calm settled over me that had nothing to do with her chill.

Whatever she told me, when she told me...I wanted to be in a place where I wouldn’t accidentally kill her. If she deserved to die, then I wanted it to be on my turf, in a place where I could take my time asking a thousand questions.

Letting her go, I balled my tingling fingers. Her sweet, icy scent continued to intoxicate me, growing stronger instead of weaker the longer I struggled with my temper.

At least I was almost home.

At least I was almost safe.

“Here’s what’s going to happen.” My hands shook with how much I needed her to fix this, all while terrified that she was only making it worse. “From now on, you will never leave my side, not even for a moment. You will cool me down when I need you to. You will do whatever I ask without question, understood?”

“Of course,” she rushed. “I’ve already decided that I won’t leave until you’re okay.”

I smirked at her belief that she could decide if and when she left me.

“When we get to Ashfall Cliff—where no one can find you and there’s no escape unless I give it to you—you’re going to tell me everything.” I pointed a finger in her face. “And I do mean everything.”

She nodded quickly. “I will literally tell you what my favourite food was as a child. I’ll answer any question you have. I’ll prove that I’m not—”

“Fine.” I headed toward the door, needing to get away from her—despite my newly issued rules of her never leaving my side. “Until then, pray that you’re right about not being my enemy.”

She sucked in a breath, but I couldn’t go back to her.

I needed Whisper.

I needed a familiar, trustworthy face before my ridiculous heart burned itself out with terror that she might be the one to destroy me and I couldn’t even bring myself to hurt her to prevent it.

“And have a shower,” I commanded softly as I unlocked the latch and opened the door. “I can smell you as keenly as I can feel you and it’s driving me insane.”

My best friend stalked inside, sleek and black and wonderful.

With an obnoxiously loud purr, he headbutted my hip, winding around me as if assuring me I’d made the right choice not to hurt Rook. Resting my hand on his giant head, I let fifteen years of companionship ground me.

He loved Rook.

He’d never reacted to another girl the way he reacted to her.

Even if I didn’t trust her, I trusted that.

Or at least enough to keep me from turning this plane into a funeral pyre before we landed.

Chapter Thirty

THE DAMN HELICOPTER WAS TOO SMALL.

Too loud.

Too claustrophobic.

The rotors thundered overhead, the vibration rattling through my bones as the ground blurred beneath us. I gripped the edge of the seat so hard, my fingers went numb.

I’d been on helicopters before. I wasn’t a fan but at least they weren’t like this—at least those hadn’t felt as if I sat in a tiny metal coffin filled with heat and smoke and the most dangerous man alive.

Lucien sat as far away from me as he could, rigid as a statue about to burst into flames. He hadn’t looked at me since we’d disembarked the plane, cut across a small airfield, and boarded the chopper as if he did this every day and knew exactly where he was going.

I hadn’t even had time to locate the airport name before we soared into the air.

Readjusting the headset, I dared to glance at him. Tiny wisps of mist bled from his shoulders, only to be snatched by the breeze coming in from the slightly open windows.

Whisper whimpered between us, looking pathetically terrified.

Harnessed in with a makeshift contraption meant for cargo—cargo the pilots definitely hadn’t been briefed about—he had no choice but to hunker down and hold on.

It’d taken Lucien a couple of angry commands followed by actually scooping up the giant beast to get him on the helicopter. The poor cat panted with pure panic, looking like he’d happily leap out and take his chances.

Whisper howled and pressed against me, trembling like a kitten.

Leaning forward as much as I could in my tight five-point safety belt, I pressed my hand on his trembling shoulder blades. “It’s okay, oversized kitty cat. We’re almost there...I think.”

Smoke curled faintly from Lucien’s shoulders as he flicked me a guarded look, hearing me through his own headset.

His usual attire of all black now included black boots instead of bare feet like he preferred in Cinderkeep. His blue-black hair was still damp from his shower, and he’d changed into one of the complimentary outfits onboard the plane.

They must’ve had our exact sizes because the black trousers fit his long legs far too well, the shirt tailored, and coat so similar to what he’d wear when hunting in the night.

He suited black.

Frankly, he looked delicious in black.

But...he didn’t do it for fashion. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he chose black because he expected blood and violence and preferred a colour that wouldn’t stain.

Smoothing down the matching white blouse and skirt ensemble I’d ‘borrowed’, I wished my blinding headache would go away.

Tearing my eyes off him, I continued to stroke the petrified panther and looked out the window instead. My mouth dropped open as ribbons of fog wove around mountain ranges that swallowed us whole. Ancient trees and thick greenery strained toward the heavens, roped with vines and wildflowers.

No signs of habitation. No towns or cities or people.

The deeper into the wilderness we travelled, the more ancient it became.

Everywhere I looked, the landscape was untouched and dangerous and alive.

A flock of birds suddenly exploded from the trees below, disrupted by our noise.

“The Gaoligong Mountains welcome you home, Mr. Ashfall,” one of the pilots said through our connected headsets. “We’re getting close to the location you advised. Are you sure landing won’t be an issue?”

Lucien jerked as if he’d been deep in thought—most likely going over his kill list...hopefully not including me.

He nodded, flicking a look at the pilots. “There’s a spot right outside the wall.”

Wall?

Another wall?

I swallowed hard at the thought of trading Cinderkeep for another inescapable palace.

Lucien’s threat repeated over and over.

“Ashfall Cliff: where no one can find you and there’s no escape unless I give it to you.”

Had he meant to sound so scary when he’d said that?

And did I really need to let my nerves get the better of me and blurt words like ‘enemy’ and ‘my fault’? Had I learned nothing when it came to him? He wasn’t exactly normal when it came to protecting himself and his knee-jerk reaction was always murder.

For the hundredth time, I cursed myself.

You truly are an idiot, Rook.

If only I’d told him about Snowflake Corp before taking everything out of context and making it seem like I was the mad scientist who’d personally created him.

Besides, that crazy hypothesis wasn’t even certain.

I was basing all of this on my overactive imagination and the fact that a few of the girls had mentioned Snowflake Corp wanted to kill him. They hadn’t said my company were the masterminds behind his condition. Merely that they wanted to slaughter him—just like every other crazy assassin that’d been thrown into Cinderkeep.

God...

Rubbing my eyes, I did my best to erase my headache.

Whisper nudged my knee with his nose, begging me to keep touching him.

With a sigh, I scratched behind his ear. “It’s okay.”

“Copy. If we require any instructions, we’ll ask,” the pilot’s voice crackled into my ears, returning his attention to flying and leaving me to gawk at yet another incredible view.

The Gaoligong Mountains rose on either side of us, funnelling us into a valley. Dark stone soared skyward, frosted with moss and bleeding with waterfalls. Water crashed into the flowing river below while the peaks were so sharp, they looked hand-carved by the gods.

We followed the natural contour of the valley, swooping with a flock of tan-feathered birds over the forest and past milky-white plumes that made it seem as if the trees were alive and breathing.

Whisper snarled as we soared out of the valley and over an endless field of barren, volcanic rock. The landscape stretched an endless black, glittering as if diamonds were trapped within. In the distance, a lake of iridescent turquoise shimmered so brightly, it didn’t look real. It looked mythical and powerful, and I expected any moment for a murder of dragons to descend for a bath.

In all my travels, I’d never known somewhere like this existed.

This enchanting and wild and magical.

No wonder Lucien didn’t fit in anywhere.

No wonder he seemed so different.

Risking another look at him, I jumped as my gaze met his.

He didn’t hide the fact that he’d been watching me. His eyebrows furrowed as if he had a million things that he wanted to say—the fire in him burning hotter, slithering around his eyes like a serpent ready to strike.

The closer we got to his home, the worse he became. I could feel him. Feel the pressure in his blood just like I could feel the pressure of my incessant migraine. That invisible tightening pulled us closer together, filled with wrongness, suspicion, and heat.

My skin prickled as his hands rested on his thighs, fingers flexing and releasing in a slow, brutal rhythm, as if he were physically locking down every flame within him.

I wanted to say something.

To apologise for not rehearsing how to tell him who I was. To assure him I would do my best to put his mind at ease when we landed but...he looked away from me—tore his eyes away from me was more like it.

Whisper chirped, his usual powerful growl cracking with panic as the helicopter added yet more speed, rocketing across the volcanic fields, racing toward the cliff up ahead.

A lifetime of comforting his pet had Lucien reaching out instinctively, planting his burning hand on the panther’s head, directly over mine.

He froze.

I froze.

Whisper glanced at both of us.

Glowering at our touching fingers, Lucien stiffened as that undeniable web of connection snapped tight, tight around us.

It’d never been any different.

Even from that very first moment we’d met, our bodies had acted like a conduit for the other. In-tune and in-sync, tumbling into the same heartbeat as if we’d always belonged and hadn’t been fully whole until we’d found each other.

With a soft snarl, he wrenched his hand from mine and balled it.

I straightened, unable to hold my tongue anymore—

But a house came into sight.

Ha! A house.

As if that puny word could describe the immensity of the estate.

It took up most of the mountain, looking as if it’d been there since time began. Towers and terraces sprawled outward in perfect geometry, black stone capped endless intricate buildings all linked by open-air corridors—just like Cinderkeep. Pagodas and sweeping eaves, the flutter of blossom trees, the maze of courtyards, the groupings of dwellings, and a labyrinth of rivers and ponds.

We soared over it, before banking left and returning to hover above.

Lucien was right.

There was a wall.

And I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

A serpentine oriental dragon had been carved from the very cliff—snaking around the entire estate, forming a barricade with its scaled stone body. Its giant feet were planted with purpose, its reptilian legs bent at rest but bunched with power, ready to stand if anything threatened what it protected. Its huge head was carved with such mastery, it looked real, raising its long snout to the sky in a fanged snarl.

Lucien sucked in a breath as he looked at the furious people below. Men and women gathered in the huge central courtyard, pointing angrily, waving their arms in despair at the hurricane we caused—our downdraft smacking the delicate fruit trees, making silk banners and windchimes swing wildly in their branches.

“Is this it?” one of the pilots asked.

“It is,” Lucien replied, bringing the headset’s microphone closer to his lips. “There’s a flat area outside the wall to the right. Or at least there was. Land there.”

“Copy.”

With a crank of speed, the pilot manoeuvred us away from the red-faced mob and skipped over the huge dragon. Up ahead, the cliff edge was flat and unobstructed, providing a perfect landing spot.

My stomach knotted as we descended, buffeted by the thermals coming straight off the valley.

Lucien tensed.

Whisper panted with terror.

And as we finally touched down—trading sky for land—Lucien turned to face me.

The smallest smile tugged his lips—not sweet or soft but more like a murderous promise. “I’m back,” he whispered as the engines cut off and the rotor blades slowly silenced.

He shook his head in wonder, his eyes sparking with fire. “After twenty never-ending years...I’m home.”

Chapter Thirty-One

I WAS MOMENTS AWAY FROM BREAKING.

I’d imagined this day so many times.

It’d been the only thing that kept me going.

The only purpose I’d had left.

To return. To repay. To reap vengeance.

But as I stood on the cliff edge—so close to my ancestral home that I could hear the bamboo windchimes singing and smell marinated meat barbecuing—instead of feeling relief, all I felt was rage.

Fire tore through me like a fault line splitting open, ripping up my spine and detonating behind my eyes. My vision washed red as my pulse slammed hard enough to hurt—each beat feeding the flames until I inched closer to detonation.

Burning.

Fuck, I was burning.

I wanted to go on a rampage.

I wanted to build a pyre full of the bodies of traitors and set it on fire.

I would burn them all.

I would slaughter and purge and—

A cold, perfect hand wriggled its way into my clenched fist.

A shock of winter blizzarded through me, making my heart hitch.

It was instantaneous.

Her snowy presence blew straight through the madness clawing at my skull. The red haze thinned. The roar in my ears dimmed...reminding me of where I was and why I couldn’t break.

Dragging in a shaky breath, I snatched her hand so tightly she whimpered.

Even knowing I’d hurt her, I couldn’t let go. Yanking her against me with brutal force, I locked her in my arms as if she was the only thing keeping me from razing Ashfall Cliff to the ground.

Whisper growled as my arms hugged her tight enough to bruise—warning me to be gentle. Rook sucked in a breath as I buried my face into her neck—dragging her frosty, delicious scent into my lungs.

She wriggled against me, trying to find a comfortable position in my cage. Her palms landed hesitantly on my lower back, her heart hammering against mine.

I hated the distance that’d formed between us.

I hated that I couldn’t keep my distance.

She tied me into fucking knots and unless she helped undo them soon, I would go certifiably insane.

“You’re okay...” she whispered, stroking my back and delivering wakes of chilled relief. “I’ve got you. Just don’t blow up your home before you even step through the front door, okay?”

Smoke feathered from my shoulders, vanishing into the air as I held her, breathing her in, bathing in her coldness.

The helicopter finally took off, whipping us with wind and grit as it swooped into the valley. In the ringing silence left behind—standing in front of the stone dragon that’d protected my family for generations—I almost gave in.

Almost told her that I didn’t care if she was the reason I was burning.

As long as she never stopped touching me—as long as she never left me—then...fine.

I wouldn’t get angry.

I wouldn’t get even.

I’d just—

“You know...” Rook squirmed in my embrace. “I’ve been lucky enough to see many historical sites around the world and lived in luxury most of my life, yet that...” She successfully wriggled out of my hold and arched her chin at the stone dragon. “I can’t get over how lifelike it looks. Its eye seems alive instead of carved from rock.”

I suspected she redirected my attention to distract me, but a lamenting musical note rang out as air played in the dragon’s flowing whiskers, dumping me into painful memories of my mother.

She’d often told me stories of Qingxiang Long—also known as Whispering Dragon.

She made the stone beast come alive with tales of it flying to the lake, bathing in the moonlight, and dining on deer before returning at dawn to protect us.

My heart folded in on itself, layers upon layers of guilt and regret and loss.

I’d spent twenty years in Cinderkeep hating my parents for taking the easy way out and leaving me to suffer in their place, but...I couldn’t stop the hottest swell of gratitude.

I thought they’d abandoned me. However, they’d also done their best to protect me. If my father hadn’t arranged the Sovereign Retrieval service and drilled me to remember the numbers necessary to save my life, I wouldn’t be standing here now.

Whisper suddenly hissed beside me.

I caught his gaze as he pawed at my leg. His feline sensitivity knew I’d fallen into familiar patterns of grief and blame, but then his hackles bristled, revealing he was still pissed about the forced helicopter ride.

“I’m sorry.” I scratched his flicking ear. “It won’t happen again.”

He grumbled, the soft sound eerily similar to the lamenting song formed by the wind playing in Qingxiang Long’s whiskers.

I froze, glancing between the dragon and panther.

His name.

I’d almost forgotten I’d called him Whisper because of Qingxiang Long.

I’d named the tiny panther kitten that’d saved me after the guardian Whispering Dragon of Ashfall Cliff because I’d hoped—when I was all alone and so, so afraid—that he would grow up and become a living embodiment of the protector I’d lost the day I was taken from China.

A surge of heat worked through my blood as Whisper purred, leaning into my scratches, all my sins forgiven.

I wouldn’t be alive without him.

I wouldn’t have survived.

“Thank you,” I breathed, hoping only he would hear me.

The giant predator cocked his head, held my stare, and seemed to know exactly what I was thanking him for.

He licked my hand with his sandpaper tongue, and I made the mistake of looking at Rook.

The second our eyes locked, a rift cracked right through my chest.

Heat billowed, need burned, desperation arrowed directly between my legs—

Stone groaned. Metal shrieked. The gates of Ashfall Cliff wrenched open.

Stepping away from her, I tried to smother the feelings she’d caused, only to change my mind and snatch her close. Her eyebrows rose as I leaned in. “Don’t leave my side, understand?”

She nodded, flicking a look at the two people who’d stepped over the threshold, coming toward us on the barren clifftop.

“I’m clinging to the edge, Rook. I truly don’t know how much longer I can hold on and the only thing that stops me from losing control is you so...help me.”

Glancing at the two visitors, I blanched as the rage inside me reignited, not able to tell friend or foe anymore. “Don’t let me hurt them.”

Rook merely nodded, stepping a little closer with a determined look in her eyes. “I swear to you, Lucien, I won’t let you do anything you’ll regret.”

I held her stare.

I tried to thank her...

My tongue refused.

Wrenching away, I glowered at my birthright and the two people shuffling closer. The elderly woman walked with her arm looped through an equally weathered man who limped slightly and leaned on a cane. They made eye contact with me but offered no smile.

The distance between us was enough that they thought they were out of listening range...unfortunately for them, they weren’t.

Leaning into the man, the woman whispered, “Who is it, Wen? Where in the heavens did they come from?”

“You can see for yourself, wife. It’s a maniac with a jaguar,” he replied, both speaking Mandarin.

“What the hell are they doing up here? Tell them to go away.”

“Calm down. I’m getting to that.”

Their voices sounded mildly familiar, tugging on foggy memories.

“Well, be quick about it!” She shuddered as she looked at Whisper. “There are far too many lunatics these days and they’re incredibly rude for spying over our wall with that flying contraption. Did you see what they did to the cherry blossom that Meilin planted? I have a good mind to kick them off the cliff.”

“I’m with you on that.” The old man nodded sagely. “We don’t tolerate any outsiders up here. Especially after what happened.”

“Tell Steward Lin to trigger the security system.” The woman tugged on the man’s arm. “Bet they won’t lurk about when bullets start firing.”

“We can’t just kill them, wife.”

“Why not? You said it yourself that they’re outsiders and outsiders killed the entire Yunhui Dynasty. Including poor little Luxin.”

I staggered a little as their conversation became personal, revealing who they were.

Fuck, I never expected to see them again. Never even dreamed they were still alive.

Rook shifted even closer as if she sensed my rapidly fraying mental health.

I could feel her even without touching her—cool and sharp, soothing the edges of my burning like snow falling over a forest fire.

It irritated me.

Grounded me.

Proved that no matter what I became or how dangerous I was...she’d collared, shackled, and ruined me.

Grabbing her wrist, I placed her behind me as the couple finally drew to a stop before us and I hoped to God I wouldn’t hurt them.