Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
His eyes dropped to my throat.
He blanched. “Rook...where’s your necklace?”
Chapter Fifty-Four
LUCIEN TURNED MURDEROUS. “WAS THAT something else her parents asked you to monitor? To make sure she never took the necklace off?”
I waited for Dillon to deny it.
For him to remain trustworthy and safe but...
His eyes clouded over as he shifted awkwardly.
“Whisper,” Lucien murmured.
The panther instantly shot to his paws, tail going dart-straight.
Dillon flinched and shot me a guilty look. “I did know you could never take it off. That it was a matter of life or death that you kept it on.”
“Why?” I asked, cutting Lucien off before he could blow the office apart.
“Do you remember about six years ago when you did your typical vanishing act, and I found you in the Maldives?”
I frowned; all my travels were a blur. A never-ending mess of pain and nausea as I searched the world for peace. “Vaguely.” I shrugged. “You were there when I woke one morning, fast asleep on the love seat.”
“I was asleep because for thirty-six hours you wouldn’t wake. I thought you were going to die on me.”
“What? Why?”
Lucien’s death grip on me tightened.
“You were on an island with thirty-five Celsius heat, yet...when I finally found you and knocked on your villa door, the windows were frosted—from the inside.”
Lucien’s heart hitched against my back.
“I showed my credentials at the front desk, they gave me a key, and when I went inside...it looked more like an igloo than a tropical suite.” Shaking his head, his voice turned quiet. “I’m talking literal walls covered in ice. The air so dry and cold, it threatened to stick my lungs together. And there you were, completely blue and not moving on the floor. I honestly thought you were dead.”
Lucien’s arm slid fully around my waist, anchoring me tight.
Why didn’t I remember this?
“I carried you out,” Dillon continued. “You were so cold, you gave me frostbite. Luckily, everyone was asleep and I carried you straight into the sea. The ocean was at least twenty-five degrees Celsius, but even that couldn’t thaw you.” He sniffed. “And then I noticed your necklace was missing and I remembered your mother telling me that you must never take it off. She never told me why, but...she was so insistent about it, she even wrote it into my contract.”
Lucien’s voice was low and dangerous. “What happened next?”
“I took her back inside and found the chain had snagged on the dress she’d been in the process of removing. The raindrop charm was under the bed.” Catching my eyes, he spoke to me, “I tried placing it on you without the chain and it did help. But the moment you started to come round, you’d roll over, knock it off, and start freezing all over again. I went to the hotel gift shop the second it opened and bought the strongest silver necklace they had. I fastened it back into place, waited almost an entire day for you to rouse, then passed out. When I woke, you were already gone.”
“I...I had no idea,” I whispered. “I don’t remember any of that.”
“Why would you?” Dillon said softly. “You were unconscious. And it’s not like I wanted to tell you. You didn’t seem to know what would happen if you stopped wearing that charm.”
“So that’s why you don’t seem shocked about all of this,” Lucien muttered. “You’ve already seen what she can do.”
“Seen, yes. But I’m not comfortable.” Looking around as if afraid the walls had ears, he lowered his voice. “I...might’ve seen a few things in the labs when Rook was younger. Heard stories from other guards who didn’t last long after asking questions. Like I said, you don’t mess with what you don’t know and the less I knew the better.”
Lucien stared at him for a long time.
It grew awkward again and Whisper got up to prowl around Dillon’s chair.
“So you put the necklace back on her,” Lucien said coldly. “You sound quite proud about that fact.”
“Proud? No. I was just grateful I was able to help her.”
“But what if you didn’t?” Lucien needled. “What if you condemned her to yet more pain, nausea, and blackouts?”
“How could that be?” Genuine unhappiness filled Dillon’s face. “What’s he on about, Rook?”
I sighed with a wince. “It’s fine, Dil. I didn’t even know it myself until recently.”
“Know what?”
“That her necklace was the reason she was so sick,” Lucien so helpfully advised. “It wasn’t whatever disorder she called it—it was the pendant and some sort of frequency keeping her trapped. Her emotions became weapons against her.”
“But...when I found her that night, she was on the brink of death.” Dillon frowned. “She was hardly breathing. The necklace saved her.”
“Oh God,” I gasped. “That...actually makes sense.”
“How?” Dillon asked. “What makes sense?”
“It didn’t save me, it...” I gulped, my mind racing with the past. “It might’ve been prolonging my death for as long as possible.”