Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
The panther jerked, bumping Lucien and me off him and ceasing the flow of our energy.
We stared at each other in hope and shock, hovering in disbelief and a fair amount of fear at the enormity of what we’d done, but then...he lurched upright.
His eyes snapped open in confusion, stumbling on newly living legs. He went down again, shaking his head before springing back up. Digging his claws into the grass-covered rock, he shook himself violently as if casting off the last dregs of death. Droplets and pieces of still-melting ice scattered like glitter.
Yawning, his fangs glinted before his golden gaze locked on us.
For one stunned second, the three of us simply stared at each other.
Then he whimpered, roared, and launched himself at us.
Tackling us to the ground, he licked every inch of our faces, chuffing and purring, trembling with ecstatic affection.
“Fuck.” Lucien cursed, his voice thick with tears. “It really is you.”
Whisper snarled dramatically and headbutted us, demanding bear hugs and kisses.
“Ugh, you’re still the same, you stupid beast.” Lucien laughed, his fingers buried deep in Whisper’s thick ruff. “Still determined to turn me into a pincushion.”
Whisper purred like an earthquake as Lucien found his favourite spot under his jaw. “Fuck, I missed you.”
Whisper suddenly darted away, his glowing eyes narrowed with accusation. Excitement at finding us vanished under rage that we’d left him. He roared, telling us exactly what he thought about us abandoning him.
With a sneeze, he slinked to Dillon’s bones and nudged one of them with a keening cry.
Emotions flooded me: snippets of Dillon laughing and sharing a haunch of venison that they’d caught on a hunting trip. Flashes of sharing a tent together when a thunderstorm rattled the mountain. Of Dillon’s blond hair turning snow white as age marched him closer to the end.
“Do you...do you see that?” I turned to Lucien, awe making my voice shake.
Lucien never took his eyes off Whisper as the panther paid homage to his friend who’d cared for him while we couldn’t.
“I do. It’s similar to how I first started sensing you through the bond,” Lucien murmured quietly. “We’re picking up on him, right?”
“I think so.” I never looked away from Whisper as he licked one of the bones as if saying goodbye.
Moving closer, I slung my arm around the panther’s massive shoulders and closed my eyes. I focused on Dillon’s soul like I had on Whisper’s. I waited for the history and murmurs of death, begging my bodyguard to answer, but...he never did. I could feel him somewhere but I couldn’t summon him—almost as if he was hidden through a veil.
Lucien came to my side and rested his hand on my head. Running his fingers through my hair, he sent goosebumps down my arms. “What do you think that means?” Lucien asked, following my inner thoughts. “Do you think Dillon’s soul is lost?”
My heart hurt at the thought and Whisper whimpered.
“It’s okay, Whisp.” I kissed his cheek and stood. “We’ll figure it out. I can hear death all around me. I’m bound to talk to him eventually.”
The panther nodded dejectedly.
“But what if he’s not dead?” Lucien frowned. “What if he’s passed into a different realm like the dreamscape or been reincarnated into another body...seeing as his old one is long gone?”
“You think he’s still alive?”
“I don’t know what to think.” He smiled wryly. “Everything I thought I knew flew out the window the moment I opened my eyes and found you again.” His voice turned heavy. “I have a hundred questions about what we are, what we’re capable of, and what happened while we were ‘asleep’—if that’s even what we were. Did we die? Did the Requiem power kill us or merely knock us out while it broke us down and built us back up again? What does that make us? Immortal like everyone kept saying? Are we still human when we can bring the dead back to life and have light in our veins instead of blood? Is the world still functioning? Did other Requiem carriers survive? Are we the only two people alive? What—”
“Lucien.” I pressed my fingers against his lips. “Calm down.”
Grabbing my wrist, he pulled my touch away from his mouth and smirked. “Sorry. It’s just...the longer I’m awake, the more I need to know. But I also have a horrible feeling that no one will be around to answer our questions.”
“I know.” My heart pinched at the thought of so many decades passing. If I concentrated enough on the death whispers, I could hear Frank, Auntie Mei, and Uncle Wen. I could even hear my parents in the babble of constant noise, and I had no idea what any of that meant.
Whisper chirped and scratched at the hard rock where Dillon’s final resting place had been for so long. Lucien and I didn’t say a word as the panther tried to bury the bones, only managing to claw up hunks of moss and grass.