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)
A high, piercing scream cut short.
Rage exploded through me, hot and blinding. The weakness didn’t burn away, and the flames didn’t return, but fury fed me just enough strength to fight.
They were killing my people. In my home. Because of me.
I snarled, low and vicious.
“Lucien...” Rook warned. “Think this through—”
Wrenching my hand from hers, I lunged for the double doors. My legs felt like lead, but adrenaline and wrath propelled me forward.
Whisper flew after me. His deep, guttural growl matched my anger as his black shadow glued itself to my side.
“Lucien!” Rook cried out as I tore out of the pavilion, staggered down the veranda steps, and skidded to a stop in the centre of my courtyard.
Excruciatingly bright sunshine stabbed my eyes, but I braced myself and searched the Whispering Dragon wall that was meant to keep us safe.
On the spine of the stone dragon—slithering off into the distance and encompassing Ashfall Cliff—stood countless men, all dressed in tactical gear and holding weapons. I scanned each one until I locked eyes with a man holding a pistol, the muzzle still pointed in the direction of the girl he’d just shot.
A girl I didn’t know. A servant whose only crime was thinking she was safe working here. Fresh blood bloomed across her back where she’d fallen face first onto the pavers.
“No!” Auntie Mei screamed. “Lanlan!” Pushing out of Uncle Wen’s shielding embrace, she tore across the courtyard and dropped to her knees beside the dead girl. Tears tracked down her cheeks as she rolled the girl over, brushing back hair and checking for a pulse. “Wake up. You have to wake up.”
“Mei!” Uncle Wen hobble-chased after his wife, his cane clicking.
I wanted to roar at them to get back inside.
My hands shook with the violent need to rip the leader’s throat out. I wished I had the same level of power I’d wielded when blowing up the Eastern Crucible, but...nothing. Not even a wisp of smoke. I hadn’t felt this hollow even in my worst days in Cinderkeep.
Stepping toward the wall, I hissed, “Get the fuck off my property.”
Whisper crouched low beside me, ears flat, fangs bared.
The leader gave a low chuckle. “How about we skip the posturing and threats and get to the good stuff?” Running his hand over his gun, he shrugged as if all of this was a big misunderstanding. “You and the girl can come with us quietly, or we finish what we started.” His smile turned sinister, muddy brown hair soaking up the sun. “If you refuse, every servant, cook, and gardener—every person you care about—will die. One by one.”
“Fuck. You.”
His gun swung up, aiming right at my metal-encased heart. “I told you. I don’t have time for threats or bad language. I have orders and those orders are to bring you with us. We’re already late. So...just walk out of that fortified front gate of yours and accept that you are, and always will be, the property of Brimstone Industries.”
I grinned and spread my arms, exposing my heart to his gun. “You might as well kill me then, because I will never bow to you bastards again.”
“Pity.” Arching his chin, he ordered his men, “Go on, then. Shoot.”
I tensed for the shot—
“WAIT!” Rook flung herself in front of me, her nightgown flapping like a white flag of surrender.
I lunged, snatching her around the middle and spinning around. “What the hell are you doing?!” I shielded her with my body even as the world spun from the effort. “I told you to stay inside!”
“And I told you I’d never let you die on me again!” She fought my grip, clawing at my arm. The bond crackled—raw, desperate.
The fear of losing her crucified me.
And I couldn’t do it.
Grabbing Rook’s wrist, I locked her behind me as I turned to face the men and flung myself wide open, begging the fire to return, hoping for the barest smidgen of power.
Every primal instinct howled to destroy. To tap into these bastards’ lifeforce. To suck out their energy and leave them nothing more than shrivelled husks.
But nothing answered.
I was nothing more than a sickly human...
And had absolutely no idea how to fix any of this.
Chapter Seven
LUCIEN VIBRATED WITH PURE HATE.
I could feel him through the bond. Feel his seething, barely contained rage. Every muscle locked tight as he shielded me, but beneath his fury, he knew as well as I did how vulnerable we were.
The fire that usually burned so hotly in his blood was non-existent. He ran on nothing but anger, and if the men who’d come to trap us figured out he was even weaker than when he was imprisoned in Cinderkeep...
Dillon shot from the pavilion, gun drawn as he skidded to a halt and planted himself in front of me and Lucien. Gratitude filled me for my wonderful bodyguard, but it was quickly swallowed by terror.