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)
I tried to siphon off the plants and sun instead of Rook, but the moment I switched my attention from her to anything else, the godawful nausea returned.
I latched back onto her—
Her pain lanced through me.
I stole that too because pain meant fire. Fire meant survival. It always had.
Rook dropped to her knees. With a cry, her skin suddenly dusted with frost, glittering as if she’d dipped herself in sugar. The contrast of ice and fire collided, rattling like broken pieces, doing their best to reforge.
“Stop wasting time and open the fucking doors!” the leader shouted.
My senses flared out toward him—toward his lifeline and the disgusting taste of his existence. Nausea crawled up my throat as if his energy was poison, all while Rook’s was the sweetest nectar.
She whimpered as the power inside me grew ravenous.
I tried to stop.
To rein in the monstrous thirst as I grew stronger and stronger at her expense.
But I was too far gone.
Fire suddenly rekindled in my veins, hot and savage. I coughed as something ruptured inside me, black blood splattering against the pavers as I spat out a mouthful.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” the leader shouted just before another gunshot went off.
A sharp scream rang out before silence smothered it.
I didn’t know who he’d shot. I couldn’t see a damn thing apart from the red haze of angry fire.
I coughed again, choking on blood as my body broke apart, piece by piece.
My ribs cracked—
Fire surged.
A guttural roar ripped from my throat as my entire body became a living pyre. I recognised the glorious pain. I was that pain. It seared its way through my marrow and detonated in a concussive blast.
The violent shockwave lit up the entire courtyard like a second sun. Fury slammed outward like a bomb, shattering furniture and hurling men off the walls.
Through the roaring flames, I felt them. Felt their panic and terror...their fragile, little lives.
And beneath their horror, I felt their hearts beating. I touched them, claimed them, and all it took was a sickening squeeze as I crushed those frantic organs into bloody pulp.
One man clutched his throat, eyes bulging, toppling into the courtyard with a sickening crunch. Another dropped to his knees, his face turning blue as his heart stopped. Another clawed at his chest, screaming as his pulse spasmed then flatlined—sending him plummeting backward off the wall.
The sensation was intoxicating, pleasurable.
For one glorious moment, I wasn’t weak anymore.
I was vengeance.
Death.
Flames licked across my forearms, golden and hungry. The air shimmered as pure anarchy filled me. Stone cracked and trees groaned. A scorching cyclone shot free, coiling like a serpent—hunting the courtyard corners and slithering around the wall and rooftops for more enemies.
Every man standing on Whispering Dragon flew backward like twigs as the fire found them, killing them as they fell. Embers and smoke tore after them, feasting on their death as their hearts stopped.
I shuddered as I gave myself over to the fire. I willed it to burn my bones and slaughter all those I hated. I would give whatever it took to keep those I loved safe.
It answered far too strongly, shooting down the link between me and Rook and sinking fiery claws into her soul.
She screamed.
I spun to face her just as she convulsed and toppled sideways.
“Rook!” Racing forward, I caught her before she cracked her head on the marble.
Her face gleamed a ghostly grey, the bond flickering like a wick about to blow out.
Her eyes rolled back as another bolt of silver lightning shot from her to me, giving me the last dregs of her existence.
I shuddered as the flames grew stronger, taking what she gave and flashing toward the remaining men on the wall.
They screamed as they caught fire.
Their flesh bubbled as they burned.
And Rook collapsed in my arms like a broken doll.
Panic and guilt crushed me, but my power kept burning, burning, tearing through me as if it wanted to devour me just like it’d devoured my enemies.
The sensation of the leader’s heartbeat appeared like a rotten string in my mind, throbbing with invitation to snap it.
I reached for him—
PAIN.
My heart gave out as the fire boomeranged back into me.
Rook groaned as ice flared out of her, painting a huge frosty rune on the marble. With an arctic howl, her power ricocheted free, flash-freezing the potted bamboo and turning everything into glittering winter. Her eyes glazed over as if death came for her, but then she screamed as her back contorted.
Her pain slammed into me.
She coughed up a spray of inky black blood.
“Rook.” I gathered her close as her ashy skin fractured with hairline cracks. Her hands flickered as if she became more snow than flesh.
No...
Not again. NO!
Dropping to my knees, I cupped her cheeks. “Open your eyes.” Her head lolled, her entire body floppy. Tiny snowflakes danced off her throat, dissolving her, just like before. “Don’t you fucking dare!”