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)
Struggling to get my bearings, my nose wrinkled at the smell of white bread and processed cheese. Beside the plate holding the rest of the unappealing sandwich was a bruised apple, spotted banana, and two bottles of water.
“Where...?” I swallowed the dryness in my mouth. “Where are we?”
The world swam in blurry fragments as I glanced around the room.
Gloomy light came from a single lightbulb hanging in the corner. A constant drip echoed like a ticking clock, and I couldn’t decide if the iron bars or the neatly chiselled stone were more terrifying.
We’re in a cell...
Memories flickered.
Ashfall Cliff. Blood. Whisper’s howls—
My bruised heart tried to pump harder, sending shooting pains through my chest.
How long had I been asleep?
Were Dillon, Auntie Mei, and Uncle Wen okay?
“I’m assuming they are seeing as those bastards got what they wanted.” Lucien stiffened, his jaw clenching as he listened in on my silent questions. “They got us. Whatever frequency they used knocked us out cold. I think...I think we’re in the basement of the Brimstone headquarters in England.”
England?!
They’d flown us here unconscious? I’d like to think that would be impossible, but after experiencing firsthand the efficiency of companies like Sovereign Retrieval—who’d helped Lucien escape the last time—I supposed anything was doable with money.
Lucien narrowed his eyes at the roughly hewn cell. “I remember this place when they brought me here to insert the vitalsync core when I was little.” His voice thickened with hate. “They kept me here while prepping for surgery. There are other rooms down here. Lots of rooms.”
My gaze dropped to his ruined vitalsync core pressing against my shoulder where he cradled me. The silver edge of it poked from his shirt, glinting smugly as if it also recalled this place and the day it was inserted into a nine-year-old Lucien.
Snatches of that day appeared in my head—the fear he’d felt as they’d dragged him into a sterile room. The betrayal as the very men who were meant to look after him hurt him in the worst way possible.
His fingers brushed my cheek. “You can see the past through my eyes, can’t you?”
Even nodding took energy I didn’t have. “I’m so sorry for what they did to you.”
“You didn’t do it.” He scoffed and nuzzled my hairline. “Besides, it’s me who should apologise to you. I took far too much. They might’ve knocked us out with that nasty frequency, but I was the one who hurt you. I couldn’t control myself. I caused you to almost dissipate again. I started to join you, but I guess the emitter interrupted whatever breakdown I triggered.” Dusting my hairline in kisses, he held me impossibly close. “I’m so incredibly sorry. I should never have done that. I felt how difficult it was for you to wake. It killed me to see what you did—to hear the whispers of death as they tried to take you from me. I feared I would never be able to bring you back.”
I smiled weakly. “So it’s true then? The link between us isn’t just telepathic anymore but allows us to share what we see and feel?”
God, that scared me so much because yet again...we were evolving.
First ice and fire, then death and life, and now the blurring of lines between individuals into one.
My parents’ late-night conversations as they poured over failed immortality experiments echoed in my mind. Even the ones who wore frequency collars to stop the ascension couldn’t be contained in a physical form for long. They might’ve lasted longer than those who hadn’t worn a collar, but in the end, the power—the R gene—continued to mutate until they either died of a ruptured heart or disintegrated into thin air.
Lucien sucked in a breath, seeing those helpful, morbid memories. “So we are dying? Is there no way to stop it?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged sadly, absolutely terrified that he would turn to ash and vanish on me again.
“I won’t.” He captured my lips in a swift, determined kiss. “Neither of us is dying. Now do as you’re told and eat.” Bringing the sandwich back to my mouth, he added sternly, “Replace the strength I stole, and then we’re getting out of here.”
Almost as if my body had been waiting until that moment to reveal just how much it needed strength, pain arrived.
God, everything hurt.
My hip throbbed from the bullet graze. My head pounded with dehydration and my stomach gnawed with starvation. But...it was the otherness that hurt the most. The hollowness as if someone had scooped out my entire being with a spoon.
Lucien cursed under his breath, his guilt palpable. “I’m so fucking sorry, Rook—”
“Stop apologising.” Leaning forward, I bit into the offered sandwich, hoping to interrupt his remorseful spiral. “Hmm, tasty.”
Liar.
The bread was disgusting; the cheese rancid—
I gagged and choked it down, trying to avoid chewing.
“I know it’s hard to eat, but...it’s not rotten. A little stale perhaps but perfectly fine.” Lucien sighed, watching me as if he wasn’t surprised by my reaction. “However, I couldn’t eat it either.” Shifting me on his lap, he reached for the apple. “Try this instead.”