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)
Brushing white strands off Rook’s mostly vanished cheekbone, I pressed my forehead to hers, slammed my hand over her frost-flecked heart, and arrowed everything into her.
She arched violently.
Pain blasted through me as if I’d disrupted the very fabric of the universe. Something ripped open in my chest—
The storm froze mid-flurry as the bond between us turned into a pathway made of sunlight and starlight, welding our spirits back into one.
My entire soul reacted, lurching with savage desperation.
I kept feeding Rook as much energy as I could. I claimed the faintest heartbeats of insects. The quietest flutter of reptiles. I used everything.
The faintest scent of ice-crushed petals and frozen honey filled my nose.
I recognised that scent.
That wondrous flavour of her.
Light fractured from her chest, illuminating the suspended snowflakes.
The tether between us strengthened, weaving around our hearts until there was no escape. No place she could hide from me. No thought or secret I couldn’t read.
I felt her on the other side.
Felt her fighting to get back to me.
With a choice that would paint me entirely as the villain, I stopped seeking souls to feed off and fed on life itself. I dug it out of the earth and tore it out of the air.
I devoured every shred of energy I could and fired it directly into her.
The bond snapped tight.
The blizzard ceased and the world went deathly still.
Agonisingly slowly, her body reversed its disintegration. A cloud of snowflakes descended over her as her body healed—rebuilding itself from snow to bone. Her hair bled from white to black. Her lips lost their blue tinge.
Bit by bit, she returned to me, and with an earth-shaking boom that echoed off the mountain peaks, everything suddenly...stopped.
The cost of what I’d just done made nausea claw up my throat.
I’d just murdered hundreds in return for one...
And I would do it all over again because I had no intention of ever letting her go.
Chapter Three
DAWN BROKE AND THE SUN TRACKED over the sky, but Rook never woke. I didn’t have any strength to move, and my fire never sparked.
Perhaps it was my penance for what I’d done.
For what I’d become.
Maybe she would never wake, and I would die for the second time, all because I’d used lives that weren’t mine to use.
I slipped back into darkness.
And in the quicksand of exhaustion, I vaguely heard helicopters soaring over the skeletal remains of the mountain. A flock of them flew to the top of the range, landing on the cooled magma that’d replaced the Eastern Crucible.
I didn’t know if they were enemies or friends.
I didn’t really care.
I gathered Rook closer and closed my eyes—
* * * * *
Stars twinkled over carnage by the time I woke again.
I had no idea how many hours or days had passed, but my body felt marginally stronger. I could stay awake at least, but...weakness clung like a death shroud.
I hated it.
I missed the fire, even though it hurt. I missed the heat. The power. The pain. Without it, I felt fragile. Feeble. Useless.
We have to go.
We hadn’t been found yet—tucked beside the river and hidden by fallen branches—but we would be. Eventually.
I have to get her somewhere safe.
With a groan, I fought such heavy, horrible exhaustion and inched upright.
It took an embarrassingly long time to climb to my feet. I’d never felt this empty before. Even on my worst days in Cinderkeep, I hadn’t been this weak.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, the world threatened to flip upside down.
Don’t you dare.
I couldn’t afford to pass out.
The mountain was probably swarming with people by now, and I had no intention of letting anyone find Rook in our current state.
Sucking in another breath, I begged my body to behave as I bent over her, slid my arm beneath her shoulder and knees, then lifted her weight with a loud groan.
I staggered and almost dropped her.
Fuck, it shouldn’t be this hard.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered hoarsely, pressing my lips to her temple. “I’ve always got you.” She weighed nothing, but my legs almost buckled as if I’d tried to lift the entire Gaoligong Mountains.
Where the goddamn hell was her bodyguard in all of this? Hadn’t he realised we’d been missing for days? Didn’t he have enough experience finding Rook, thanks to her regular disappearing acts? After all, he’d chased her to a remote area of China...how fucking hard was it to find her in this valley?
Focus.
Tripping forward, I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.
If we survived this—and I managed to get back to Ashfall Cliff without any Brimstone board members finding us—I had plans to beat Dillon Brooks up for—
“Ah, shit.” I tripped over a tree root and dropped to one knee.
Rook jostled in my arms.
“Get up. Move.” Jaw clenched and sweat pouring down my naked back, I forced myself upright and plodded onward with sheer stubbornness.