Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
At the top of the crown, charcoal-black roses grew with thorned stems.
Rin had a joint between his fingers. The paper was gold.
Without turning my way, he brought it to his lips. The tip brightened and held for a long breath. Then he lowered his hand and exhaled slowly, releasing two thin columns of blue smoke from his nostrils that the breeze immediately took and unraveled into nothing.
His hair rippled across his back. The roses disappeared beneath it for a second and then reappeared when the wind returned.
He stared out at the sleeping island like I wasn't there.
Rin had been appearing on my balconies since the night I met him. And the way he sat now—shoulders low, jaw tight, eyes fixed on something in the distance that didn't exist—was the same way he'd sat the first time I met him.
Long ago, Rin had fled the palace in the middle of the night with nothing but his expensive clothes and a few heirlooms wrapped in silk and stuffed in his pockets. Somehow, he’d been able to get past the royal guards and escorts.
He'd appeared on the third-floor balcony of my mansion’s bedroom in Tokyo, bypassing the armed guards and surveillance and tapping on my glass.
I'd walked out to greet him with a gun to his face.
Rin had put those sad eyes on me and said his father had always told him we were related.
Sixth cousins.
Generations and generations back.
Our great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers were brothers.
I'd heard the same from my mother, but never put much into it.
I lowered my gun, curious as to why a man of royalty—who lived in ancient rooms made of gold and slept on sheets that cost more than my men earned in a year—was sitting on my balcony at three in the morning looking like the world had already ended.
Rin had lowered to his knees and it was probably the first time he’d ever done so in his life.
He held his hands together and looked up at me. “Please take me in.”
I laughed. “Why would I? You’re spoiled, probably can't fight or know the first thing about surviving outside palace walls.”
“I can fight. And I know poison. I can kill without exerting any energy at all.”
Later, I brought him into the yakuza. Hiro didn't trust Rin. My brother circled him for months, watching, testing, and waiting for the betrayal. It never came.
Reo thought the move was good and claimed that a man who could escape a palace undetected was a man worth keeping close.
Rin earned every inch of trust from my Fangs and Claws.
And over time I understood why he'd come to me specifically. Anywhere else, any other clan, any other city, any other powerful man. . .the palace would have dragged him back with no mercy. The emperor's reach was long and his pride was longer.
But even the emperor was afraid of the Dragon.
My world was the only place on earth where Rin could safely exist without being reclaimed.
I never asked him why he ran, but he told me years later, on a drunken night. . .again on my balcony. He’d had nightmares and appeared to confess his sins.
Still looking off in the distance, Rin extended his hand to me and offered the joint.
“I shouldn’t. Hiro already got me pretty high.”
“I heard about the battle in Yoshiwara Depths.” Rin didn’t move his hand. “You need it.”
Sighing, I took it and brought it to my lips. The gold paper crackled with a metallic sound as it burned. The smoke tasted different from Hiro's.
Heavier.
Sweeter.
Warmer in my chest and going down like laced honey.
Blue smoke left my nose.
My head instantly swam and I blinked. “What’s in this? It’s not just marijuana.”
Rin turned his head just enough that I caught his profile—the clean line of his jaw and long sweep of his lashes. "Blue lotus for warm euphoria. Mugwort for circulation and vivid dreams.”
I thought of my dream last night, the black lake and white flowers growing out of my chest. “I don’t want any vivid dreams.”
“Dreams are good. They give you a vision into the future.”
I tensed.
"There’s mullein leaf in there too."
“Why?”
"It will repair any damage the smoke caused to your lungs.” The breeze moved through his hair again. "And lion's mane to make sure your mind is sharp.”
I looked at the joint in my hand.
He built this for me.
I took another hit, but this time I held the sweetness longer before exhaling. Even more blue smoke left my nose.
“Thank you.” I passed the joint back. “Kaoru told me that you kidnapped my Tiger’s stylist.”
“He’s wrong about that.”
“How?”
He took the joint, brought it to his lips, and pulled. The gold paper sparkled against the dark. He blew out blue smoke. “I walked Deja back to the villa and asked her if I could take her to dinner. She said no.”
I grinned, knowing Rin was not used to anyone saying no to him.