She truly loved him. He had to break her heart.
Hewas bound to the underworld, and he’d vowed to rewrite their tangled fate and forge a new story where she would be happy—without him. It would shatter him, but he would be strong. For her.
“Get her out of my sight. Nikai—deal with it.”
Fortunately, Nikai caught on quickly. Pretending everything was normal, Zizi recommenced his meeting.
It took Nikai a while to return. After he signaled that Rui was safe, Zizi breathed a touch easier. But there was no telling how long that safety would last. He had to see her at once.
He stormed to his chambers the moment the meeting ended. He didn’t care why or how Rui had come. Only one thing mattered—getting her out of the underworld alive. He would make her leave, even if he had to crush her spirit. He rehearsed his speech in his head, running through the award-worthy performance he had to give to convince her that there was nothing between them, that whatever she thought they shared in the mortal realm was a lie. He would take her feelings, and he would destroy them. It was the only way.
But when Zizi saw her standing on the balcony in the soft halo of the sun’s radiance, his mind went blank. He forgot his grand speeches and noble vows. Forgot everything around him.
Two things were true.
He loved her. And he was an idiot to think he could ever break her heart.
Rui turned, eyes widening at the sight of him. She barged into the living room, slamming the glass door shut so hard, the windows shook.
Zizi had never seen her so furious. She got in his face at once, backing him against the wall. Amusingly, her platform boots gave her a height advantage she’d never had before. She leaned in, glowering at him. Her beautiful dark eyes glittered and the tiny embers of her yangqi glowed brighter. He sensed her taking him in despite herself, fighting against her own desire, and he couldn’t help but feel a little smug about it.
She was so close. Too close.
He wanted her closer.
“You.”She slammed a hand on the wall next to his head.
She was terrifying. He liked it.
“What’s the meaning of all this?” she demanded. “I thought you were imprisoned. I thought you were dying! But look at you, dressed like an enormous bat, prancing around and playingooh, I’m a big scary King of Hell.”
Zizi wanted to say something clever, something devastatingly charming, but his arm rose to show off his pretty cloak and his mouth retorted sarcastically, “These are meant to look likefeathers, silly. Bats don’t have feathers. And at least I’m not wearing an abomination of a maid’s outfit.”
“Abomination?” Rui said, her voice reaching a whole pitch higher. “Why do you think I’m wearing it in the first place? Why do you think I did that weird ritual—tworituals, in fact—so I could come here? I even sacrificed my—” She stopped talking abruptly, slamming the wall again.
Zizi was getting pissed too, not at her but at the whole situation. What rituals was she talking about? Deal or no deal, he couldn’t let fate repeat itself. He couldn’t let her die because of him again. At any moment, the Guardians could show up and take her away.
“No one asked you to come here,” he snapped. “I don’t need any saving, least of all from you.”
Rui’s expression fell. “Clearly. I can see you’re doing perfectly fine without me.”
There was a tremor in her voice that made him want to apologize profusely, but she was still speaking.
“Somehow, you’ve managed to convince everyone in the underworld that you’re one of them, and you almost fooled me,” she said. “But then Nikai called youZiziand claimed you were the Fourth King. He said the Fourth King wanted to keep me safe, which is preposterous! Why would the King care about me? I knew it had to be you. How did you overpower Four’s soul?”
“Thatis your conclusion?” Zizi said, stupefied. She had gotten it all wrong. But if he told her the truth about the depth and the extent of their entanglement, would she refuse to leave the underworld? There were more pressing things he wanted to know. “Who helped you come here? What did you sacrifice?”
“None of your business.”
Zizi’s emotions got the better of him. “Tell me, what exactly was your plan, waltzing into Hell like this? How were you going to free me and get me out? That’s right, you can’t. You don’t have the power to. You’re not dead, Rui. You’re not supposed to be here—why is that so hard to understand?Ileft the mortal realm to keepyousafe. Now you show up and ruin everything.”
Rui’s cheeks grew pink. “Iruined everything? You think I’m here in the underworld foryou?” Her yangqi crackled around her as she got more worked up. “You think I’m here because I miss you or because I think about you every waking moment or something ridiculous like that? Get over yourself. I’m here because you created a spell that armed the Hybrids with a dangerous weapon and now myrealm is paying the price. I’m here because I want to destroy the—”
“Shut up—”
“How dare you—”
“Shut up,” Zizi repeated. He could see her yangqi clearly now, but it was too dangerous to use his spiritual presence to mask it when she was so close. He had to distract her. Calm her down. He wrapped his arm around her waist. “I’m not going to ask you this time.”
