34
Rui
She had lied. She’d said she hadn’t come for him, that she didn’t care. But Zizi had called her bluff in the simplest of ways.
One moment they were yelling at each other, the next his lips were crashing into hers. Her defenses fell apart the moment he pulled her into his arms. She felt herself yielding, her arms twining around his neck, fingers in his hair, lips slanting to deepen the kiss. They wandered across the room as one, hands moving in unison, across fabric, then bare warm skin, leaving a trail of cloak and corset, ribbons and scattered jewels, behind them. He scooped her up in his arms, then lowered her carefully to the floor, the rug soft against her back.
“Rui,” Zizi whispered, breath hot against her neck.
She gasped, a tingle skating across her skin.
“Rui,” he whispered again, smirking this time, a wicked glint in his eyes.
She tried to glare, but he said her name again and again as if it was a prayer and she was the goddess on his altar, and she shivered with pleasure. She could feel his teeth undoing the frilly choker around her neck, pausing to graze her bare skin. He was teasing her, and she was mad at him.
She flipped him onto the rug, pinning him down with her own weight. Pushing herself to a sitting position, she looked down at him in wonder, at the strange new silvery-white streaks in his hair, the array of shimmering necklaces that hung over his chest, the two butterflies tattooed just above his heart peeking from under his half-buttoned shirt.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw something flashing at his wrist. But when she looked again, it was gone and his wrist was bare. Her fingers trailed to the old scar she’d given him when she stabbed him in the chest. Her mark.
He was stillhim. Yet she sensed that he also wasn’t.
The dark spot in his left eye grew and subsided like a menacing black hole in an ocean of blue.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered.
In reply, Zizi pulled her close, then he sealed her mouth with his as if he was making an unspoken promise, and she thought she could taste his hopes and dreams—
—hisfears.
He clung to her as though he was drowning and she was his lifeline. There was something else in his touch that hadn’t been there before. Something deeper than desire, a kind of raw desperation that came with an understanding of the impermanence of life and the transience of love. Their first kiss in the infirmary was them coming together, the missing pieces of one soul filled by the other.
Now he was kissing her as though he was breaking apart.
Nothing had changed between them, yet everything had. And when they finally pulled away, she thought she saw an indescribable sadness in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” she asked again. It was an absurd question. Considering they were two mortals stuck in the underworld—everythingwas wrong.
“Nothing.”
He was lying.
He grinned lopsidedly. “I’m—sorry—for—yelling—at—you,” he said, punctuating each word with a quick kiss on her forehead.
“As you should be. You know, we need to stop kissing in weird places.”
Zizi laughed. “I take it you’re not mad at me anymore.”
“I wish I could stay mad at you,” she sighed. But when he tried to pull her into his arms again, she shook her head. “Don’t avoid my questions. You’re worried about something, aren’t you? If it’s about how we’re getting out of here, I have it covered. We need to get to Naihe Bridge before sunrise or whatever the equivalent is in this realm. Use your fake Kingly authority to get us there, and the Lady of the Pavilion will help us cross back to the mortal realm.”
Zizi’s expression clouded. He brushed her hair gently, tucking a loose lock behind her ear. “I’m not going with you.”
“Why not? The Nothing is still eating the Courts, which means they made a mistake with you. Ten got the wrong person. You’re not the King they need—you don’t belong here.”
He didn’t argue, but Rui sensed his disagreement.
“You can’t help the underworld, butourrealm needs you.Ineed you,” she said. “You created that spell, you can find it and destroy it, and we can stop the Hybrids once and for all.”
The pale fire of Zizi’s eyes dimmed, and a bittersweet smile ghosted his lips. “The Nothing hasn’t withdrawn, but it’s not for the reason you think.”
