“Then tell me the reason. Don’t keep me in the dark.”
Zizi jerked his head to the side suddenly, as if he’d heard someone shout for his attention. “I have to go.”
“Why?” Rui didn’t want to be separated from him so soon.
“The other Kings are calling for me. If I don’t show up, they might suspect something.” He squeezed her hand gently. “Do you trust me?”
She nodded.
“I’ll get you to the bridge, and I’ll find the spell. But I can only explain everything later. Stay here. You’ll be safe. Don’t open the door, not even for Nikai. I’ll be—” He faltered, face tight with worry. “Your yangqi is fading.”
It was happening too soon; she hadn’t accomplished what she needed to yet. “If it’s fading, does that mean I’m going to—”
Zizi pressed a finger to her lips, shaking his head. “Not on my watch.” He cradled her cheek, touched his forehead to hers. “Wait for me to return. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Throwing his cloak over his shoulders, he glanced back at her briefly, a peculiar expression on his face, as if he was reminded of something.
The door closed, and he was gone.
35
Yiran
The world seemed both less and more awful when Yiran woke. Physically, he wasn’t in much pain anymore, even if some of his muscles and joints felt delicate. Emotionally? It was best not to think about it.
He was lying on a firm bed. The ceilings made the room drafty, and someone was pounding something crunchy with a mortar and pestle elsewhere in the house. For a moment, he thought it was the silly wizard and his coffee beans. Yiran wished itwasZizi and that this was his weird little shophouse. He might be annoying, but at least Yiran knew what his alliances and intentions were, which was more than he could say about the gray-eyed boy lounging at the foot of the bed.
“Where are we?”
“Somewhere safe-ish,” Yuki replied. Knees propped up and back against the wall, he was engrossed in a fashion magazine, making small judgy noises as he flipped through the pages.
There was something so at ease and comfortable about the way he was justthere, as though they were two ordinary people hanging out, that it triggered an unwanted longing in Yiran.
“How did we get here?” he wondered out loud. Promptly embarrassed and worried that the double meaning in his question was too obvious, he looked away.
But Yuki wasn’t paying attention. “Absolutely hideous,” he muttered to himself.
“Who healed me?”
Yuki turned the page. “Ooh, I do like this pairing. Hmm.”
“Yuki.”
Huffing, the Hybrid glanced up from his magazine. “One would thinkthat after saving your sad and sorry ass, I would be entitled to some leisure time.”
“Sometimes,” Yiran said, pushing himself up with a grunt, “I’d really like to slap you.”
“You mean you’d really like to kiss me.”
Yiran glared.
“I’m joking. Where’s your sense of humor?”
“It died when I found out my deadbeat dad is still alive and has apparently decided to become a supervillain.”
“Yeah. Well.” Yuki made a face. “One man’s villain is another man’s hero.”
Police sirens blared in the distance, followed by the wailing of ambulances and emergency vehicles.
