“He’s a yapper, but your father likes him. Trusts him, I guess. Henry’s a true loyalist.”
“Doesn’t my father trust you too?”
“He has plans for me” was all Yuki said.
“I think Celeste hates me.” Yiran didn’t care about her opinion, but he did want to know the reason.
“Like it or not, youwerepartly responsible for Ling’s and Felix’s deaths,” Yuki explained. “They were popular, and Cel’s good friends. The three of them were looking out for each other on the streets before your father found them. Cel’s efficient, competent, but she’s an agitator.”
Ling and Felix. The Hybrids who had killed Eddy and who were, in turn, killed by Ada and Yiran. It was a never-ending cycle of violence with no resolution in sight.
“Also,” Yuki continued, “she isn’t happy about Feng either. Apparently, he was sacrificed in some kind of arrangement so your father could have that talisman. It was part of the so-called grand plan. Feng was a nasty jerk, but even if Cel believes in the cause, I don’t think she’s forgiven your father for resorting to that. Just because we’re Hybrids, it doesn’t mean our lives are worthless.”
“You saidwewhen you referred to the Hybrids this time,” Yiran observed.
Yuki side-eyed him. “At the end of the day, Iama Hybrid. Nothing changes that. Bottom line is, your fatherisn’t, and sometimes, whether he means to or not, he does and says things that make it obvious.He doesn’t feel the hunger or truly understand what we go through. He can talk about forming a new world order where we reign supreme, but deep down, I don’t think he gets it.”
Yiran was surprised by Yuki’s bluntness. “What doyoubelieve in?”
“Surviving.” Yuki slowed his pace, stretching indulgently. “In case you haven’t realized, you’re hanging out with me tonight while Daddy Dearest works on his plans,” he said, sounding more like his teasing self.
Yiran didn’t like how his father mirrored his grandfather’s surveillance behavior, but he felt guilty for being a jerk to Yuki earlier. Hybrid or not, he’d been there for Yiran in his own way, and if they were going to be in each other’s orbit for a while, it made sense to be at least cordial.
“I suppose I could do worse for a babysitter,” he said, nudging Yuki playfully. “Let’s do a movie marathon.”
A smile spread across Yuki’s face like sunlight spilling through storm clouds, and Yiran knew that, undeserving as he was, he’d already been forgiven. That he was accepted, flaws and all.
We’ll pretend we’re two ordinary teenagers.
Impulsively, he slipped an arm around Yuki’s, ignoring the Hybrid’s surprise. He didn’t know exactly where he stood with his father or what would happen the next day. Or ifthis—whatever was happening between him and Yuki—was ever meant to last.
But just for a few hours, he would pretend.
50
Rui
The mirrors around her flickered intensely, flashing a spectrum of colors. Dizzy from the new memories in her head, Rui tried to stand, but the ground rumbled suddenly like a giant woken from slumber. The walls vanished, and the ceiling faded into mist. Even the scent of the air changed.
She didn’t know how, but she was now on a mountaintop. Behind her, a white pavilion floated in the middle of a shimmering lake in the distance. In front of her, old cypress trees rose, their crooked arms reaching for the sky. Stars twinkled against the ethereal purple and indigo canvas on which an enormous red moon hung, and sunset hues of orange and pink streaked across the low horizon, as if dawn and dusk were meeting as one. Rui hadn’t realized the underworld could be so beautiful.
The sound of rushing water drew her to the edge of the cliff. A deep gorge cut into craggy rock. It wasn’t a river at the bottom, but a furnace of molten fire. She saw a narrow, rickety-looking bridge stretching across the furious flames, its other end disappearing into the misty horizon. Small, glowing shapes fluttered above the bridge. Spirit butterflies. Souls returning to the mortal realm.
This had to be Naihe Bridge. She had made it. But she was late. Significant time had passed since her arrival in the underworld, and the Lady of the Pavilion was nowhere to be seen. Had she lost the chance to return home?
Just then, she spotted a tall figure in black, almost hidden by the trees and rock. It wasn’t the Lady, but—
“Zizi!”
He looked up, a soft smile easing his frown when he saw her. “There you are.”
Rui’s heart burst with light at the sight of him, and she sprinted down the mountain path, flying straight into his arms, slamming into him.
“Oof! Guess someone’s happy to see me,” he said huskily, holding her tight.
He tried to release her from his embrace, but Rui clung to him, loath to be separated by even an inch. Now that she remembered everything that had transpired between them—between Four and Lei Ying—every second together felt more precious and hard-fought.
Her voice was muffled against his chest.
