Auntie Mei didn’t speak again as she led us deeper into the estate.
Latching onto the scenery, I used it to stay conscious.
The open-air corridor was framed with polished dark timber, its beams carved with dragons and curling clouds. Gold lattice screens filtered the sunlight, creating delicate patterns across the wooden floorboards.
Beyond the railings, sunshine gilded flowers, trees, and courtyards.
We crossed a small bridge and then another.
It felt like a maze.
An endless, ornate maze that we needed to solve as fast as possible before Lucien burned himself out.
He staggered as if his legs threatened to fail. My own knees thought that sounded like a great idea. But we kept going.
Clutching each other, we entered another corridor with carved red pillars. It guided us around an oval garden with so many flowers, the fallen petals looked like pink snow.
I didn’t think I could go on as we stepped through a huge stone wall—the circular entrance guarded by a pair of ornate bronze cranes, their wings outstretched in flight.
A fountain bubbled somewhere, making my head ache a thousand times worse. Cicadas chittered, a gnarled tree rustled, and Auntie Mei drew to a halt in front of a majestic pavilion that looked as if it’d been long forgotten.
Dried leaves scattered the front portico and the two stone lions on either side of the double entryway had dandelions growing out of their ears.
Whisper growled at them as if they might leap to life, his hackles bristling as Lucien gathered whatever strength he had left and dragged me around Auntie Mei.
“You may go,” he said softly. “I’ll come find you when I’m ready.”
Carting me up the two steps, he slammed his palm against the seam of the double doors and pushed. They swung wide as if they’d been waiting all this time for him to come home.
Lucien staggered across the threshold, clutching me so tightly it hurt. He dragged me like I was his prisoner, all while Whisper pressed against his other side, ready to catch him if he fell.
I turned to apologise to his aunt, but the moment we tripped inside, I couldn’t look away.
“I’ll send someone to clean—” Auntie Mei called.
“I don’t want anyone near this courtyard!” Lucien shouted back, just as the doors clanged shut behind us.
Pushing me away from him, Lucien lurched back and locked them. Panting hard, he planted both hands on the carved wood, his head tipping down as if basking in the silence.
I left him to breathe, drifting forward as my eyes drank in his childhood.
His pavilion wasincredible.
Polished dark wood, lacquered pearlescent walls, and a ceiling so high and sweeping it looked like the innards of a temple. The beams were painted with vibrant reds and golds, decorated with flying phoenixes and roaring dragons. A massive circular window dominated the far wall, looking out over the endless drop of the cliff and mist-wreathed mountains.
Carved lattice partitions separated parts of the room.
Behind one—a low writing desk, neatly stacked with books as if they’d been waiting all this time for him to finally read them again. Behind another—a low dining table, complete with scattered cushions on the floor.
But it was the bed that stole my breath.
A massive four-poster draped in gauzy mosquito nets. Thick carved pillars framed each corner, etched with crackling flames—
A strangled noise tore out of Lucien.
I spun around, leaving half my balance behind.
He rested against the door, watching me. His hands balled and the heat pouring out of him suffocated the room in an instant.
