For the first time in my life, I was free—no nausea or jitters or vertigo. Nothing threatened to knock me out, even though I felt so many overwhelming things.
Glancing at my hands, my skin suddenly flashed with frost. My body turned arctic, but it didn’t hurt. It actually felt...wonderful.
And I panicked because...
We were a threat.
If anyone found out about us...we would be hunted. Tested.
My parents had done some incredibly dark things in the quest for immortality. I’d seen the results of their experiments but...what if Lucien wasn’t the only one they’d tampered with? What if the very people I’d called family had tampered with me too?
“It’s okay,” he soothed, placing his incredibly warm and comforting hands on my shoulders. “Whoever did this to us or why we are the way we are doesn’t really matter.”
“But how can you say that? What if—”
“I can because...I’m alive thanks to you. And you’re alive thanks to me. Whatever you are is the exact opposite of whatever I am. You’ve always eased me—even back at Cinderkeep. I could never explain why but now...I can.”
Digging his thumbs into my shoulders, he massaged me gently. “I knew you were the key to my freedom, Rook, but I never expected you to be the key to everything else.” He smiled gently. “The pain I suffered? It’s all gone. That weakness I endured? It’s all over. And I’m guessing it’s the same for you. Without that necklace keeping you trapped, I doubt you’ll ever have another headache again.”
I trembled as he pressed his forehead to mine—the move so familiar it made my stomach clench.
“You were mostly dead when I found you,” he whispered. “And I know you think it was all my doing that you’re still alive. But...you didn’t see what injuries I had from losing control in the caves. You didn’t see my skin almost entirely gone or that my insides were exposed.” Pulling me forward, he wrapped his arms around me in an all-encompassing embrace. “I was barely alive, yet you...the second your blood mingled with mine, something incredible happened.”
I squirmed in his arms, needing to see him.
He let me go just enough to catch my eyes, his face darkening. “I want to know why my blood has suddenly changed. Why it’s golden and yours is silver. I want to see if my suspicions are correct: that ever since the vitalsync core broke, my blood seems to burn whatever it touches, yet it never seems to hurt you. And yours...does the same thing.”
“Wait...” I scowled, looking at my arm as if I could see the silver-shining disaster beneath. “It does?”
“When I was healing you, the droplets that fell on the ground froze whatever it touched. Yet when I kissed you and our blood mingled, it didn’t just take away our pain, it reversed every injury within seconds. I saw your skin knit together before my very eyes. I felt you coming back to life.”
Almost as if he’d been able to see into my head and witnessed the flash of memories I’d always discounted as fantastical, he added, “I think if you look back on your childhood, you’ll see things that don’t make sense. Moments you were different. Adults trying to explain certain things away. We’ve been lied to and trapped, but now that we’ve found each other...everything is going to change.”
“But...” My fingers flew to the empty dip in my throat. “If what you’re saying is real—if we truly were born this way and carry the R gene like Marcus said...then how can you explain meeting each other? Isn’t that too much of a coincidence? Noone could’ve orchestrated the sequence of events that led me to Cinderkeep. It’s just not possible—”
“But what if it is? Even if the law of chance didn’t bring us together, what if synchronicity did? We’re drawn together whether we want to be or not. What if you were there by mistake but your blood told Marcus everything he needed to know? What if they’ve been searching for you this entire time? What if he’s not just aftermyblood but anyone with the R gene? What if...” He balled his hands as anger flared his eyes. “What if we’ve been their little pawns ever since we were born?”
“But...I ran away and no one chased after me.” I tried to reason. “I’m not trapped behind a wall back in Iceland.”
“No, you just took your cage with you.” His lips tipped in a slightly mocking smile. “You behaved. That was all you needed to do to be monitored and not manipulated. However, I think they’ve been waiting. Maybe for us to find one another or for something else to happen, but...if they ever learn we’re free, I can pretty much guarantee we’ll be going to war.”
I shuddered. “But Frank is like a father to me. And Dillon—”
“Your handlers and nothing more.” Slinky crimson shadows crawled beneath his skin as he stalked toward a flame-crackling tree.
I stiffened as he placed his hand against it, testing everything he’d just said.
Instinct urged me to rip his hand away but...he didn’t burn. He showed no signs of being hurt as tiny fires licked around his fingers. Cinders crowned his inky hair as they swirled like burning stars.
Even if no one found out what he was capable of, he couldn’t hide the fact that he no longer looked human. He was God-touched—a fallen angel sent to deliver vengeance.
The bond inside meyanked.
Lucien spun to face me so fast, he scattered a few ashy leaves.
His eyes searched mine, locking onto me as if he’dheardme. As if he’d felt me summoning him when I hadn’t even been aware of it myself.
My nipples hardened as he stared at me. The delicious ache in my core returned, melting for more.
