Uncle Wen flung up his hands. “Ah, forget it. Shoo, both of you. Go to bed. I’ll tell Mei not to disturb you. When you wake, come find me and we’ll share a meal, okay?”
And just like that she diffused the head steward of Ashfall Cliff—a man who had a well-deserved reputation for being a dog with a bone.
“Sounds good.” Rook answered for me, tugging me—
“Oh, by the way.” Uncle Wen glanced at Whisper as the cat lashed his tail. “Is he safe? Mei told me last night that he was pretty aggressive when she went to deliver some things.”
“You have my word he won’t hurt anyone,” I said. “Just treat him like the strays we used to adopt when I was little.”
He didn’t look convinced, but nodded. “Fine. Fine. Away with you.” Turning around, he studied his destroyed bonsai. “Now, what in the heavens am I going to do withyou?”
I knew what he could do with them.
If Rook and I combined our blood and watered each one...they’d be perfect come nightfall but...
Rook shook her head, following my thoughts.
Guilt filled me for accidentally killing them—especially considering they were Uncle Wen’s prized shrubbery that he’d been cultivating since before I was born. But...if they suddenly came back to life?
That would open far too many questions.
Chapter Fifty
I WAS IN HIS ARMS THE MOMENT the double doors of his pavilion were firmly locked.
I cried out as he scooped me up like a bride, kissing me just as fast.
“Lucien—”
He didn’t answer—just kissed me harder as he carried me toward his bed. Heat poured off him in volatile, violent waves. The lamplight warped.
“Help me.” His kiss turned sharp as he clung to me as if I was the only thing preventing him from losing control. “Help me stop burning.”
So that was what this was about.
Uncle Wen’s bonsai.
The fact he’d set them alight without meaning to.
My heart ached for him as I licked him back.
He stumbled and clutched me hard. “What if it hadn’t been the trees? What if I’d burned him instead?” The fire inside him pulsed erratically, flaring hot enough to make the rafters creak. “I need you. I need you to make it stop.”
“Then take me.”
His mouth smashed to mine.
I clung to him as snow drifted over us.
I still had no idea how I did it but the hotter he became, the colder the air swirled. Ice crackled across the windows, frosting them so no one could see in. Icicles hung like translucent daggers from the rafters and the mosquito nets on his bed glittered with icy diamonds.
“You’re the only thing that calms me. The only thing...” His mouth trailed from my lips to my jaw, to my throat. I threaded my fingers into his glossy thick hair and basked in the warmth there—the living fire beneath his scalp.
Heat poured from his chest as a cloud of smoke exploded from his back. Dark plumes unfurled like vast, shadowy wings, stretching wide enough to swallow us whole. Whatever power dwelled in me answered, letting loose a flurry of snow.
Whisper darted out of the way as Lucien carried me to bed.
And then, I was falling.
