Page 105 of Tears of Gold

Harper grins up at me. “For the record, if this was a real battle, you would have a knife through your heart right now.”

“Good,” I mutter, plucking grass stalks from his hair. Sweat soaks the roots of his curls, and with the sunlight glistening, I notice tinges of red in his brown hair. “Also, for the record, those craters would have been in your head.”

He glances to the side at the holes six inches deep beside us. “Fair point. Draw?”

I scoff.

“You going to get off me now?” he asks, lips twitching.

Gently, I brush dust from his cheek. Before I know what I’m doing, I lean down to kiss his lips. Harper takes it for a moment, then bucks me off with his hips.

“Not going to risk your inner beast trying to kill me,” he says with a laugh as I roll and surge back to my feet.

I wonder if I should tell him how much my inner beast is interested in keeping him alive. But no, it’s a bit much to reveal right now. Erritt saves me by stepping forward and touching Harper’s shoulder again.

“Interesting.”

“What is?” Harper asks.

“Have you ever completely exhausted your qi?”

The rogue shrugs. “I dunno. I never really knew how to sense it, let alone measure it.”

I frown, trying to understand Erritt’s angle. Seeing me, he waves his finger in a way that means ‘come and look’. Putting my hand on Harper’s arm, I sink through to his qi. I could smell it weakening, and obviously it just failed.

“What the fuck?” I mutter.

“See?” Erritt says. “Oh.” He glances over our shoulders. “Ava’s trying to leave the house.” He turns and begins to jog up the slope.

“Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Harper growls.

I shake my head. “Not exactly sure, but you still have half your reserves of qi.”

He stares at me. “But my shields just failed.”

Shrugging, I answer, “Yeah, beats me too.” I finish dusting myself off, then swear. “Come on, let’s go wash. We’re both sweating like animals.”

He snickers. “You do realize you actually are an animal, right?”

I shove him hard enough to make him stumble. Harper defended for half an hour straight, yet he didn’t exhaust his qi? Frowning, I wade into the creek and dive in, clothes and all. As I let the cool water wash away the battle dust, I take a good look at my own power levels and get a shock. I’m far more depleted than I thought possible for a bit of sparring.

Am I getting weaker, or is Harper getting stronger?

∞∞∞

I’m still pondering that question as I lie awake in the dark after we’ve gone to bed. The sound of Ava’s deep breathing and Harper’s dead-to-the-world snores lulls my body into relaxation, but my mind won’t shut off.

Erritt rolls away from Ava to face me and draws me against his chest. His voice in my ear is so quiet it’s almost nonexistent. “Are you thinking about our rogue mystery?”

I nod against him.

“How long would half your qi take to fully replenish?”

I squirm as I consider. “Twenty-four to forty-eight hours, I’d guess.”

He kisses my hair, and I feel an internal shiver of delight. I love this guy so much it hurts. “That would be my guess too. Harper’s already full.”

‘What?” I say, my voice rising.