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“And you—” Red whipped about to point at the snickering necromancer. “Back up a little more. We don’t want your death magic messing things up.”
“Oh, my God! Pains in the asses! I’m going inside.” With a huff, Sky spun around and stomped into the building. Just before he disappeared, he delivered one last parting shot. “Call me if you kill someone.”
Yichen leaned toward Chen and asked in a low voice. “And these are Moon’s close friends? Is this normal?”
Chen lowered his head in Yichen’s direction. “Very normal. Think of it as being like all the times I’ve tried to murder Xiang because he didn’t know when to shut his mouth.”
Ahhhh…that made much more sense.
He’d lost count of all the times Chen had threatened Xiang’s life because their clan mate was being annoying.
With the bowl balanced on a flat rock and the sandstone resting in the bottom of the bowl, all eyes turned to Huli, who was leaning against Xiao Dan’s leg, his long tails wrapping both of them like a protective cocoon.
“Huli, I think this might be easiest if you change into human form. If you don’t mind,” Xiao Dan prodded.
In the blink of an eye, the fox was gone, replaced by a slender young man with long black hair and softly rounded features. But the bright-amber eyes remained unchanged. The young man allowed Xiao Dan to usher him over to the bowl.
“Yichen, may I borrow a knife?” Shixiong inquired as he kneeled beside the water with the fox spirit.
“No!” Huli stiffened and twisted to look at Xiao Dan with wide eyes. “I don’t want to be cut with a knife. I want you to bite me.”
Xiao Dan flinched. His lips opened and closed without him saying a word. He tried again. “But…it’s likely to be more painful if I bite you. I don’t want to cause you more discomfort than necessary.”
“I don’t care. Bite me or I’m not giving up a drop of my blood,” the huli jing argued. He even tipped his chin up and stared down the vampire.
“If that’s what you wish,” Xiao Dan agreed after a moment. Taking Huli’s bare forearm in both of his hands, he lifted his wrist to his lips and pressed the tiniest kiss to the tender flesh before biting. The fox spirit winced, but his broad smile didn’t waver for an instant. He allowed Xiao Dan to maneuver his wrist so that the blood running from the fresh wound dripped into the bowl.
Yichen’s gaze left the dark-red liquid when Rei stepped away from him. He followed the elf with his eyes, taking in his tense form as he paced under the trees. Yichen slipped away from the group and took up position in front of Rei. He wrapped his fingers around the hand pressed to Rei’s lips, finding he’d actually been gnawing on one of his knuckles.
“What’s wrong? Do you think this won’t work?” he asked. If that witch had lied to them, he was going to hunt her down the second they finished dealing with King Ash. There was nothing in this world that would make him let go of Rei now. Not after he’d tasted the sweet hope of having the elf at his side for all time.
“What? No. I’m sure it will. Every time I’m in the fox spirit’s presence, I can feel the magical energy radiating off him. It’s like he’s a walking, talking piece of my home.”
“Then what’s bothering you?”
“I can’t figure out how this is going to go wrong. We will kill my father and steal the bloodstone, which will cure you. After that, we’ll take care of the queen and close the door. With that stone, I’ll be able to stay here with you, but…” Rei left the rest of the sentence hanging, his eyes pleading with Yichen to finish it for him, to figure out what disaster was still waiting in the shadows to tear their happiness apart.
He got it. This was how Rei had survived for centuries. He had to stay one step ahead of his enemies. Anything good that he could hold on to was a temporary thing. Eventually, someone would come along and rip it away. The elf had learned to steel his heart against those moments when everything would fall apart.
Discovering that his father had killed his siblings.
Discovering that his father was plotting to kill him.
Discovering that the countless allies he’d made were traitors bought and paid for.
Discovering that his own mother had no intention of protecting him.
Discovering that the one person who wasn’t trying to betray him was…his enemy.
“Tell me you want to stay here with me,” Yichen ordered in a hard voice.
Rei blinked at him several times as if snapping out of his dark, circling thoughts. “What?”
“Tell me you want to stay here. That you want to stay here with me.”
“I do.” Rei’s voice cracked around those two softly spoken words. He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled his lips back to reveal clenched teeth. “I do. But what if…”
“There are no what-ifs. No buts. Nothing. If you want to stay here with me, that’s what will happen. I promise it, Rei.” He cupped the nape of Rei’s neck with one hand and forced his head down to press their foreheads together. “Nothing is coming between us. We escaped that fucking prison together. No one is going to separate us. You’re mine.”
