Ihatedit. Hated how useless I was that I couldn’t protect those I loved, even when they were all one bullet away from dying.
The leader huffed with irritation. “You’re right that I won’t kill you or your girlfriend, but...” His smirk widened as he looked past us to Auntie Mei and Uncle Wen by Lanlan’s body. “Lucky for me, I don’t need anyone else alive.”
He swung the pistol in a smooth arc and aimed straight at Uncle Wen.
“No!”Lucien bellowed, lunging forward—
The gun cracked.
Uncle Wen jerked as a bullet slammed into his thigh. A guttural grunt full of pain escaped him as he crumpled sideways, his cane clattering to the blood-covered pavers by Lanlan’s body.
Auntie Mei shrieked, throwing herself over her husband, her hands immediately pressing down on the wound as blood welled hot and fast between her fingers. “Wen! Oh no, no, no.Wen!”
Lucien went rigid. A low, animalistic growl tore from his throat, the bond flaring with fresh, blistering rage. I felt his helplessness like my own. He wanted to burn them all. To eviscerate them into ash.
But the firestillwouldn’t come.
The leader laughed again, cold and heartless. “You owe me a thank you for not putting one in his skull. It was just a warning. For now.” He narrowed his eyes. “You have one minute to accept that you can’t win this. One minute to start walking toward the front gate, and I promise you—” He raised his hand in a three-fingersalute. “On my mother’s grave, I swear I won’t hurt another. All of us will leave and life will continue as if we were never here.”
Dillon shifted to Lucien’s side, his gun steady despite Auntie Mei’s sobs. “How aboutyouleave, and I won’t kill you.”
The leader snickered, even as his men tensed and aimed a barrage of weapons at my bodyguard.
“You’re outnumbered thirty to one. Whatever little army you had is dead. So don’t try to be a hero when we all know you’re only alive because I’m allowing it.” Glancing at the bulky watch around his wrist, he swung his gun toward Auntie Mei as she tore off her cardigan and tried to use the sleeve as a tourniquet around Uncle Wen’s bleeding leg.
Her panic echoed around the courtyard, too focused on her husband to notice a gun was locked on her head.
“You’ll be fine, you old goat.” She smiled through her tears. “It went straight through the muscle. You’ll be okay. I’ve sewn up plenty of wounds in the village. I’ll get Fen to help. You’ll be okay. I’m sure you’ll be okay—”
“Wife.” Uncle Wen cupped Auntie Mei’s cheek, leaving bloody fingerprints. “Calm down. Don’t hurt your health fretting over me.”
“Don’t you tell me what to do! Just focus on staying alive, alright?”
“Fine, fine. Always so bossy—”
“Your time is almost up, Ashfall.” The leader narrowed his eyes, aiming at the bickering married couple, bouncing his gun from Uncle Wen to Auntie Mei. “Are you walking, or do you require some more encouragement?”
“Wait.” Lucien bared his teeth, his heart pounding against me where I stayed plastered against his back. I picked up on his racing thoughts as he tried to figure out how to win this. But each scenario ended with those we cared for dead. Without the power that’d tormented us since we were born...we were useless.
And an even deeper fear filled me because...why?
Whycouldn’t we tap into the ice and fire we’d earned after decades of pain?
Why had it decided to abandon us when we needed it the most?
Uncle Wen groaned as Auntie Mei grabbed a stick from beneath the gnarled tree and used it to tighten the knot in her cardigan. The tree was dead thanks to Dillon locking me in this courtyard and teaching me how emotions turned the ice intoweapons of war.
Why couldn’t I do it now?
Why couldn’t I—
Fuck, fuck,fuck!
Lucien’s fury bled through the telepathic bond. His hand tightened around my wrist until it hurt—possessive and desperate and just as lost as me on how to fix this.
Lucien glowered at each man, following the wall into the distance where so many lurked, memorising all their faces. “I’ll make you all pay for this. Painfully.”
“That’s nice.” The leader raised his arm again, glancing at his watch. “Time’s up.”
