Ignoring him, I twisted on the ground and planted my hands into the gravel.

I pushed upright.

And groaned as pain cut through my control.

Blood dripped from my chest as I fell back down again.

Marcus’s smirk faltered as I bled—a flicker of fear behind his polished veneer. “Look, you’ve had your fun. You’ve made your point. Let’s go back and—”

“The only way you’ll ever get me back in that place is over my dead body.” I threw him a grin. “And wouldn’t that destroy all your plans.”

Marcus bared his teeth. “Don’t test me, Lucien. You won’t win.”

“Are you so sure about that?” I pushed upright.

Agony flared bright and savage—my vision tunnelling as my leg screamed in protest. I made it halfway before my arms buckled and the world pitched sideways.

Fuck.

Rook dashed to my side. “Let me—”

“Don’t touch me.” I shoved her hand aside, sharper than I meant to. I glanced at Marcus to make sure he saw it. I needed him to believe I hated her. To protect her. To make him believe that the kiss he saw was just lust and nothing more. If he knew I would willingly slit my own throat to stop them from throwing her back into Cinderkeep, Rook would spend the rest of her life as my leash...being tortured just to make me behave.

Baring my teeth, I hissed, “You’ve done enough.”

Rook froze, hurt flashing across her face before her quick intelligence caught up. With a barely noticeable nod, she backed up and kept her distance.

Whisper wasn’t so subtle about his feelings, nudging my shoulder as if he could push me upright, whimpering under his breath as if his feline heart was breaking.

“It’s okay,” I murmured as the panther bashed his head against mine, knocking me off balance as I gathered non-existent strength to stand. “This isn’t over yet.” Using the bike for leverage, I hauled myself upright for the third time.

Death weighed on me like wet concrete, every instinct begging me to collapse and give in. I just gave it the finger and told it to wait because I had far too many lives to take before I lost mine.

Straightening, I drew my shoulders back and kept my face carefully blank. The bitter, fizzy taste of the Cryolyt pills tainted my mouth, and I couldn’t stop myself from stepping in front of Rook, shielding her from Marcus.

“You know.” I locked eyes with the man who’d destroyed my family. “For years, I used to picture this moment. I imagined what I’d say when I finally saw you face to face again.”

Marcus’s smile widened, crow’s feet appearing by his eyes. He looked wiser than when I last saw him but whatever little experiments he was up to with my blood kept him almost ageless. “Oh?” He chuckled. “Go on. I’m listening.”

“Nah.” I shrugged. “I’ll keep it as a surprise. It’ll be more fun that way.”

Marcus just laughed again. “You always did have a dry sense of humour.”

Whisper paced around me, shoulders low and muscles coiled, his claws tearing holes in the wet lawn as he glowered at our unwanted company.

Eight guards and two men dressed in white smocks had appeared from the G-wagons.

I smirked. “I see you’ve brought medical help as well as your guard dogs. How thoughtful.”

Marcus nodded and glanced at the two doctors who looked as if they’d been kidnapped and dragged here. Their eyes wide, hair messy, and both clutching a black case that no doubt held everything they’d need to fix me instead of ever taking me to a hospital.

“Of course I did. You’re like family to me, Lucien. Seeing you hurt so badly makes me ache with sorrow.”

I rolled my eyes, making myself a little dizzy. “Cut the bullshit.”

His face froze into a mask of politeness, sticking to his script of caring guardian. “Would you prefer they operate out here on the driveway, or will you be a good boy and get into the car so I can take you home?”

“There’s that word again.” I balled my hands and fought to stay standing, even as every muscle slipped deeper into rigor mortis. “Cinderkeep isn’t my home.”

“It’s as much as your home as Ashfall Cliff.”

“Fuck you.”

“I didn’t come here to squabble.” Raising his glossy black shoe, he shook his leg a little, scattering raindrops from his laces. “I’m wet and I’m bored. We can talk when we’re back inside and you’re no longer bleeding.” His eyes narrowed with impatience. “Get in the car, Lucien. You too, Rook. Can’t have you catching a chill now you’re pregnant, can we?”

Rook sucked in a breath behind me.

Another layer of pain crippled me, cutting through the foggy numbness of the pills. The mere reminder she was alive and vulnerable—that I held her life in my hands...

It made me furious.

She was right to call me a fool.

I’d only ever meant to use her to open the lock on my cage, yet...I’d somehow caught the same feelings she had.

That kiss had done something to me.

Every part of me reached for her, wanted her, felt her...

“Come here!” Marcus suddenly shouted, his debonair act cracking. “Stop being a little brat and let’s go home.” He visibly clawed for control again, his smile returning and voice turning sickly sweet as if I was still that helpless child they’d thrown in here two decades ago. “I’m very worried about you, Lucien. You’re bleeding—”

“I am.” I grinned, running a finger through the blood soaking my shirt. “I’ve bled quite a lot, actually. I don’t think I have much left if I’m honest.”

His eyes tightened. “Is that a threat?”

“Just a fact. Pretty sure I won’t live much longer.”

Rook made a soft noise behind me.

I couldn’t see her, but I heard her. Heard her fear at losing me. Her heart beating frantically for mine...

I shuddered at the strange awareness.

Was this how Whisper viewed the world? Able to hear someone’s heartbeat and taste their true intentions?

Why could I suddenly sense Rook on such an unnatural level?

Marcus stepped forward. “I’m swiftly running out of patience, Lucien. If you don’t get in the car immediately, there are other ways to make you behave.” Tucking one hand into his trouser pocket, he pulled out a tiny remote. A remote linked to the machine twining its wires around my heart. “What’s it going to be?”

I gave him the finger, my arm so fucking heavy.

“Don’t pick a fight with me,” he hissed. “You won’t win. You know you won’t win. Why bother putting yourself through more misery when I only want what’s best for you?”

“What’s best for me?” Gathering every shred of strength I had left, I snatched two out of the three guns from my waistband. Swinging both weapons up, I locked them dead centre on Marcus’s chest. “I’m really tired of you thinking you own me. Get out of my way and I won’t kill you today.”

The guards all drew their guns, pointing them directly at my forehead.

Whisper snarled and slashed the air with his claws. Rook stepped closer as if afraid I’d die faster than I already was. And the two doctors shifted in place, looking at each other as if they hadn’t signed up for any of this.

“Don’t shoot!” Marcus ordered, waving at the guards to hold fire. “Don’t hurt him.”

“Suddenly feeling sentimental?” I squeezed the triggers a little harder. It would be so easy to fire. So quick to kill him.

But...I’d be robbed of everything that he owed me.

I wanted him to suffer. For years.

I wanted him to scream. For decades.

Killing him like this wasn’t enough—

“Lucien...” Marcus clutched his umbrella. “Think about what you’re doing.”

“I am thinking.” My fingers slowly turned numb around the triggers, my arms switching from heavy to strangely light. My lungs forgot air was important and my muscles no longer obeyed me. Everything was turning greyer, colder—mutating into a walking corpse. “I’m thinking that I owe you so much more than just a bullet.”