“But...when I found her that night, she was on the brink of death.” Dillon frowned. “She was hardly breathing. The necklace saved her.”

“Oh God,” I gasped. “That...actually makes sense.”

“How?” Dillon asked. “What makes sense?”

“It didn’t save me, it...” I gulped, my mind racing with the past. “It might’ve been prolonging my death for as long as possible.”

Everything suddenly made horrific sense. Lucien’s vitalsync core, my necklace. Yes, they were traps but...without them, we would’ve been dead years ago.

Dillon stiffened. “What do you mean?”

“My parents’ experiments.” I dug through foggy memories, fighting to see if I was right. “The only animals that lasted any length of time were the ones they blocked from ascending, remember? They wore a frequency collar to stop the effects from accelerating too fast. It...stopped their bodies from breaking down.”

My heart sprinted as I turned to look at Lucien. “Remember what I told you? That the lab animals always died on the brink of evolution? What if that was us? What if the frequency wasn’t just designed to trap us but to hold us in stasis? You almost died when you reached critical level in the cave on your own. I almost died when I wasn’t wearing my necklace. But together...we were okay. We pulled through. What if we’re the reason we were able to survive the transition?”

Dillon squeezed the back of his nape. “See? This is why I don’t want to know. This is way above my paygrade.”

Lucien and I ignored him. “Could that be possible?” His eyes flared wide. “Are you saying if you hadn’t been with me when I defibbed the vitalsync core, I would’ve died when I burned up the first time?”

“Every single one of the animals my parents tested on never survived. Biological matter can’t withstand the kind of rewrite they were trying to achieve.”

Lucien’s fingers tightened on my hip. “Rewrite?”

“Cells aren’t built to last forever. They’re meant to replicate and decay. They’re literally programmed to die so new cells can take their place.” My throat tightened, remembering my mother’s teachings. “The fire inside you killed off the old cells in order to take their place but...human organs can’t cope with that level of power. The body goes into systemic collapse.”

“This is all based on the theory that we were tampered with.”

I sagged a little. “It is. But...it’s kind of proven now.”

“But if we helped each other...” Lucien frowned. “What does that mean?”

“No idea.” I exhaled heavily. “It’s all guesswork. I’m just...thinking aloud.”

“Well, think louder.” Lucien didn’t blink. “Are you telling me we’ll die if we don’t have the other? Are we locked in some sort of curse that only functions if we’re together?”

“I...” Had no reply to that. Another question made me sit straight as an arrow. “Dil...have you ever heard of the R gene? Have you ever read a file that might suggest my parents had something to do with Lucien...as well as me? Any paperwork with the name Ashfall or Furnace Heart?”

Dillon frowned. “I don’t think so.”

My shoulders deflated.

“Actually...”

I winced. “Actually?”

“Now that you mention it...I might have heard the name Ashfall at some point.”

Lucien went absolutely, lethally still.

I waited for him to lose it, but...he merely swallowed hard and changed the subject. “Tell me, Dillon. Knowing what you do now—knowing that the necklace is the reason Rook spent her entire life in misery...would you put the pendant back on her?”

“What sort of question is that?” Dillon glowered. “Of course I wouldn’t if it hurt her, but...if what you just said is true and it was the only thing keeping her alive...what choice did I have?”

“And if I’m the one keeping her alive now...will you try to take her away from me?”

Dillon eyed us before shaking his head. “No. If she’s happy and safe and no longer in pain, then I’m happy for her. I don’t need to know anything else.”

“If Snowflake Corp orders you to bring her back—if they command you to sedate her and drag her back in chains, what would you do?”

“Okay, now you’re just getting on my nerves.” Dillon sat taller. “As far as I’m concerned Rook is Snowflake Corp. She’s in charge. I’m loyal only to her. And she wouldn’t exactly order me to hurt herself now, would she?”

“What if governments find out? What if people in very high places try to harm her...then what?”

“Then I guess I’ll be very unpopular in multiple countries.”

“You’re prepared to die to protect her?”

“I was prepared to do that well before she met you, you asshole.”

“Fine.” Grabbing me in his strong arms, Lucien suddenly swooped to his feet.

I squeaked as his hands deliberately skated over my body before placing me carefully on my feet.

“You can sleep in the study. I’ll have Auntie Mei find you a free pavilion tomorrow.” Pointing in Dillon’s face, he added, “I don’t like you. I don’t trust you, but you can stay.” Snatching my hand, his skin burned volcanically hot. “Do your job and protect her. But for tonight, do not leave this room.”

“Fine.” Dillon settled deeper in the chair. Reaching into one of his many jacket pockets, he pulled out a granola bar. “After the past few days I’ve had, sitting still is a luxury.”

Lucien tugged me toward the door. “Come with me.”

“Wait.” I tried slamming on the brakes. “I can’t just leave him. He needs a blanket, pyjamas—”

“Do you want me to throw you over my shoulder? Because I will.”

“Oh.” I stopped fighting.

He dragged me back to his room so fast, it almost felt as if he summoned those smoky wings and flew.

Chapter Fifty-Five

I KICKED THE DOOR CLOSED, RIGHT in Whisper’s face, leaving him outside with the stone lions.

Heat roared through me, growing worse with every heartbeat.

Dillon.

Something ugly tore loose inside me.

I didn’t trust him.

I didn’t trust myself—

Rook backed away from me, her eyes wide. “Lucien...?”

That bastard had had her for years.

I’d only had her for a few weeks.

Jealousy tore through me. Smoke poured out of my back. Cinders floated around us, looking like fiery snowflakes.

I couldn’t breathe.

Couldn’t think.

I burned.

I caught her in three strides, imprisoned her cheeks with my hands, and kissed her punishingly hard.

She gasped as I took her.

She moaned as I licked her.

And she knew.

She knew this wasn’t about sex.

This was deeper than territorial jealousy. This was primal and urgent, and I needed her to calm me down. To balance me out. To help me.

Icy air buffeted me as her power answered mine.

Her skin crackled with frost, and I kissed her harder with a grateful groan.

She kissed me back, gripping my hips and pulling me into her.

Marching her backward, kissing her all the way, I didn’t stop until her back hit one of the carved pillars.

She moaned as I sucked her bottom lip into my mouth.

Fire snapped along my teeth and...I bit her. Not by choice but by something far bigger than me. Something colossally powerful that couldn’t contain itself in this feeble human body—not unless it had her.

The taste of her silver-shine blood filled my mouth—sharp as frost and bright as lightning and every smoky, unstable part of me locked onto her.

If she was right that we’d kept each other alive during the crux of our evolution—if we’d somehow become more than mortal the moment our bones had healed and blood had turned metallic, then...that meant we weren’t just lovers but the very key to our existence.

A furnace heart and an ice heart.

A never-ending ouroboros where we nurtured and fed off each other, staying sane beneath gifts we never should have been given.