Page 64 of Reflections of Peonies
“Perhaps,” Kiania said.
“She will eventually die if you keep drawing from her,” Damen seethed. “That won’t help you in the end.”
Kiania shrugged, a strange movement for a cat. “Life is rather low on the list of priorities.”
“No,” Damen said as he stepped forward, his shoulders squaring in determination. “I can handle another shikigami. Return to my service if you are so keen to be stuck on earth. Release Bianca. I’ll help Finn.”
She laughed—low and mocking. “You must think I’m a fool.”
“Why?” Damen raised his eyebrow. “I can’t kill you while you’re contracted to me.”
“Because I don’t want to be with you anymore.” Her voice was petulant. “I’m staying with Mu.”
The heat flared through the room as Damen’s anger became palpable. He stepped toward Kiania, his jaw tight and his fists clenched at his sides. “Why you little—”
My vision flashed as agony shot through me, breaking through my happy haze. I was being burned alive, the flames fanning up from my feet. My head pounded, and I thought my heart might explode. And—despite the drama—I couldn’t stop the pained noise that escaped.
A growing darkness began to cover my vision, and the room was silent. My body grew impossibly warm as an uncontrollable shaking took over me.
Titus roared, his arms tightening. Julian yelled something, then shouted at Titus to let me go. And Damen…
He sounded so very far away but so angry. That was the last thing I heard before everything faded into silence.
I wasin bed when I woke up. Next, my body ached, and there was the sound of loud male arguments surrounding me.
“Do you think it was done on purpose?” Julian was so close to me that his breath brushed against my ear, and the sound caused the creeping panic to fade.
“No,” Damen replied, his voice harder to hear. “It wouldn’t do Kiania any good to hurt her.” There was a pause, and he added, “Why are they fightingnow?”
“I’ll tell them to knock it off,” Titus, who’d been standing somewhere near the head of my bed, said. “Otherwise, I’ll make them move into the shed.”
Damen gasped. “I cannot believe I didn’t think of that! I can make Bryce sleep in the shed!”
“You can’t do it now,” Julian said. “You’ve already given him a room.”
“I’ll demote him,” Damen replied. “Somehow.”
“Only Bianca can demote Bryce,” Julian told him. “And I don’t think she’ll do it.”
Damen sounded venomous in his response. “Oh, I think she will.”
This pretending-to-sleep business was fascinating. I was learning all sorts of new things.
Like the fact that Bryce’s fate rested entirely in my hands.
“You’re awake.” Miles, who’d been lying on my other side, brushed his fingers over my forehead. “You’ve got that evil look on your face again.”
I opened my eyes and met Miles’s expectant expression. “I do not have an evil look,” I said.
“Leave Bryce alone,” Julian said, placing his hand over mine. “He’s a great asset, and he’s loyal. You can’t destroy that because of a rivalry.”
Confusion and a tiny bit of self-consciousness crept up inside. “What are you—”
“Yes, Bryce waschallenging you, but if you haven’t noticed, he’s stopped,” Julian told me. “However, there are some things to keep in mind. Bryce is protective and stubborn, but he’s also shy. He’s also struggled to normalize among humans—Brayden took to it more naturally.”
“Actually,” Miles cut in, running his thumb over a crease in my forehead, “I think the two of you have a lot in common. You should try to bond with him.”
Lies.
