Page 54 of Reflections of Peonies
“It was all very professional,” I assured him. “She said I wouldn’t die. Then, when it was over, I woke up in the hospital, and all the adults were very upset.”
Miles lifted his eyebrows. “How much time passed between your adoption and this stuff with Finn?”
“Um.” I tapped my chin. “A few days?”
“A few days?” he repeated, distraught.
“Well…” Why was he so upset? “Yes? What difference does it make?”
Miles didn’t reply and instead placed his palm over his eyes. He’d been plenty worried about me seeing him angry earlier, but he certainly was doing a terrible job of hiding the emotion now.
What was his problem?
“Well,” Bryce interjected with a smug little nod. “You’re nothing if not resilient.”
“Don’t act so nonchalant about it!” Brayden was glaring at Bryce. “This is terrible!”
“Wha—what’s so terrible anyway?” I asked, looking between the two.
“There’s a reason why Kiania didn’t want you to tell anyone,” Brayden answered. “A contract between the shikigami and onmyoji is sacred to them only. Adding a third individual—especially one not onmyoji—will endanger that party. An onmyoji’s magic is from the Underworld. A bond between a non-onmyoji and a shikigami kills the outsider.”
I leaned back. “I’m alive,” I pointed out.
“It makes sense now,” Bryce continued, stroking his chin as he looked to the ceiling. “It’s always been strange that Finn didn’tneed more support from me. So he’s been getting help from you all this time.”
“What?” I frowned. “He’s never once asked me for help. In fact, he says I’m ‘hindering’ him.”
“Probably because he doesn’t want to rely on you any more than necessary,” Brayden reasoned. “Are you affected when you overly use your abilities? Or how about when he uses his abilities or loses his temper?”
“I—” I looked away. “Um…”
“I already know the answer,” Brayden added. “I was there. You grabbed your chest when we confronted James Cole.”
I lowered my hands and tucked them under my legs at his words, but he wasn’t done.
“Then Finn threw you out of the way when James attacked,” Brayden said. “He mentioned you’d have a bruise. But there was no way he would have known unless it’s happened before.”
“I already had a bruise,” I pointed out.
Bryce was frowning at me. “I know. I’ve seen it before—it had an onmyoji’s touch. I thought it was Damen’s fault. Did Finn hurt you?”
“Not really,” I replied. What were these questions? I didn’t like being put in a position where I had todefendmy ex-best friend, but I couldn’t let lies stand either. “He was angry, and…” I bit my lip as my skin flushed. “Well, I pushed him first! He grabbed my wrists to get me to stop.”
“Bianca,” Miles said, having finally regained his composure. “When an onmyoji uses a third party in this way, their victim is burned to death from the inside out. It’s such a huge misuse of their magic that the shikigami and onmyoji are killed for violating this law. Finn and Kiania could be in serious trouble.”
“What?” I curled my hands into fists. “He wasn’t even there!”
“It doesn’t matter,” Miles responded. “There are certain rulesthat are not meant to be broken, and for both Huo and Shui, this is one of them.”
“Damen and Julian?” I felt my stomach drop. I touched my palm to my chest and added, “But it was my decision!”
“You had just been removed from a traumatizing situation without a chance to normalize,” Miles said softly but firmly as he held my gaze. “How much of a choice did you have?”
“I—” My shoulders tensed as the air seemed to be sucked from the room. “I don’t care. I would still do it again. Besides, you could all be overreacting. It might not even be the same thing.”
“No, it is,” Damen’s voice rang clearly through the space. I jumped and looked across the room to where he and Julian stood, both wearing equal expressions of displeasure. “I’ve never seen anyone survive this long before, but now that I know, it’s fairly obvious.”
Julian scowled. “There might be other effects, too.”
