Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 117167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
However, there was no physical similarity between them. Plus, Trin didn’t appear to like Sayra any better than Rei.
Rei mentally shrugged. There was no point in worrying about it now. It would balance out in the end.
The important thing was delivering the message to his mother.
With a snap of his fingers, he tapped into the bubbling energy swirling through the air and filling every living thing. He redirected it into the plants and vines that grew in the area, coaxing them away and calling them forward.
“Up! Up, little ones. I need you to make a delivery for me,” Rei sang. He waved his hands, sweeping from the ground up toward Sayra’s remains. Tree limbs stretched and vines curled upward, wrapping around Sayra and digging inside of his body through the opening he’d cut. The corpse shifted and jiggled wildly on the ground as if Sayra was convulsing or even trying to rise from the dead. The tree branches and vines pulled out different organs, carrying them off into the woods.
“Careful, my loves, make sure all the pieces get back to Queen Belladonna,” Rei called out. As the seconds ticked by, Sayra was taken apart and his various pieces were carried through the woods like ants carrying bits of leaves to their hill until there was nothing left but the blood that had soaked into the dirt and rained on the blades of grass.
Just as the last of Sayra was disappearing, a pair of small flowers brought his daggers to him. He collected them and caressed their delicate pink petals before straightening. “Thank you. Go have fun,” he whispered as he watched the flowers hurry off to find a pleasant spot where the rising sun would bathe them throughout the day.
“It looks as if the flowers weren’t the only ones having a bit of fun,” Yichen called out.
Rei swung about, his heart leaping into his throat. The sun was up. His vampire was not supposed to be outside. A quick search revealed Yichen standing on the wall closest to him, a black umbrella open over his head. Despite the rising heat of the day, he was also wearing jeans and an oversized black hoodie with the deep hood pulled up so that even his face was in shadow.
“Have you lost your mind?” Rei snarled. He ran to the wall and used his momentum to nearly run up it. Yichen bent and caught his hand, pulling him the rest of the way up so he could stand beside him.
“The sun isn’t that far up.” Yichen narrowed his eyes and poked one finger into the center of Rei’s chest. “Besides, Junjie mentioned that it seemed like the fae energy had gotten thicker outside the wall. I figured you might know something about that, and you were plotting again.”
“Plotting? Never. My mother’s little bitch wanted to relay a message. I was sending my answer.” Rei made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat. “Enough of that. Let’s go inside where it’s safer. We can talk when you’re not in danger of burning to a crisp.”
To his shock, Yichen didn’t immediately agree. The wicked vampire grinned and lifted one finger, running it across his blood-smeared cheek. “I have a better, more fun idea.”
Chapter 27
Wu Yichen
Was it wrong that watching Rei decimate that elf with a blade and magic turned him on?
Possibly, but he wasn’t going to worry about that.
Being with his blood-covered man after he’d just struck a blow to one of his parents was sexy as hell, and there was no point in overthinking it.
Holding tight to Rei’s hand, he jumped from the wall with Rei at his side and the umbrella shielding them both. Within the Zhang grounds, Yichen pulled his elf along the side of the house to the rear where the tree coverage was the heaviest.
“What are you doing? We need to go inside now!” Rei hissed at him while squeezing Yichen’s hand even tighter.
“It’s fine. The sun isn’t that high.”
“It’s high enough. You don’t need to fuck with the sun, Yiyi!”
Smirking at Rei, Yichen pulled him toward the back of the property, where no one could spot them among the trees. “But my prince is magical. All of nature bows to his command. Can you not tell the trees to shield me? To grow more leaves to block the sun?”
He hadn’t even finished speaking when Rei lifted his hand, palm cupped, as if scooping up magical energy from the ground and pushing it to the branches over their heads. “You heard my sweet Yiyi,” Rei murmured.
Leaves rattled over their heads without any wind, and one golden spot of sunlight after another disappeared as the trees shifted and the foliage grew to blot out the sky. The shadows deepened almost to the point of twilight. Yichen tossed aside his umbrella and pulled Rei into a tight embrace. Their mouths collided in an endless hungry kiss of tangled tongues and sharp bites. He wanted to devour Rei, to consume every bit of him so no one could ever separate them.