Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 120336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
A deep voice sounded behind me. “Good. You’re awake.”
Who is that?
Slowly, I turned around.
Several feet away, Song sat on a carved chair near the entrance of the tent. There, he held a delicate porcelain cup in his hand, sipping tea as though he were in a palace instead of a tent on a mountaintop.
He tipped his head at me and smiled. “Good afternoon, Mountain Mistress.”
“Did I sleep most of the day away?”
“You did.”
“No. I wanted to get up early and—”
“It’s fine. You were up all night defining your legacy. And then there was the Dragon Pulse Leo put into your tea.”
“The what?” My heart quickened.
“Dragon Pulse. A rare tea blend meant to embolden the spirit. It gives you courage, confidence, and occasionally brings hallucinations.”
I thought about last night. “Does it. . .does it make you see really crazy things?”
The images came back to me now—the dead men, their lifeless eyes suddenly alive, their bodies rising and then lumbering toward me.
My chest tightened.
Song nodded slowly. “It can. What matters is whether you continue to see them after the effect wears off.”
My breath hitched. “I don’t want to be crazy.”
A genuine chuckle escaped him, though it carried no warmth. “If you can live in the East and not be a little crazy, then I salute you. But. . .I’m afraid it’s inevitable.”
I blinked. “What time is it?”
“Time for you to get dressed for the feast.” He set the cup down on the table next to him with a soft clink.
The feast. . .
It wasn’t just a meal. It was a gathering, a prelude to the battle that would decide everything. A place where everyone would watch, waiting, whispering, building tension until it snapped under the pressure of bloodshed.
Dear God…
The feast wasn’t for celebration—it was for farewell. We just didn’t know who we would be saying goodbye to.
My stomach twisted into stressful knots.
Don’t worry. Lei will kill Leo. He has to.
Somehow, I had to be ready to watch it all unfold.
I swallowed hard and turned my gaze back to the mountains outside the tent. The peaks seemed sharper now, cutting into the horizon like jagged knives.
I thought of Lei, his unrelenting strength, his rage barely kept in check.
This battle was the moment his entire life had been leading to, the culmination of all the pain, manipulation, and training Leo had inflicted on him.
This fight to the death was inevitable.
Everyone knew it and had been waiting for it since the day I met the Four Aces.
But knowing didn’t make it easier to accept.
I closed my eyes and let the chill of the mountain air brush over my skin, trying to steady my breathing.
The image of Leo flashed in my mind—his calculating eyes, the wicked smirk that never quite reached them, the way he moved through life as though the world were a 3D chessboard, and he was always ten moves ahead.
He’d built the Four Aces but it was more than that. He was the East. His name was whispered with fear, and his presence cast a long shadow over everything it touched.
Leo was a legend.
A monster.
And monsters didn’t die easily.
And his son, Lei knew that better than anyone. My baby carried the burden of those facts on his shoulders. I could see this in the tension of Lei’s jaw when he thought no one was watching.
And it might have been just me, but. . .I didn’t think Lei wanted to kill his father, not truly.
I believed there was a part of Lei that still hoped that the man who had raised him, molded him, could be reasoned with, could be redeemed.
Or. . .maybe his mind has changed since Leo has kidnapped me. . .
My mind surely had changed.
After last night, I wanted Leo dead.
I opened my eyes and flexed my fingers, staring at them again.
These hands that had taken lives. It wasn’t just the act of killing that lingered—it was the understanding. I’d seen something in Leo that terrified me more than his violence or his manipulation.
He wasn’t just dangerous.
It was the fact that he would never relent, never step down, not unless someone forced him.
And that someone had to be Lei.
A chill ran down my spine, but it wasn’t from the air. It was from the knowledge that everything rested on my baby.
On what would happen tonight.
This wasn’t just a fight between a father and son—it was the battle for the soul of the East.
For what the Four Aces would become.
For whether the legacy Leo had built would consume us all.
“Monique.” Song’s voice broke through my thoughts. “You’re thinking too much.”
I turned to him. “Is that a bad thing?”
“It is if it makes you hesitate from doing what needs to be done.”
“And what do I need to do?”
He stood, moved with a predator’s grace, and crossed the room to pour another cup of tea. Steam curled up in front of him. “You’ll need to be clear-headed for Lei.”