Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
I pulled Nyomi closer. She made a small sound and pressed into me.
Hiro shifted, and his hand found her wrist, held it loosely for a breath, then let go.
The three of us.
In this room.
The comforting weight of her against me.
The sound of his breathing slowing beside us.
The koto playing the same patient notes around us.
After several silent minutes, Hiro sat up, stretched, and cracked his neck to one side, then the other. “I should go.”
Nyomi sniffled, rose, and wiped her face. “You don’t have to.”
“It’s getting late.”
“It’s not.”
He looked at Nyomi for a long moment, then reached over, and took the pillow she usually slept on. “This is mine now.”
She wiped her tears some more and gave him a sad smile. “What? That’s my pillow.”
“I know.” He tucked it under his arm. "It smells like you. I'm keeping it."
She shook her head but at least she was smiling.
“I love you, Tora.”
“I love you too, Hiro.”
“I’m sorry about Hiroko.”
“It’s okay.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was.” Hiro pressed his lips together and headed away.
“It wasn’t.” I watched him go and. . .these thoughts hit my head.
Stay, brother. Sleep here tonight. Just lie down and never walk away. . .
I didn't say those words, even though my chest ached with them.
Hiro stopped at the door, opened it, and looked back at us. “By the way, I think we should have the Claws’ Cocktail party tomorrow night.”
I rolled my eyes. “I think the whole island knows you feel that way.”
“It’s time.”
Yawning, Nyomi lay back in my arms. “Yes, Hiro. We’ve got it. The party is tomorrow.”
“I’m just saying. It’s time.” Hiro walked out and closed the door behind him.
That fucking party. I can’t wait to have it just so he will shut up about it.
I stared at the door and. . .my heart ached for him and all that had been said.
Nyomi's breathing had gone deep and even against me. Her fingers had stopped moving.
She’s asleep or close. . .
I almost woke her up to fuck or just. . .tell her how broken my heart was. But the sake and marijuana had weighed me down too.
My heart.
I leaned over and pressed my lips to her forehead.
A second later, I closed my eyes, but couldn’t go to sleep.
Minutes passed.
Then I heard it.
A sound on the balcony. It was small. A scuff of weight on stone. The faintest creak of the railing shifting under pressure.
Then a light tap at the glass.
Hmmm.
My eyes opened.
No window or balcony was as heavily guarded as mine on this island, which meant that whoever was there. . .had asked for permission to go up. And I knew the only person that would have the audacity to do so.
What does he want?
I yawned and carefully placed Nyomi on her side.
She shifted, mumbled something, and reached her hand for where I'd been, before letting it fall to the bed.
My Tiger.
I left the bed and stood.
The floor was cool beneath my feet.
Let's see what trouble he's gotten himself into this time.
Chapter three
Lost in Translation
Kenji
I slid the door open and stepped onto the balcony. The stone was cold beneath my feet.
I pulled the door closed behind me with a soft click.
The balcony stretched wide around me with a stone railing that was barely waist-high and offered nothing between me and the drop.
From here, I could see everything the night had consumed—the villas reduced to silhouettes, the sea moving in slow dark waves.
The island slept, not one window was lit in the distant villas.
The sky, however, pulsed with restless energy. Stars burned in reckless clusters above, scattered like shattered glass across black velvet.
Too bright.
Too many.
Constantly sparkling as if death never occurred.
I should have turned to my visitor and spoken.
Instead, I walked over to the stone railing and lowered my gaze to where the pyre had stood days ago. There’d been a mountain of over a hundred burning bodies, fire consuming flesh, cloth, and bones. Rising smoke had whipped and twisted in columns, carrying human skin snowflakes.
Now only a flat, massive black circle remained, pressed into the ground like a wound that had closed over itself. The Scales had raked the dead’s ash and shoveled it under.
I looked at that dark circle for several silent minutes.
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.
I gripped the railing and turned right.
What’s wrong with him tonight?
Rin sat on the railing with his legs hung over the edge like a kid sitting on a dock and watching the water below with zero concern for the drop.
His back was to me.
His long dark hair fell unbraided down his spine, rippling in the breeze, strand by strand. Moving the way water did and showing hints of the masterpiece etched on his back.
The tattoo was a crown that ran the full width of his shoulders and tapered at the base of his spine. The majority of the crown was done in black with blood red cracks splitting through it.