Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Rook stood in a rune of frost, the icy fractals crawling up the walls and ceiling. “Where are we going? Is ground the exit?” She went to push the G button, but...I reached over her and pressed O1.
She scowled. “O one? What’s that? What’s there?”
“Operations. It’s where the reactors convert the energy gathered from elsewhere before being fed into the London electrical grid. It’s a bomb waiting to go off. I plan to set it on fire, so it destroys this building.”
“But...it’s your building.”
“Don’t care. I want nothing to do with it.”
The doors pinged, then opened.
A vast, cathedral-like chamber welcomed us. Huge reactors that worked off Ashfall blood waited in the low humming quiet. The three-storey-high ceilings gave plenty of room for the reactors to work without overheating. They looked as if they were wrapped in metal cobwebs thanks to the steel walkways criss-crossing three levels.
The cylindrical reactors dominated the space, each one the size of a large shed, but not one of them operated—probably thanks to no longer having access to my blood.
I doubted these reactors had been turned on since I’d escaped Cinderkeep. The amount of money my company would be bleeding in lost market share and revenue would probably drive even the calmest board member to murder, but...fuck them.
My father had left me more than enough money in the account protected by Sovereign Retrieval and...I had no affection or loyalty to this company whatsoever.
Why should I?
All it had ever brought me was death, pain, and imprisonment.
Stepping into the impressive space with its network of pipes, stairways, and operation stations, I focused on the part of my power that sensed life.
I waited to hear any heartbeats.
I might have a grudge to settle with the board, but the workers were innocent.
Nothing.
Either the workers had been laid off, or it was still too early for them to clock in.
Rook tensed beside me as I summoned the fire.
Angry, golden flames erupted from my chest, blasting around the chamber like a fiery storm. I didn’t direct it—didn’t care what it attacked first—but it picked up on my desires and bulldozed through each reactor as if they were blocks of butter to be melted.
Explosions rocked the building as the reactors caught fire and burned. Flames chewed their way along every wire, conduit, and walkway—melting everything in its wake.
I smiled as it kept growing. Its roar rang in my ears as it howled around the room like a dragon made of pure fire. The scent of hot metal and burning plastic caught in the back of my throat.
Rook coughed and tightened the scrap of fabric around her mouth and nose.
Glancing at her, I drank in the exhaustion in her eyes and the frost twinkling in her hair. Urgency to get her to safety sent another blast of energy into the fire, commanding it to hurry and ensure nothing was salvageable.
The fire listened.
It snarled—feeding off me like I was firewood.
I let it take more, cranking the flames until they licked against the three-story ceiling. The wall panels warped. The air blistered. Everything purged and decimated, erasing all the sins that’d been committed.
We stood in the centre of hellfire—
And my heart seized.
I staggered as emptiness throbbed in my bones.
The glorious strength I’d woken up with flickered—
Stop it. Rook’s panicked voice fed into my mind. I can feel you getting weaker. Call it back.
Flexing my fingers, I requested the fire to calm. I tried to summon it back—to gather up the heat and call it home.
Unfortunately...it flat out ignored me.
Snarling like an unruly, rabid animal, it turned on me, chewing its way through my bones, no longer treating me as its master but fuel.
“Lucien! Stop it!”
I tried.
I really did.
But just like on the mountain, it no longer listened. It shut me off and bled me dry—leeching out the strength Rook gave me, leaving me full of useless ash.
Obey me!
I closed my eyes and pulled.
But it just kept burning.
“Lucien...” Rook flung her arms around me from behind. A blanket of icy, wonderful relief flooded my overheated veins. Her hands locked around my belly, and I sagged against her as she shoved snow into my blood.
Grabbing her frosty fingers, I held her tight as she slowly helped calm me.
“That’s it.” She pressed her cheek to my spine. “You’ve done enough. There’s no way anything in this room is useable anymore. Let’s go.”
The fire struggled like a serpent, hissing against her winter calmness. It coiled around my heart, draining me in a completely different way than before.
It took all my power to yank it back and bite it down.
Rook blasted me with a blizzard. The fire snuffed out, leaving just a wisp of smoke and the crackle of acrid burning.
“Thank you.” I spun in her arms and hugged her.
She let me hold her for a moment before tugging free. “Are you okay?”