Page 36 of Lies That Bleed
“We heard you were clinging to life in the hospital?” Jace said.
And there wasn’t a scratch on me now.
“I’m all better now,” I stated.
One of his friends peered behind me. “Where is your creature? We heard it was a Talanagi, but no one knows what kind.”
I understood their curiosity but it still made me uncomfortable to speak about. Before I had to answer, Anika’s voice came from behind me.
“None of your business,” she snapped to the boys. “You’ll find out tomorrow with everyone else.”
I spun with a smile and gave her lioness a nod. Anika had small scratches all up and down her arms that were healing, and she shook her head as she peered at me. Pulling me in for a hug, which surprised me, she pressed her lips to my ear. “Go to the bathroom alone. Kohen needs to talk to you.”
She then pulled away from me. “Glad to see you’re feeling better, princess,” she said for all to hear.
My blood ran cold at the mention of Kohen needing to talk to me, but I gave her a fake smile.
“Thanks.” Then I looked at Tetra. “Hey, I gotta pee. Be right back.”
Tetra moved to follow me but Anika snaked outand stopped her. “No, hang with me. I want to talk more about what you missed in The Wilds.”
I gave Tetra a thumbs-up and a smile and made my way to the women’s restroom at the back wall. Zig-zagging between hundreds of candidates and creatures was a challenge, but I finally made it. As I headed for the women’s bathroom, the door to the left opened and then I was yanked inside.
Chapter
Eleven
Iwas about to scream and put up a fight when I smelled cardamom and ginger. My favorite spiced-tea-drinking male had pulled me into a broom closet. The low light flickered above Kohen Badshah as he stared at me with wide, bugged eyes. Reaching out, he dragged the tips of his fingers across my temple and then down my jaw, causing a traitorous rush of emotions to wash over me.
“You’re alive,” he breathed.
His hand shook slightly as he pulled it back. “I… carried your dead, burned body out of The Wilds. But now… you live?”
My heart pinched at the thought of Kohen carrying my body out to the imperial soldiers so that I could be brought back to my father and given a proper burial.
“Yeah,” I laughed nervously. “And you bonded the dragon?”
“Onyx,” he corrected me.
“Where is he?” I asked, obviously noting he wasn’t nearby.
“On the roof of this club, waiting for us to help him free your firebird.”
The air whooshed out of me. “What?”
Kohen squared his shoulders. “I saw you bond. The sky glowed like the northern lights, but then you fell. Burned. Dead. And your firebird rained down in ashes. Gone.” Kohen relived the memory and I felt bad that he had to see that. He thought I was dead this entire time.
“After I handed over your body, I thought that was it. Until thirty seconds ago when you walked in here and Onyx informed me that Li-ana…” He struggled with the name. “…was being held captive.”
Anger like I’d never felt before rushed through me. “Tell me where!” My words were a growl. Who the hell was holding my creature captive? It explained why she hadn’t shown up!
Kohen cocked his head to the side. “What are you going to do? Go and save her by yourself?”
“Don’t mess with me, Kohen. Where is she?”
He sighed. “Onyx said that he just got word from her. They are old friends. She can’t communicate with you because you haven’t touched since the rebirth. The bonding needs to…” He paused as if trying to understand what Onyx had told him. “Cement itself in the first twenty-four hours after rebirth or it’s broken. It’s a firebird thing.”
Panic seized me. Twenty-four hours? I’d already wasted nearly twelve of those since I’d woken up in the body bag.
