Page 60 of The Wind Dancer
CHAPTER 17
I was slowly drifting out of sleep. There were no dreams or visions today, and I felt it was because of Mei Lin. When we came out of the basement where we had left Fu Shang to the fire ants, we were both lost in thought. He had told us a lot... too much. And after what I had heard, I felt the need to get clean. I wanted to scrub my skin raw, just to be sure none of that awfulness remained.
At first, I was frightened by how ruthlessly cold Mei Lin had been while she tortured him. But the longer he talked, the more I wanted to kill him.
She was already awake. She sat on the edge of the bed with her back to me, watching the first rays of dawn dispel the morning fog. She was relaxed, almost regal, showing no trace of shame at being naked, no hint of vulnerability. Even now, in silence, the Claw Lord was a dangerous woman.
A memory surfaced. Her voice, hoarse from fatigue, but firm.
“Stay.”
Not an order, but a request.
And I stayed.
We both wanted it, craved it. We wanted to forget, to let the flames of passion burn away all of it. At least for a while.
She turned around. Her gaze slid over my face, over the scratch marks she had left on my shoulders. Without a word, she moved back to me.
The kiss wasn’t gentle. Our lips and tongues fought for and against each other. She bit me, and I bit back, my fingers gripping the back of her neck, feeling the frantic rhythm of her pulse.
Every touch left a mark. Bite marks on her shoulder, kiss marks on her collarbone, my hands roughly tracing her curves. She arched, gripping my hair, roughly pulling me closer.
There was no tenderness. There was only a wild, uncontrollable thirst devouring everything in its path.
I pushed her into the bed with my full weight. She responded with the same frenzied lust, digging her nails into my back and biting down on my shoulder. We were like wild animals, and this was more like a fight than making love. Every thrust was an attempt to chase away the memories, every moan a reminder that we were alive.
She held on so tight, it felt like she wanted to break my ribs. My breath caught, blood was pounding in my temples, the world narrowed to a point — to her, to us.
With one last push, we gasped, collapsing together, trembling, but finally content.
She relaxed, her forehead pressed against my chest. I could feel her heart pounding wildly, her sweat-covered skin sticking to mine.
We stayed silent for a while, enjoying the peace.
“What are you thinking about?” I gently ran my fingers down her back.
“I’m thinking about what to do with you, Feng Lao.” She turned around, and her dark eyes looked as though they could gaze into the very depths of my soul.
“Work?” I said with a smile. My gaze wandered over her gorgeous body. The heat was rising in me again.
“I came to this dump to find your mentor. To negotiate with him,” She paused for a moment, as if deciding something, “Or kill the Master Without a Face if he turned out to be useless or impossible to negotiate with.”
That nickname... A sharp pain shot through me, and vague memories surfaced. Five men with their weapons drawn stood in front of my mentor and me. Their leader said,“Master Without a Face, give me the boy. We weren’t paid to fight you, but if you get in the way, you’ll die.”And the next moment, they were blood smears on the alley walls. My old man bent down and hugged me, stroking my head.“Forget this, Feng Lao. This never happened.”His quiet voice lulled me to sleep, but I could only see his eyes glowing with power, and thin streams of water circled around his head.
“What’s wrong?” Her warm fingers were on my forehead.
“Nothing, I’m fine.” I had pulled myself together, but her lips curled into a smirk.
“You’re a bad liar. It looks like you had buried or forgotten that nickname, and I jogged your memory of it. I promised that you could learn about your mentor’s past and identity if you worked for me. Do you still want that?”
I nodded confidently. Whoever he was, he raised me like a son. Without his lessons and protection, I wouldn’t have survived for very long.
“Then listen carefully. Our teachers studied together under the same mentor. That means a lot among dragonblood. But they even became blood brothers. Their paths split many years ago, but they still respected each other.”
“Are you saying that he was a dragonblood?” I looked at Mei Lin in disbelief, and she nodded.
“He was at the fifth level on the path of Ascension, just like my mentor. And both of them had the blood of the Water Dragon. But your mentor meddled with something that he shouldn’t have, and only the intervention of the Empress Dowager, who favored him greatly, saved him from death. The man known as Jian Wei was stripped of all his titles. The Winged Ghost squad, which had been his idea and project, was disbanded. And he disappeared.”
