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"You're coming with me." Gu Hanchuan's hand stayed around my throat. Not tight enough to kill. Just tight enough to remind me he could. "Tonight."
"No."
His fingers pressed harder.
My legs were already shaking from Uncle's beating. Blood soaked through the back of my robe, warm against my skin. Every breath carried the stink of iron, incense, and the sharp heat pouring off Gu Hanchuan's poisoned body.
"I said no."
"You don't get to say no."
"Then kill me." I forced myself to meet his eyes. "You walked past me once. Do it again."
His jaw locked.
For one dangerous second, I thought he would.
Then his hand trembled.
Not from hesitation. From the poison.
Black veins crawled up his neck, branching toward his face. His breath caught. Sweat slid down his temple, even though the room was cold.
He released me.
My knees slammed into the floor. Pain shot up my legs, but I kept quiet. Making noise had never helped me. It only gave people something else to punish.
Gu Hanchuan stepped back and wiped his mouth. Blood streaked the back of his hand.
His blood.
"You think I want this?" he asked.
"I think you're dying."
His laugh came out rough and empty. "Yeah. I am."
Behind him, Uncle lay twisted on the floor. Still breathing. Barely.
Gu Hanchuan had hit him hard enough to crack something. Part of me wanted to crawl over and check. The rest of me wanted to make sure he never woke up.
I stayed where I was.
"Three years," I said. "You've had the fire poison for three years."
"Yes."
"And now you need me."
"Yes."
"Funny how that works."
His dark eyes snapped toward me.
He crouched in front of me, close enough that his heat brushed my face. The air between us smelled like smoke and blood. His hands shook against his knees, but his stare stayed hard.
The poison had reached his cheeks. Black lines threaded beneath his skin like cracks in glass.
He looked like a dead man who'd refused to lie down.
And I was apparently his last chance.
"I'm not asking," he said. "The elders don't know about you yet."
"They know enough."
"Not about your root. Not about what you can do for me. Once they find out you're a match, they'll take you apart piece by piece."
My stomach tightened.
He leaned closer. "You think your uncle's bad? Wait until Elder Lin Yuan gets his hands on you. He'll bleed you dry and keep you alive while he does it."
"I know Lin Yuan."
Gu Hanchuan's gaze sharpened. "You know him?"
"He's my cousin. He told Uncle to seal my root."
For the first time, Gu Hanchuan looked caught off guard.
I smiled without humor. "So tell me again how you're saving me."
"I'm using you."
At least he didn't lie.
"How noble."
"I'm the only one who'll let you live afterward."
"That's not the same as saving me."
"It's the closest thing you're getting."
He rose and held out his hand.
I stared at it.
The scars across his knuckles were pale against his skin. Those hands could crush my skull. They could throw up a barrier strong enough to split stone.
Right now, they wouldn't stop shaking.
"Get up."
"I can stand without you."
"Then prove it."
I shoved one palm against the floor and pushed myself up. My wound pulled. A fresh smear of blood marked the stone beneath me.
Gu Hanchuan watched in silence.
He didn't help.
Good. I would've bitten him if he tried.
Once I was standing, he turned toward the door.
"Wait."
He stopped but didn't look back.
I pointed at Uncle. "What about him?"
"What about him?"
"You can't leave him here."
"Why not?"
Because he'd wake up and kill me. Because the elders would find him and start asking questions. Because I needed to know whether Gu Hanchuan had truly come to take me—or whether he'd dragged me into an even worse trap.
I gave him the answer he'd care about.
"He'll tell the elders you were here."
Gu Hanchuan glanced over his shoulder. His face had gone even paler.
"Let him."
"You're not worried?"
"I'm the Sect Leader." His voice turned cold. "I go where I want."
He pushed open the door.
Moonlight cut across the floor. Beyond it, the night was empty. No guards. No shouting. No footsteps rushing to save Uncle.
Gu Hanchuan had cleared the area before he came.
Smart.
Terrifying.
"Move," he said.
I moved.
We crossed the outer sect without another word. My bare feet struck freezing stone. Each step sent pain up through my injured legs, but I kept pace.
Gu Hanchuan walked ahead, shoulders stiff. He didn't glance back once.
Then his stride faltered.
He caught the stone railing and bent over it, breathing through clenched teeth.
"Need a break?" I asked.
"Keep walking."
"You can barely stand."
"I said keep walking."
"And I said you're going to collapse before we reach the hall."
His head turned slowly. Even from several steps away, I felt the force of his glare.
"Are you worried about me?"
"I'm worried you'll die before I find out what you want."
His mouth twitched. Not quite a smile.
"There she is."
"Who?"
"The girl who thinks she can threaten a dying Sect Leader."
"You're not that frightening when you're gasping on a railing."
He pushed away from it.
For three steps, he walked normally.
On the fourth, his hand slammed against the wall.
The black veins had spread into his fingers.
He was getting worse. Fast.
Good.
If he died, I was free.
If he lived, I could use him.
Either way, I wasn't going back to Uncle.
"You could run," Gu Hanchuan said.
My feet stopped.
He didn't turn around. "You've been looking at the gates since we left."
"And you let me?"
"You wouldn't make it ten steps."
"That confident?"
"That injured."
I hated that he was right.
He looked back then. His eyes dragged over my bloodstained robe, my bare feet, and the hand I kept pressed against my side.
His stare lingered for half a second too long.
Heat crawled up my neck.
I covered it with a sneer. "Keep staring and I'll assume you want something else from me."
His gaze snapped to my face.
The silence between us tightened.
His breath came rough. Mine caught before I could stop it.
Then he looked away.
"Don't flatter yourself."
"You brought me here."
"Because I need your root."
"Keep repeating that. Maybe you'll believe it."
His fingers curled against the wall.
The stone beneath them cracked.
"Walk."
I smiled and followed.
We passed through the inner gate. The guards didn't move. One stood with his eyes closed. The other stared straight ahead, frozen in place.
"What did you do to them?" I asked.
"Nothing permanent."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you're getting."
"A spirit technique?"
He glanced at me. "You know enough to be annoying."
"I know enough to know you don't trust me."
"I don't trust anyone."
"Yet you're taking me to your private hall."
"You're not staying there because I trust you."
"Then why?"
He stopped at the bottom of the mountain path.
The Sect Leader's hall waited above us, hidden behind layers of barriers and seals.
Gu Hanchuan gripped the railing. His knuckles went white.
"Because if you leave my sight," he said, "the elders will find you first."
There it was.
The leash.
Maybe he meant to protect me. Maybe he meant to keep me trapped.
Either way, I was going with him.
Not because he ordered me to.
Because I needed a weapon.
And Gu Hanchuan was the sharpest one left in this sect.
The climb took twenty minutes.
By the time we reached the top, Gu Hanchuan was leaning against the railing, struggling for every breath. Black veins covered both hands now.
"You're not going to last the night," I said.
"Stop counting my breaths."
"Then breathe faster."
His head snapped toward me.
I expected anger.
Instead, he looked almost amused.
That was worse.
He shoved open the hall doors. "Inside."
The hall was huge and empty. A low bed sat in the center beneath rows of red-glowing talismans. Barrier seals covered the walls and ceiling.
A prison disguised as a room.
Gu Hanchuan stumbled to the bed and sat down.
His breath shook. Sweat dripped from his chin. The poison had turned his lips nearly white.
"Come here," he said.
I stayed by the door.
His eyes lifted.
They were black now.
No white. No color. Nothing human left in them.
"I said come here."
"You don't get to order me around just because you're dying."
"I can still kill you."
"You can barely sit upright."
His hand slammed into the mattress.
The talismans above us flared red.
"Come. Here."
The command hit harder than his voice should've allowed. Energy pressed against my chest and drove me forward.
I caught myself before I fell.
"Cheater."
"Sit."
"Ask nicely."
His expression darkened.
The energy tightened around me.
I walked the last few steps and sat beside him. The silk beneath me was cold. His heat reached me through the narrow space between us.
Gu Hanchuan grabbed my wrist.
His palm burned against my skin.
"This is going to hurt," he said.
"For who?"
A strained smile touched his mouth. "Both of us."
He leaned in.
His breath struck my cheek, shallow and scorching. His grip tightened until my pulse beat against his thumb.
"What are you doing?"
"Finding out if you're really a match."
"And if I'm not?"
"Then you die first."
"Comforting."
His forehead nearly touched mine.
For one suspended second, neither of us moved.
His eyes held mine. His heat pressed against my cold skin. The talismans crackled overhead.
Then he inhaled.
His entire body went rigid.
His fingers clamped around my wrist. His eyes widened, black and empty.
He dragged in another breath, deeper this time, like he'd been drowning and had finally found air.
"What the hell—"
Something stirred beneath my ribs.
Cold energy rose from my sealed root. It slipped through me like snowmelt, quiet and ancient. The air filled with the scent of winter cedar and snow over dead leaves.
Gu Hanchuan shook harder.
Not from the poison.
From me.
"What is this?" His voice cracked. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything."
"Don't lie to me."
"Then stop asking questions you already know I can't answer."
He leaned closer, chasing the scent. His breath warmed my skin again. His grip turned desperate.
A rough sound escaped him.
The black veins on his face began to pull back.
Only a little.
But they moved.
Gu Hanchuan froze.
"Impossible," he whispered. "This isn't supposed to—"
He jerked away and stared at me.
Fear had finally broken through his control.
"Who was your mother?"
My whole body locked.
"What?"
"Your mother." His fingers stayed around my wrist, holding me like I was the only thing keeping him upright. "Who was she?"
"She's dead."
"Her name."
"Why?"
His breathing turned ragged. "Because I've smelled this before."
My blood ran cold.
"Where?"
"Twenty years ago." His eyes searched my face. "Right here. In this hall."
I couldn't move.
Twenty years ago, I hadn't even been born.
My mother had still been alive.
Gu Hanchuan looked at me like I wasn't a person anymore. Like I was a ghost he'd buried and somehow found sitting beside him.
Then he pulled me closer, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
"You're sleeping in my hall tonight."
"That's not happening."
"It wasn't a request."
His grip shifted. The talismans above us flared brighter, sealing the doors behind me.
I looked at the locked entrance, then back at him.
"Gu Hanchuan, if you know my mother, you will tell me—"
"Who was your mother to me—"