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“—destruction—” Jed coughed more, and then gagged.

The lines on the monitor jumped erratically.

“Grandpa!” Lucienne screamed. “Nurse!!”

Two nurses hurried in, followed by Dr. Wren.

“Help him! He can’t breathe!”

“Get out, Miss Lam,” the doctor ordered.

“No,” Lucienne said. “I stay here with him.”

The lines on the monitor went completely flat.

Jed Lam, the Siren, ceased to breathe altogether.

~

The moon hung above. The common willow’s long, graceful leaves swayed in the breeze. The Siren before Jed had imported this Yangliu tree and dozens more like it from Suzhou, a city in southern China. They blanketed the banks of the Yangliu Lake on the south side of the Red Mansion.

Dressed in black, Lucienne wandered under the trees, gazing at a falling leaf floating through the moon’s reflection upon the water. She raised her head to look back at the Red Mansion. The immortal Siren still rode the phoenix, but Siren Jed Lam was gone forever, leaving her the only resident in the immense mansion, surrounded by enemies.

She plunked a willow leaf from a branch that swung over her face, pondering on Jed’s unfinished words, “—the prophecy about you—destruction—” She would never know what last secret he held or what destruction lay ahead.

The wind brought the familiar scents of a young male and of a wild river in hot summer. Lucienne whirled around. A man in denim jeans and a dark wool pullover sauntered toward her, a jacquard skullhat lowered to his eyebrows. He was unarmed, except of a disarming half-smile. Lucienne studied him as he approached, unable to look away.

Vladimir held her gaze, his eyes glowing with pining, as if he needed to etch every feature of her face in his mind before leaving her for good. Lucienne felt her heart constrict painfully. After tonight, she’d never see him again. She evened her breath and managed a polished smile. “Hey, there.”

“I thought it’d be easier to track you down in your home base,” Vladimir said.

“I thought instead of tracking me you’d have been on the first plane back to Prague.”

“Without a proper goodbye?”

“Should I throw you a party?”

“Never expected one.”

“Good, because the parties will have to wait until the mourning period for my grandfather is over.”

“How long will it be?”

“Very long. I loved him dearly.”

“I’ll wait as long as it takes.”

Lucienne’s eyes went wide, her tightened heart now fluttering like wings. “You’re going to stay?”

The half-smile left Vladimir’s face as a gray cloud descended over his eyes, swallowing the light. “Can’t take a little challenge?” he asked. “I guess you just can’t wait to get rid of me.”

“Any man with an ounce of sense would run as fast as he could after what I did to you.”

“It’s not your fault. Besides, I’m not just any man. I was born to walk on the wild side.”

“Blazek, this isn’t a wild side—this is a hopeless side.”

“But do you want me?” he asked. “That’s all I want to know.”