Page 58 of Heir to a Curse

I grabbed his hand and lifted it to kiss it. “I wish I understood everything. Knew how to fix this.”

He shrugged. “Sometimes we must take things apart before they can be put back together.”

“Demolition. It’s one of my favorite parts of renovations,” I admitted.

“Demolition?” Xiang asked.

I thought about it for a minute, trying to come up with other definitions. “Deconstruct? Unbuild? I’m not sure that is a word. Take apart?”

He nodded like he understood. “Simplify to understand.”

Darkness fell and he got up to close the door to the garden. I wondered if things could get inside that way? There were no wards on that door. It was also not nearly as sturdy as the other doors. He didn’t light any kind of candles or lights, simply pulled me into his little corner, as far from the door as possible and sat in my arms.

We curled up together, and since Xiang still seemed tired, and my stomach kept growling, I didn’t push for more. I even dozed for a while, not a solid sleep since the hunger kept bothering me, but that light edge that gave me a glimpse of dreaming. Until something smashed against the door.

I nearly leapt out of Xiang’s arms. He barely moved, though he was awake with his gaze focused on the door. The entire building shook as something seemed to slam into the wall. Dust rained down on us, and Xiang tugged me back, covering us with the blankets as though a blanket fort could save us.

After a moment or two it sounded like whatever was outside was slithering across the roof. Fear rose like high tide in my gut. Would it come in from the garden?

Only it seemed to stop and slide backward. I could hear a few roof tiles slide off and shatter outside.Thump, thump, came the pounding again, the door in its frame jumping and bending. Would it hold?

The ground shook with the intensity of force, though perhaps that was the building rather than the ground. Xiang’s hands gripped my arms, but his head rested on my shoulder, ear over my heart. His gaze focused on the door, though he felt very still in my arms.

The banging became so severe I was certain the door would blow any second. But light lit up the door, the symbols of the wards etching in the glow as though scrawled there by some invisible hand. The creature howled as the sound of crystals shattering burst around us, like it was being pelted with giant shards of ice, or sheets of glass.

I clung to Xiang, feeling helpless and useless in the face of something I couldn’t even imagine. Was this his existence? Not only an endless struggle of loneliness, starvation, and isolation, but a brutal nightly assault? They hadn’t come last night; the sound would have woken me in a heartbeat.

But even the glowing wards could only pause the barrage of attacks. We had a few minutes of silence. Enough that I might have fallen asleep again, adrenaline fading that fast in the wake of my hunger and exhaustion. When something came at us again, it sounded different, not any smaller, but the “thawp”of reverberating noise changed. A different monster perhaps?

Again, the door and the entire wall attached to it, shook. It bounced in the frame so hard I could catch glimpses of whatever was outside. It wasn’t the woman with tentacles. It was something I couldn’t even begin to describe. An alien-like monster with too many limbs to count, and boiling flesh that seemed to overflow with some pus-like substance. I shuddered at the idea of it getting in. Cowered in the corner with Xiang held tightly in my arms. He watched the door with an absent acceptance. Like he knew that someday soon one of them would break through. Even now his wards stuttered, slowly activating this time, as though they were having trouble finding power. One drew in glowing letters at the speed of a snail, puffing out and restarting a few times as the new monster hit it.

Finally it finished its air dance and a blast ricocheted from the other side of the door. Another animalistic roar echoed through the night, like a T-rex from a movie, and so loud I thought it would bring the building down.

Xiang sagged in my arms, having trouble keeping his eyes open. “Xiang?” I whispered, touching his face. His skin felt like ice, and I realized the wards were tied to him, draining him with each assault.

“Should have taken you home,” he whispered. “If it breaks, go to the garden and wait for daylight. Then make your way to the door back to your home.”

“What about you?” I whispered, not wanting to entertain the first thought that popped into my head at the idea of the wards failing.

“It is okay,” he promised. “Tired anyway. Happy you stayed for a small time.”

Was he saying if the wards broke, he’d stay here and die? Eaten by some monster? I’d drag him outside if I had to. I thought back to the battle in which we’d first met. I’d thought it a dream, that thing, whatever it had been, had hurt him. He fought it with wards but they didn’t seem to have much power. Not until I offered up my own power to help.

What a ridiculous thought. I built things with my hands. I didn’t fight demons with magical wards. Yet we had shared a kiss and he’d pulled strength from me to chase back that monster.

I put my hands on his face, forcing him to look at me. “Use my strength. You did it before. You can keep it out.”

He shook his head, reaching out to run his fingers over my face. “Too much life.”

What did that even mean? The building shook around us, a rattling like the entire thing was going to come down. “Xiang,” I said, holding him in my arms as his breath stuttered.

“So tired,” he whispered.

I pressed my lips to his. “Don’t leave me,” I begged, not afraid to face the monster because well, death happened pretty fast I suspected, but because I would be alone. A few days of feeling whole, of having him in my arms, of having my heart open wide and wrapped around someone I felt like was meant for me, those were things I couldn’t imagine losing. Him, with those delicate features, fierce dark eyes, and amazing strength. “Use my strength, please,” I said, pressing kisses all over his face. “Don’t leave me yet.”

I’d barely survived losing Sofia, who was like a mother to me, one of the few people in my life I’d gotten close enough to love. Addy would be much the same, and now Xiang, who though I only knew a few days, my soul remembered from several lifetimes. “Please,” I begged him.

“Takes life from you,” he whispered.