Page 47 of The Cinders
William dropped his head back and groaned.‘Oh gods, don’t be so dull.I just told you that you are not human, and not only are you ignoring that, you are accusing me of being a carnival magician.’
‘I assure you I am very much human, Sir William.I have the scars to prove it.’He pressed a hand to his side, where the flames had scorched him from hip to breast.
The Englishman rolled his eyes; now returned to their vibrant green.‘Are you so bothered by a few marks, you’re more worried about them, than what I’m telling you?’
‘They are not just a few.And you are mad.’Xian spoke barely above a whisper, quite certain he’d wake himself from this strange dream if he raised his voice louder; and he was not yet ready to wake.‘And unkind.I lost my mother to that fire you speak of so flippantly.’
William watched him closely.He did that a lot, Xian noted.Bored his gaze, like a worm into the wood.‘And did my speaking of it in such a way bring her back to chastise me?Or is she still quite dead, and you, still quite alive, though belligerent about facing facts?’
His words stung like nettles.‘She is still quite dead…so is Mercy.’
‘That’s the carp you mourn?’
‘Yes.’He refused to apologise for it.
‘A pity she is gone.I’m intrigued to learn what Natural befriended you.A water dweller, obviously, but which one?Those I’ve known have been utter arseholes, silkies for instance, are petulant cows.At least panlong tastes decent, I suppose.All told, water dwellers are more intent on drowning you than playing with you.Never mind, I am far more interested in finding out what type of Natural you are, my friend.’He planted his hands on his hips.‘Are you tired of being in denial yet?I am quite mercurial, so if you don’t take me up on my offer now, I’m liable to renege by morning.’
Xian’s nerves tingled, and some distant part of him urged him to flee.But he did not shift an inch.‘Panlong and forest sprites and incubus?Sir William, you cannot ask me to believe in such creatures.’
William moved at a breathtaking pace, skirts rustling like wind through the willows.Xian blinked, and the Englishman was almost atop him.
‘Denial does not look good on you, dear boy.And it bores me to tears.’
Another flare of firelight shone in his eyes.Xian inhaled sharply.This was no trick of the light, as he’d hoped, but rather a genuine movement of contrasting colour.
‘I did not mean to displease you.’
‘Stop worrying a damn about the feelings of others.’William stepped forward, and Xian countered with a move back.‘Besides, I am not displeased, merely impatient.’
They moved in slow, careful steps.Xian had a clear route to the door; he could run from this most confounding man, but he could not find the want in himself to do so.Stay.His instincts whispered; just as they had when the storm approached Kunming.
But this tempest frightened him far more than the weather.
‘How can you show me,’ he said quickly, before trepidation stole his courage.
William raised a brow, and not a single wrinkle marred his forehead.‘Show you what?Be specific, or I’ll be teaching you how to fondle balls perfectly.’
‘Show me who I am,’ Xian said forcefully.‘Must you be so bawdy with every word you speak?’
‘Yes, I bore myself otherwise.’
Xian’s back met the dark timber that fortified the room’s corners.
‘Who are you, Sir William Black?’
Being in this man’s presence was like walking with a tiger; his beauty overwhelming, the danger thick and pungent.
William pressed his hands to the wall on either side of Xian’s head, leaning his bare chest close.‘I too am a prince, and my sire a king, but with far greater powers than yours.’
‘King of which land?’Xian whispered.
‘None you would recognise.’His breath was warm against Xian’s neck.‘Full of daemons and angels, and all the monsters the Purebreds fear.Myself included, when the mood takes me.’
‘Sir William, please.’Xian pressed his hand to the Englishman’s chest.A man of flesh and blood, who claimed himself the most maniacal of things.‘If you intend to show me who I truly am, then let it be done.You are frightening me with all this talk of evil creatures.’
He frowned.‘Now excuse me, highness.I said monsters, but do not assume we are all evil too.I am a daemon, a full blooded incubus, if you don’t mind.For all we know it isyouwho are an evil creature.So there.’
Xian closed his eyes, pushing back against the instinct that held him here.This was truly madness.But he heard himself speak, as though from afar.‘If you know so much, why can you not tell me what I am?’