The Spirit Heir (20 page)

Then her body twitched violently.

Rhen placed his hand on Jinji's cheek, trying to soothe, but with a gasp her eyes flew open, wide, filled with something Rhen had never seen.

"Are you all right?" he asked, stroking her skin, unable to stop himself.

Jinji didn’t respond. Her dark eyes grew determined. And the next thing Rhen knew, her hands were gripping his neck, pulling him down until their lips brushed ever so softly against each other.

Rhen froze.

Jinji was kissing him.

Did that mean she wanted to? Did she like him? Was she delirious? Was he forcing her? Would everything change? Would they be okay?

Stop. You idiot.

Rhen groaned, shoving the questions from his overactive mind, and gave in.

They were kissing.

Everything else in the world could wait until later.

Sliding his hand behind her head, digging his fingers into her short black hair, Rhen pulled Jinji closer, sinking into the kiss as his chest swelled with warmth. Her lips were full, luscious against his, as he pulled away only to come greedily back for more. Every time she sighed, a shiver raced down his spine. As her hands gripped his arms, fire flared against his skin.

Never in his life had Rhen felt so much in just one kiss—so much passion, so much honesty, so much love. He wondered for a moment if it were all a dream, if this could possibly be real, because the world had never felt so perfect, so right. But that was how everything always seemed to feel around her—brighter, better than before, magical.

Rhen shifted his lips, exploring the feel of her cheeks, her jaw, her neck, smiling with every sharp exhale that left her body. But as his chin felt the coarse scratch of fabric, he paused, lifting his head, blood boiling, and knew he had to stop now before he lost all control.

Breathing heavily, Rhen let his eyes wander, taking in the pink flush of her copper skin, the slight swell of her rosy lips, the crooked curve around the edge of her eyes, framed with dark, thick lashes.

Was there truly a time in his life when he mistook her for a boy? Illusions or not, it seemed impossible to make such an error. He had never seen anyone more beautiful than Jinji, eyes sparkling like the sun itself as she watched him watching her.

Then she bit her lip, as though suddenly aware of what had happened, but a smile tugged at the edges, threatening to break through her nervousness. Unable to stop himself, Rhen placed his finger on those lips, tracing them, enthralled.

Jinji's body stiffened beneath him.

Confused, Rhen met her stare, but she wasn't looking at him anymore. She was looking past him. Cautious, Rhen turned his head slowly, afraid of what he might find. A fox? A bear? A person?

But it was just the phantom.

Arms crossed. Staring down. If a cloud of gray mist could emote, Rhen would have guessed fury to be the most appropriate term—though he couldn't understand why. Still, greeted with such hostility he jumped back, releasing Jinji as though caught breaking some unknown rule.

And it pointed aggressively behind them.

Oh, right…

Rhen had completely forgotten why they had even climbed the cliff in the first place—to follow the phantom, to see what it needed to show them, to hunt for more clues about the ever-elusive shadow plaguing the land. And something more, something Rhen didn’t really want to admit to himself—the hope that maybe, just maybe, he had found the answer to saving his family.

That hope was the only thing keeping him going. That hope, and now this—the woman smiling below him, the woman he wanted desperately to kiss again.

But before he could react, she slid out from underneath him, sparing a quick glance in his direction. Brushing the grass off her pants, unknowingly calling Rhen's attention to the barely concealed curves of her body, Jinji stood. Holding back a frustrated scream, Rhen hurried to do the same.

The phantom started floating forward, not waiting to see if they were ready, just assuming they would follow. Rhen and Jinji looked at each other for a moment, stuck as an awkward silence filled the air. An urgent need to speak pinched his gut, but what was there to say—thank you? That was amazing? Let's do it again? Right now…maybe… Instead, he sighed heavily.

Jinji leaned forward, stretching up on the tips of her toes to kiss his lips softly, gone before he had time to respond. Then she nudged her head, and said, "Come on."

Unable to find his voice, Rhen trudged after her. How had someone with the reputation of irrefutable rake turned into such a bumbling boy? He'd seduced a thousand women across the kingdom, so how had this one brought him to his knees?

And then Rhen realized something. With everyone he had ever kissed before, he had been playing a part—the philandering prince, the irresponsible third son of the king, the irresistible scoundrel.

But Jinji?

She knew who he really was—knew him better than anyone else in the kingdom. When she kissed him, she wasn't kissing a prince, she wasn't kissing a name or a reputation. She was kissing him. The real Rhen. And that made all the difference.

"Rhen?"

He flinched, pulled from his thoughts only to realize that Jinji and the phantom had come to a stop a few feet behind him next to what appeared to be some sort of ivy covered boulder. But as he stepped closer, Rhen could make out patchwork lines, deep grooves in the stones, the sort of work that could only be manmade.

"What do you think it is?" Jinji asked.

"Ruins?" Rhen shrugged, running his fingers along the vines. Curious, he began to circle the stones, searching for an entrance, some clue to what it might be, but he found none. The shape was cylindrical, only ten feet high, almost like the top of a tower. But there were no windows, no doors. How could a tower be buried under so much soil?

"I thought you said this area of the kingdom is barren."

"It is," he told her, mystified, "whatever this is, it must be hundreds of years old."

The phantom blew between them, no longer the shape of a man, back to a cloudy fog, and rose up to the top of the ruins before disappearing entirely.

"Up?" Jinji asked.

With a resigned sigh, Rhen nodded. "Up."

Then he knelt down to offer her his hands as a foothold. Lifting her was easy and within moments, Jinji had pulled herself to the top of the mound.

"See anything?" Rhen called as she disappeared from sight, kneeling down to examine the top.

"I think there may be a door," she said, popping back into view as she leaned over the edge. "Can I help you?"

Rhen raised an eyebrow, fighting to keep the smirk from his face—but the idea of Jinji being able to pull him up to the top was ridiculous. One yank and she would come tumbling over the edge, though catching her would definitely be fun…

Shaking his head, Rhen just said, "I'll be fine."

Using the vines as a foothold, Rhen began to climb. Immediately, his arms ignited with a familiar burn, still totally spent from scaling the cliff face with Jinji holding onto his back. But the distance was much shorter this time and he made it easily to the top.

Jinji was waiting alone, no phantom in sight, and leaning over a hole in the floor. "I think I see steps."

Rhen sank beside her, pulse quickening as their arms touched, but he tried to focus on the task at hand. The hole was not so much a hole, but what looked like a metal gate buried under sediment. If it were a door, then there would be a handle. Pushing leaves and mud to the side, Rhen ran his palms over rough stone, feeling for a…

There.

A hook. Grasping the circular iron hoop, Rhen stood and pulled. The gate lifted, creaking with age, revealing a staircase that had been untouched for who knew how long. And a few feet below, the phantom waited, pointing into the dark.

"Down?" Rhen asked.

This time Jinji was the one who sighed and shook her head, before answering with a resigned, "Down."

After about ten steps they ran into a dilemma—the sun was gone, blanketing them in impenetrable darkness. Rhen searched the wall for a torch, but anything that might have been there had been destroyed with age.

"What now?" he asked, peering into the ebony abyss where the mist had disappeared. Without a torch or any fire at all, going farther would be impossible.

"Hmm," Jinji murmured, biting her lip, "I may have an idea."

"Wha…" But Rhen trailed off, eyes widening as Jinji held out her hand and closed her lids. Rhen had seen her wear that look only once before, the night he visited her rooms, the night she showed him her illusions.

Holding his breath, Rhen watched as the air began to bend around her arm, like fractured light off a diamond, not quite natural. Slowly, from the dark, the hint of wood appeared, translucent at first, but growing more and more opaque, until the shaft of a torch rested sturdily between her fingers—more solid than any illusion Rhen could imagine.

A moment later, fire burst from the end, bright and blinding, shocking Rhen as he felt the heat dig into his palm, provoking his senses. Instinctually, Rhen pulled on the flame and it twitched in his direction, moving ever so slightly, before he released his hold. Drawn to the light, Rhen reached forward, putting the tips of his fingers in the flame, enjoying the burn.

He let his hand fall back to his side. Did Jinji know how real her illusions had become? The fire atop her torch reacted to his touch no differently than a real flame would.

Strange
, Rhen thought, brows scrunched as he rubbed his fingers together. The lingering warmth sunk under his skin, molding to his blood.

"Here you go," Jinji said a few moments later, handing Rhen a second torch. He was almost afraid to grip too tightly, lest the illusion unravel. But the wood scratched his skin, firm in his grasp, too real to be fake.

With the halls around them glimmering in firelight, Rhen and Jinji continued down the circular steps, moving round and round until they reached the bottom. The phantom led them down abandoned hallways, through a wooden door that had decayed over time, past broken glass windows with no view aside from endless mud and roots. An entire castle sat abandoned underground, oddly preserved, yet completely vacant.

Who lived here?

Where did they go?

What happened?

Rhen couldn’t stop the questions from boggling his mind. Buildings did not just bury themselves, not so pristinely without a single stone out of place.

The phantom came to a halt just inside a cavernous room. The space reminded Rhen of a throne room, though no furniture rested inside. But the ceilings vaulted into high arches, reminding him of home.

Next to him, Jinji let her torch disappear and held both hands before her face, closing her eyes. Soon candlesticks decorated the entire floor, casting the room in warm, yellow light.

Rhen turned in his spot, looking for the clue the phantom had been trying to show them. Columns ran down the length of the room, and at the far wall, Rhen saw the hint of an image, too faint to make out. Careful where he stepped, he walked forward, boots echoing across the silence.

Holding his torch close to the wall, Rhen searched for meaning in the old paint swirls, dried out with time, fading into almost nothingness. Reds. Oranges. Yellows. Whispers of color graced the surface of the wall, once brilliant, but now almost imperceptible against the stone. Rhen gently slid his finger along the wall, pulling away to see his skin covered in dust and dirt. The image underneath popped brighter where he rubbed the residue away, looking almost like a flame…

Rhen's gut clenched.

Filled with the need to understand, to subdue the urgency piercing his veins, Rhen pressed his forearm along the wall, rubbing the painting clean, using every inch of fabric along his torso to wipe the residue away.

"Rhen," Jinji called, worry lacing her voice.

But his ears did not quite work. Rhen grew frenzied, jumping against the wall to reach his arm as high as possible. This was no cave painting he had uncovered—this time, the phantom made sure his message was loud and clear, obvious enough for Rhen to comprehend.

Heart pounding, Rhen continued. Fire splashed the walls around him, almost real with the flicker of the candlelight. But what else was there? What else was he supposed to see?

"Rhen!" Jinji yelled.

The sharp tone of her voice caught Rhen off guard, making him pause, giving him a moment to breathe.

"Step back," she commanded. "I think I know what it is, who the phantom is."

Was there a note of sadness in her words?

Rhen shook his head, following her orders, and stepped a few feet back. With the distance, the flames scorching the lower edge of the wall became even clearer. Deep red and orange swirls, highlighted with bright yellows, made fiercer through black shadows. But that was it, that was all. The upper three quarters of the painting remained hidden under layers of soot, invisible to Rhen's eye.

Until suddenly it wasn't.

Jinji walked past him, weaving her hands elegantly through the air, folding her fingers in a dance, moving her palms in sweeping arcs.

Rhen gasped.

A beast clawed at the wall. Flames rolled off its back. Wings spanned the width of the room, translucent ebony. And sitting atop scales that seemed made of molten rock, was a man.

A true Lord of Fire.

Rhen stumbled back, feet uneven as he continued to stare at the painting, unable to look away. The phantom swirled up and attached itself to the image of the man, dark gray mist undulating in the shape of the rider, like ash from the fire.

"A dragon? This is what he wants to show us?" Rhen finally whispered, not quite believing his own words. "But they're beasts of myth, of legend."

"I don't believe they always were," Jinji said, turning back to him with a pained expression. Swallowing loudly, she bit her lip and then took a deep breath, wincing. "There's something happening to me that I haven't told you. Something to do with the shadow."

Rhen pulled his gaze from the painting, brows immediately knotting in worry. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"