Chapter Twenty-Four

Draco

My heart drummed away inside my chest, about to explode. If a man could die from coming, I just might.

Everything about Piper—her long dirty-blonde hair, her soft lips, and sultry hazel eyes filled with compassion, intelligence, and curiosity—had me wanting her from the first moment. But that had been sexual attraction.

It was her calm, defiant soul, the soul of a patient fighter, that held me in awe.

She'd been terrified of me and of what was coming, but the moment she had made up her mind to stick by my side was the moment I knew I'd been right. Our connection was destined.

Perhaps I had missed out on a life with Zarda, but Piper had replaced that hollow spot in my chest with something better.

"Thank you, Piper," I said. "Thank you for giving me a taste of something real."

"Draco?" she said, her voice quiet and shaky. "Why am I naked?"

I turned my head to find her hugging the sheet to her body, her hazel eyes filled with terror.

"What's happening? Did you rape me?" she asked.

What the hell?I slid from the bed and quickly grabbed my jeans. "No, we…" I pulled them on, and she sat up. "Do not joke around like this."

She frowned, staring for a long moment. "You had sex with me while I was sleeping."

"Piper, no. I would never do that," I said, careful not to raise my voice. "What is the matter with you?"

"I don't know. I was…in my garden, and you were chasing me with a labrys. You grabbed me by the neck and started to remove your belt. You were going to ra—"

"Piper, that was a nightmare. You told me yourself."

She blinked, shaking her head side to side. "I guess…I mean, yeah."

"You remember telling me that, yes?"

"No." She looked up at me with wide eyes. "I don't know anything, except…I love you. I would do anything to help you, Draco. Just tell me what you want."

I took a step back, racking my brain. Something had happened. Something between having sex and the two of us lying there.

"Did I like it?" she asked. "Because I feel good. Sore, but good. I want more." She began crawling toward me.

"Do not make another move, Piper." I held up my hand, replaying the last thirty minutes.

She'd told me that Mia had been trying to convince her to turn against me. I was angry, but only because she had not said anything right away. Then, as I showered, I realized I was falling in love with her and that perhaps the loyalty she'd shown me was a result of similar feelings on her side. And then I concluded that…It is not right to ask her to end my life, not if I truly care for her.

"I told you to forget about what I'd said before," I muttered, feeling the floor drop out from under me. I gazed into her sad, confused eyes, my heart sinking. "I did not mean it, Piper. I was only trying to tell you…" I groaned with trepidation. "I did not mean it. I do not want you to forget everything I've said. You must remember, Piper. I command you."

She looked at me and then smiled sweetly. "Remember what?"

Oh God. Fucking hell.I had unintentionally erased everything I'd ever said from her memories. And all that remains are her feelings. Feelings that had no context and made no sense to her. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

I sat next to her on the bed. "Piper, I am commanding you to remember everything. Every word I have ever said to you. All of it." I was more powerful now. This had to work.

"I don't know what you mean." She took my hand, kissing the top. "But I'm here for you. Whatever you need. Anything at all."

I covered my face with my hands. This cannot be happening.

"Draco?" My mother's voice came from the other side of the door.

I looked up, startled. "What are you doing here?" How had she even gotten in?

"I came to talk," she said.

"I will—I will be right out." I looked at Piper. "Get dressed. We're going to figure this out. Maybe my mother knows what to do."

"Do about what?" Piper said.

"Fuck. Never mind. Just, please, put on some clothes."

Suddenly, I heard heated whispering in the living room. "Ansin, what are you doing? I said no. We have to talk to him first."

"Fuck that," he said. "My job is to protect you and our family. He's not my family."

Suddenly, smoke started coming from under the bedroom door. It smelled like lit newspapers and pine needles or something.

I ran to the door and opened it. A wall of flames jumped toward me. I slammed the door shut, blocking out the heat and fire.

"Jeni!" I yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Draco, what's happening?" asked Piper, still on the bed, looking like a lost puppy.

"I do not know."

The phone on the nightstand rang, and I picked it up. "Hello?"

"I am so sorry, Draco." It was my mother. "I didn't want to do this. Please forgive me." She began sobbing, and then the line went dead.

"Who was it?" Piper asked.

"My mother. She came here to kill me. Get dressed."

Outside, sirens and alarms went off. I expected the overhead sprinklers to turn on, but they didn't, and I could guess why. My mother and Ansin intended for me to die here.

"What are we going to do?" Piper had finally put on her jeans and a shirt and was standing on the balcony. The worried look in her eyes tore me apart. I'd fucked her and fucked her mind.

It wasn't that she'd stopped being Piper or could not comprehend our lives were in danger, but she didn't know why—why she was here in this hotel or why she'd been in my bed. She was lost in an emotional swamp where nothing made sense.

I knew because I could see inside her head. It was too dark, too depressing for even me. Every thought she had crashed into a wall because I had sliced pieces of her memories away. Not just a moment, but entire blocks of moments.

I have to help her. Fucking hell, I cannot leave her like this.Whatever it took to make her whole again, I would do it. That was, if we survived.

"Draco! We have to get out of here."

"I know, Piper. Stay calm." I joined her on the balcony and leaned over the railing. Below, guests scrambled outside, and firefighters rushed in. The staff ushered people away from the structure.

We had fresh air, which would give us time, but there was nowhere to go. The fire was already burning through the bedroom wall, turning the plaster black. Soon, it would reach inside the room, and we were too high up to jump or be rescued by ladders.

I sat down at the small table outside and closed my eyes. Think, Draco. Fucking think. I had all the power in the world, but it had not prepared me for this.

How could my mother do this?It did not make sense. Back at the beach, I'd felt her remorse. I'd felt what was in her heart. She wanted to help me.

Help you, like she did thirty years ago?I said to myself.

My entire body sagged with defeat. Then came the rage.

Piper kneeled in front of me and took my hand, pressing it to her lips with a lingering kiss. "As long as I die with you, Draco, I'm happy. You're everything to me."

I snapped my hand away. "Do not say that. You will live, even if I have to kill everyone on this fucking planet to build a damned ramp. You do not end here." Especially not as this pathetic version of herself.

"I don't care, Draco. I love you. Just kiss me."

I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a shake. "Piper, your mind is not right. This is not you."

"Draco," a deep voice echoed from behind.

I jumped from my seat and turned. "King?" Though his outline was faint, it was definitely him.

Hell, just what I needed right now: another death match with my evil father, who refused to die.

"Do you believe me now?" he said. "Everywhere you go, everything you touch turns to shit. How much more damage must you do to see the truth? What will happen when Ten Club and the Seers get their hands on you? Now, let's go. Hell is waiting."

"I am not leaving—"

"Look what you have done to her." King pointed at Piper. "Look at what you have driven your mother to do. She loves you. With everything in her, she loves you. And now she's burning down hotels, out of her mind with guilt. Ten people are already dead from the fire, and this is just the beginning." He held out his hand. "Come before you do more damage."

I looked at Piper's sweet face and then glanced down at the chaos on the street. How had everything turned so quickly?

"Because you are chaos, Draco," said King. "The world cannot handle something so dark, so inherently unnatural. And everywhere you go, you spread your sickness of the mind. What's happened to your mother and Piper is proof. Now imagine thousands of people like them, lost, terrified, and falling into despair. Those thousands will infect millions more."

"No. Everything happening is Ten Club's doing, not mine."

"It's both, Draco. You're the—"

"The tipping point," Piper mumbled, still kneeling on the ground. She wrapped her arms around herself and began rocking back and forth. "Then comes the point of no return."

I looked back at King. "If I leave with you, how does it stop?"

"Yes. I have to stop now so they can't use me," Piper muttered.

I turned my head just in time to watch her jump over the railing headfirst.