The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) - R.F. Kuang Page 0,63

lust, this was about power. This was about possession. He wanted to dominate her just so that later he could crow that he had.

And Rin, admittedly, was tempted. Souji was undeniably handsome, and certainly experienced. He’d know what to do with their bodies even if she hadn’t the faintest clue. He could show her how to do all the things she’d only heard of, had only imagined.

But she’d be stupid to go to bed with him. Once the word spread, no one would look at her the same way again. She’d been around soldiers long enough to know how this worked. The man got bragging rights. The woman, already likely the only female soldier in her squadron, became the camp whore.

“Let’s get you back to your bed,” she said.

“It’d be good for you.” Souji didn’t remove his arm from her shoulder. “You’re too tense. All that pent-up anger. It’d do you good to let loose once in a while, Princess. Have some fun.”

He caressed her collarbone. She shuddered. “Souji, stop.”

“What’s the matter? Are you a virgin?”

He asked this so bluntly that for a moment all Rin could do was stare.

His eyebrows shot up. “No. Really, Princess?

She shoved his arm away. “It’s none of your business.”

But he’d found her weak spot. He knew it—he grinned, teeth glinting in the moonlight. “Is it true you have no womb?”

“What?”

“Heard a rumor around camp. Said you burned your womb out back at Sinegard. Doesn’t surprise me. Smart, really. Pity about the Speerlies, though. Now you’re the last. Do you ever regret it?”

She hissed through clenched teeth. “I’ve never regretted it.”

“Pity.” He put a hand on her stomach. “We could have made some nice brown babies. My brains, your abilities. Kings of the south.”

That was enough. She jerked away from him, fist raised and knees crouched. “Touch me again and I’ll kill you.”

He just scoffed. His eyes roved up and down her body, as if evaluating how much force it would take to pin her to the ground.

Rin’s breath caught in her throat.

What was wrong with her? She’d started and ended wars. She’d buried a god. She’d incinerated a country. There wasn’t an entity on the planet that could face her in a fair fight and win. She was certain of her own strength; she’d sacrificed everything to make sure she never felt powerless again.

So why was she so afraid?

At last, he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Just offering. No need to be like that.”

“Get away from me.” Her voice rang through the dark, louder than she’d intended. Someone might overhear. Perhaps that was what she should want—for someone, anyone, to come running. “Now, Souji.”

“Are you always like this? Great Tortoise, that explains why—”

She cut him off. “Do you hear that?”

She thought she heard a faint whining drone—a sound like a faraway swarm of bees, growing louder and louder with every passing second.

Souji fell silent, brows furrowed. “What are you—”

“Shut up,” Rin hissed. “Just listen.”

Yes—the droning was distinct now. The noise wasn’t just in her head. She wasn’t panicking over nothing. This was real.

Souji’s eyes widened. He’d heard it, too.

“Get down,” he gasped, and lunged at her just before the first bombs exploded.

Chapter 9

They hit the ground together, Souji’s elbows digging painfully into Rin’s ribs. There was the briefest moment of silence, then an eerie ringing in her ears. She peered up from beneath Souji’s splayed body, groaning, just as Tikany lit up in a flash of orange light.

Then the bombing resumed, a roll of thunder that just kept going.

Souji rolled off of Rin. She scrambled unsteadily to her feet.

Kitay. Her vision was half-gone, along with her balance; as she stumbled toward the general’s complex she kept lurching to the side like a drunkard. I have to find Kitay.

A high, tortured keen sounded behind her. She turned around. By firelight she could just make out a young officer’s face, one of Zhuden’s men whose name she’d never learned. He lay on the ground several yards away. She stared at him for a moment, utterly confused. She and Souji had been alone in the street until now; all the other officers had remained at the bonfire, a good five minutes’ walk from here.

Was it the blast? Could the force of the explosion have hurled him this far?

But the officer looked fine—his head, shoulders, and torso were all intact, unbloodied. Unburned, even. Why was he—

The black smudges cleared slowly from Rin’s vision, and she saw what had at first been hidden by smoke and