Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
“I did not think so. And if you are a good servant to me, perhaps I will allow you to see him, from time to time.” He rolls us over until I’m straddling his hips, his length still seated deep inside me. “Are you a good servant?” Warm hands stroke over my thighs, squeezing as he prompts me to continue.
I look past the monster beneath me to the male I love hidden deep inside. “I am.” I roll my hips, earning Malachi’s guttural groan.
I will protect Elijah until I can find a way to free him from this nightmare.
12
Zander
It’s dusk by the time we descend on the entrance to Ulysede, and I gape at what I see. I should not be surprised, though. I’ve witnessed the healing power the nymphs unleashed upon our realms. Desolate lands at the rift long since punished by the fates’ wrath have been blessed with a carpet of grass and trickles of water as of this morning’s sunrise.
But this transformation? I stood in this barren wasteland only days ago, where soaring trees now line a road fit for royalty—fresh, as if newly laid.
Abarrane stumbles a few steps as her feet touch stone. “There must be a better way to travel by these beasts,” she growls, sparing Valk a glare.
He all but ignores her, his rapt attention on Caindra and her smaller green companion who rest in a clearing nearby.
“Why don’t you ask one of them?” We take in the daunting winged creatures who line the tunnel into the city. They’re easily twice my size and surely twice as strong, their bodies swollen with muscle, clad in armor that bears the kingdom’s two-crescent-moon mark.
But they don’t raise my hackles. It’s the pale-skinned warriors that form a wall, their black eyes affixed to us, that unnerve me.
“These are our allies?” Abarrane’s tone hints that she shares my doubt. Nothing about their rigid stance suggests they are here to offer us aid.
But if Caindra is out here, then Romeria is in there, and I will cut through every one of them to reach her. “Valk!”
The orange beast swings his massive head toward us, his jade-green eyes narrow slits as he regards me. The charred scales along his back from Sofie’s attack look less damaged than they did when we landed at the rift to deposit Kazimir to the healers. “Remain here until my return.”
Valk’s head tips back and he releases a shrill screech that rattles my teeth, loud enough to ricochet off every peak in this mountain range.
Abarrane’s eyebrows arch. “Is that a yes?”
“More likely a ‘go fuck yourself.’” And after I provoked Sofie, I wouldn’t blame him.
We stroll toward the gate and the barrier of nymphs, and I prepare myself for an obstacle. Now that we’re closer, I can make out the bones that protrude from their skulls like tiny, dull horns. They truly are hideous creatures. “I am King Zander of Islor, and I am here to see Queen Romeria.”
One of these unnerving warriors steps forward. “You wear no crown,” it says in a raspy voice.
Such a simple statement and yet it lands as painfully as an ax cleaving into my chest. Now that Malachi has arrived, the crown I rarely wore will likely never sit atop my head again.
“He is the one true king of Islor,” Abarrane spits out, drawing both her swords. “And you do not wear any crown that allows you to speak to him in such a manner.”
Faster than my mind can register, the wall of warriors have drawn their bows. Sixteen arrows are aimed at my commander, the metal gleaming with merth.
The creature smiles, showing off pointed teeth that remind me of a hag.
We didn’t come this far to die because of bruised egos. “Abarrane. Stand down.”
After a beat, she lowers her swords.
“What is your name?” I ask.
“Oredai. I command the Cindrae.”
I ignore the fact that his voice is like glass breaking. “Well, Oredai, I suggest you allow us to pass through, unharmed. The queen is expecting me, and if she learns you have kept me outside, one of us will face her wrath, and it will not be me.”
Oredai barks an order and the drawn arrows vanish as if never there. “She is waiting for you.”
“Interesting. Why didn’t you lead with that?”
His returning smile is hideous. “We will escort you to her.”
“I must admit, of all the things I did not anticipate today, this may be the most unsettling.” I watch their sleeping forms from the doorway to Jarek’s chambers, afraid to come any closer that I might wake them. Romeria looks the same as she did when we parted ways at the rift—matted with beast blood from head to toe. Jarek has been stripped and covered by a blanket. Even from this distance, it’s easy to spot the wound across his abdomen that glows silver.