Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
“Nemeth,” I chide. “Don’t change the subject.”
“I’m not. But feeding you is first and foremost in my mind.” He turns his head and gives me a wry smile. “Everything about you is first and foremost in my mind.” He stirs the meat again, then lets the spoon rest against the side of the pot. “Something broke my perimeter spell, and I gathered shadows to investigate.”
“Perimeter spell?” I frown. “This is the first I’ve heard of such a thing. What is it?”
“Magic, of course. It’s a type of enchantment that allows me to watch over the periphery of an object. You know the old battle saying that you can never sneak up on a Fellian?”
“No.” I give my lover an amused look. “I’m not up to date on my battle sayings, I’m afraid.”
“Ah.” He rubs one ear, looking embarrassed. “Well, we like humans to think it’s because of our shadow magic, but it’s truly due to enchantments. You can never sneak up on a Fellian because most of us have a perimeter ward upon our belt buckle.” And he gives his a pat. “The moment someone comes close, it makes a strident noise that only I can hear and alerts me that there’s an intruder. I cast another perimeter spell upon my food stores back in the tower, too. You’ll recall I caught you sniffing around?”
“I never stole from you!”
“Aye, I know you didn’t, love. But at the time I didn’t know you well. So…a perimeter spell. We were in the cottage, and I heard the noise of someone approaching, and I slipped into shadows to see who it was. When I saw it was the humans, I kept to the shadows, ready to attack…and then I saw that they had horses.”
My stomach gives a funny, uncomfortable little flip.
Nemeth’s expression is uneasy. He won’t look me fully in the eye as he continues. “And I saw those horses, and it made me pause. Because we weren’t going to reach the human settlement before you ran out of medicine. I knew I couldn’t fly you there, and so I made a choice.”
“Nemeth, no.” I’m horrified. He left me with those men deliberately?
“I couldn’t let you die, Candra.”
“You left me with those vile men? Let me worry over you? I thought you were hurt! Or worse! I thought you were dead, Nemeth, and that I’d never see you again.” I shudder. “They ate all of our food and drank two of my potions before they knew what they were, and you left me with them?” I feel betrayed.
“It was a choice I agonized over,” he confesses, his rich, velvety voice aching with sorrow. “And I watched from the shadows. If they tried to hurt you, I would slaughter them where they stood. But as long as they were traveling towards your city, and as long as they had the horses, they were moving faster than I could go with you, and so I left you with them. I’m sorry. I thought you might be safer with them than with a Fellian who can barely fly.”
I’m stiff with anger. On some level, his words make sense. The humans were moving faster than we could. Nemeth can’t fly me, and we’re low on supplies. But the last few days of sheer agony—of bitter worry over his absence, of distress over the situation—make it impossible for me to easily forgive. “You could have said something.”
“When? They didn’t leave you alone for a second, Candra.” He shakes his head and nudges the spoon in the pot, as if he can somehow will our dinner to cook faster. “When was I supposed to come in and warn you?”
“I don’t know,” I say helplessly. “All I know is that you let those men eat our food and take my potion. You let me worry that you were dead—” My voice catches and I can’t speak. I shake my head, weary and hurt beyond all capacity to reason. I hate that we left the tower and brought this on the world. I hate that Nemeth abandoned me. I hate that the world I used to know no longer exists, and I’m trapped in this rainy, deserted hellscape.
More than anything, I’m worried. My last potion is gone. We’re down to eating horse…and every time I turn around, I feel like I’m learning something new about my mate. I stare down at the bite on my hand, and I think about the happiness I felt on that day.
It feels like a very long time ago.
“You’re upset,” Nemeth says, voice soft.
“I am.” Upset doesn’t even begin to cover the emotions I’m feeling right now.
He moves to my side and crouches low in front of the chair, gazing up at me. Nemeth takes my hands in his, and I’m reminded of how enormous his hands are in comparison to mine. Like all Fellians, he has the oversized grip…a grip that squeezes my heart between his fingers and is in danger of breaking it. “I am thinking of you and our child, Candra. I know you’re hurt. You have every right to be. But if I have to choose between watching you die at my side or letting some humans drag you to their city on horseback, I’m going to pick the humans.” He strokes his thumb over my knuckles. “Even if it means you hate me.”