Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
Bas disappears inside the car quickly.
“I love that we’re all ignoring the fact that the soulless one suddenly cares about someone.” Stella chuckles from the front.
No. We’re not.
Priest disappears with Hector, and I continue watching in front of me as Halen’s car slides around the final bend.
Her door slams closed, and my smile falls to a frown when I see the panicked look in her eyes. She rushes past the parked Rolls, and past War—directly for me.
“Priest!” The scream that leaves her mouth is powerful enough to turn the electricity back on in this place.
I don’t know what happens next, or why the back of my neck radiates a pain that I’ve only felt once in my life, because the ground shifts from beneath me and everything goes black.
Something rocks beneath my weight, but I can’t seem to open my eyes no matter how hard I try. There’s a house…and inside that house, there’s a couch…and on that couch, there’s a boy. He has— “Her heart rate is picking up. What’d you slip her?”
“What we give all of them when it’s time, Nathanial.”
“Don’t first name me, Mother…”
Mother? He’s never spoken about his mother.
“I’ll do whatever I please because you’re getting in the way. Now, I asked you this same question all those years ago when you brought her to me fresh out of the Devil’s hands—bless Scarlet because I swear it came from her side—now.”
Pause, only drawing more attention to the throbbing in my head. Why can’t I open my eyes. “—Are you going to let me do my job, or are you going to get in the way? Because we both know that you can’t stomach what she’s about to go through. But she needs to go through it, Nathanial. There’s simply no other way for her to be out there without it. Being the wife of a King requires more than love, loyalty, and the basics. It requires a strong mind, the skill to fight, and the will to kill when needed. We know she has all but one. That one needs to be set in stone before releasing her out in the open. You know this. If it wasn’t for Bas alerting us, we wouldn’t have known.”
A hand touches the side of my head. “She reminds me of Micaela.”
Who is that? The more that time passes, tension uncoils.
“Son, she’s not her.”
“She looks like her. Tillie says it herself and it’s why she can’t stand to be around her for long.” Another long stretch of silence. Whoever this person is, I can feel it. I can feel how important she was to Nate.
“Maybe it’s a spiritual thing, son. Maybe she came back as Luna, and it’s why you feel so closely connected to her.” Tears well in my eyes because I thought I was the only one who felt that way. I love my Dads and Mom, and couldn’t have asked for better, but Nate is…that person to me. He fits against me like a big brother.
My tears tickle the sides of my eyes, and someone’s hands come to my cheeks. Not Nate’s, these are cold. Hard. When the edge of his thumb grazes the bottom of my lip, I crawl into his touch like a child does its parent.
“Prince, you know you shouldn’t be here.” The woman talks again. I recognize her voice, I didn’t know that it was Nate’s mom. I’ve seen her twice over the years, both times I’d never directly spoken with her, but she’d watched me from afar during training sessions.
“I don’t care.” Priest’s voice is hard, dripping with something far more unhinged than even I know. That same beast that lives within him is the very reason why I feel so safe. “I’ll kill Bas for this.”
The car stops but I remain still, buried in the warmth of his familiar scent.
“You shouldn’t kill Bas. She knows him, trained with him at Del Morts. A part of her liked him.”
“Yeah?” Priest’s arms turn rigid around me. “Then I’ll make sure she closes her eyes before I blow his brains out.”
The woman sighs. “You’ve spent a great deal of the past fixing her messes, you know. You need to allow me”—someone clears their throat—“us to do our part too, as we’ve all allowed you to blend her into yours.”
“The reason why she’s here is because of me.” My heart fractures in my chest. Why do I have to love a man who will never love me?
“That’s not true, Priest. She’s here for two reasons. One was, yes, you. You wanted her back, you wanted her. You tried. But when you tried to send her to Archer, if Nate hadn’t stepped in, we wouldn’t have found out the things we have today.”
“Which is?” Priest asks, his grip around me tightening.
There’s another pull of silence before a car door opens and I’m being lifted in the air by a strong set of hands.