Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
“We were in agreement with this, Teddy,” Faunus said.
That wasn’t entirely true. Faunus decreed it and Teddy had tired of arguing about it.
“I am a trained warrior, bello,” Faunus said quietly. “And you are not.”
“Neither is Queen Silence, and she will fight these things,” Teddy pointed out.
“Yes, but she is a witch.”
Stymied.
“Do not make me worry about you,” Faunus warned.
“I won’t,” he decreed, relatively certain he told the truth. “Though we reach Nautilus with you knowing that there are five beings on this planet who have ever, ever, Faunus, held a place in my heart. Nyx, Lorenz, Saturn, Moira, and most especially, you. So, you stand right there and promise me you will keep you safe.”
“I will come back to you, Teddy,” Faunus whispered, moving closer to him and taking him by the side of the neck, bending to look into his eyes. “I promise.”
“You have my love,” Teddy mumbled.
Faunus grinned. “And you have mine.”
“You have my devotion,” Teddy went on.
“And you have mine,” Faunus repeated.
“And adoration.”
“You can be quiet now,” Faunus said, his words trembling with amusement.
Teddy thought that was a good idea, and thus, he did as told.
Faunus gave his neck a squeeze, let him go and they moved to the railing, standing there and doing this close.
“Have you had fish in batter?” Faunus asked.
“Never,” Teddy answered.
“Something to look forward to,” Faunus murmured.
He hoped so.
By the gods, he hoped so.
Chu of the Trusted
Aboard the Passenger Galleon, the Constant
STRAIT OF MEDUSA
“You will not perform this ritual,” Chu growled.
“Chu, they’re aboard this very vessel,” Serena returned. “I can sense them.”
“You will leave them be.”
“I will draw one to me and ask why they follow you.”
“You will do no such thing.”
“I will know why they follow you!”
“I do not care why they follow me, Rena.”
“Well, I do!”
They glared at each other across their cabin.
He watched her get a hold on herself, something she did much faster than he.
“I fear you’re in danger,” she said far more quietly.
“If they wished me dead, I would have met that fate outside Dunlyn.”
She was now confused. “Then why are they here?”
“I do not know, and as I said, I do not care. I won’t be drawn into whatever is happening across the Triton Sea. It is not my life. My world. My home. And it never again will be.”
“Do you think they’ll just go away?”
“I think, when they wish their presence to be known, and their message to be delivered, they will do it.”
“But they don’t wish you harm.” She made a statement that was a question.
“Harm comes in many forms, my warrior,” he replied. “And whatever their business, them coming from there will cause me harm.”
“Chu,” she whispered.
“I survived assassins, mouse, I’ll survive whatever this is.”
She did not look convinced, but she didn’t say more.
“Have you ever fucked aboard a ship?” he asked.
Her face changed, and not to what it normally did when he would utter such words.
To obstinacy.
His woman was anxious.
“We are nearly there,” she remarked.
“And?” he asked.
She shook her head, “It won’t work, Chu, you will not turn my mind from my worries.”
“Care to wager?”
She studied him.
He moved to her.
She did not wager.
Which was well and good.
For she would have lost.
Queen Ha-Lah
Queen’s Study, Keel Castle, Nautilus
MAR-EL
“You feel sure of this,” Farah asked Ry where they all sat about, pouring over the tomes they had confiscated from Go’Doan, as well as the ones Ry had brought to Sky Bay, all of which covered the makeshift table that Tint, Bond, Ore and Nis had set up in my study.
“Before they were captured in the stones, they cursed the gods who created them, and…” Ry lifted the armless spectacles to his eyes, but even so, he squinted over the volume before him and read from it, “and vowed vengeance with no mercy that they would wreak destruction across the lands and to the peoples the gods had also created, before they sought the gods and consumed them, taking their all-powerfulness within themselves and replacing the makers so all would worship them or know tyranny.”
“And you are certain the gods who created them are Triton and Medusa?” I queried.
Ry shoved aside the book in front of him and reached for another beyond that, which was opened to a pertinent page.
I had earlier read from that book myself.
It was entitled, THE CREATORS: TRITON AND HIS QUEEN.
He bent over it and read, “To the sirens, as demi-gods, they gave them their dominion as was their wont, fearsome power to play with those on the seas, so the sailors would revere them and pray to them. To the Mer, their chosen, the ones that sprang forth from their love, they gave the bounty of The Deep. To the beings, they gave them land to sew and reap and make plenty. To the charmed, they gave magic, to hold and protect. To the demons, they gave havoc, in order that all their creatures would know adversity, and how to draw together to overcome it.”