Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
“No, no, no, dear boy. You do not want to lie to me. I already know you’re not magical, you reek of ordinary things. But the only way to get here is through magic. So how did you come upon this magic?”
They share another look. Then the one who is not Monty says—while looking his friend in the eyes—“We should just tell him.”
“No way, man! And shut up, Brett! What the fuck!” Monty glances at me and finds me smiling.
“You look tasty, Monty. With a little bit of salt you will grill up nicely.”
“We came through a door,” Brett shouts. “There’s a door! On the hillside! It shimmered, like quicksilver, ya know? And then we walked through! That’s how we got here.” He bellows this out in a single breath, gasping at the end.
Monty is yelling at his friend now. Something about… a pact? I don’t know.
I ignore them.
Because there is a door. Just as Callistina said.
And of course there is.
Pie was supposed to shut all the doors, but she missed one.
Or did she?
Is someone setting me up?
Who? And why?
Who wants me to walk through that door and into a trap?
I pause here to let out another chuckle. Because things were starting to get monotonous, were they not? And what happens? A door appears.
How likely is it that this is just coincidence?
I would say zero percent likely.
My chuckle makes the puny men skittish and they discuss amongst themselves the reasons behind it. But I push all that aside and think about her.
Pressia. The little oracle who saw my future back in the past and tried to nip it in the bud.
But isn’t it just as likely that her actions to contain me were the exact catalyst to my evil end?
This door is a dare. Come here, Eros. Come find me. I dare you.
It feels like an invitation to a war.
The counterintuitive thing here, with this door, is that it apparently leads to the human realm. Examples A and B chained to my throne.
Will the final war be fought in the human realm?
Yesterday I would have thought it not likely. But many things have changed today. A sure sign that the fates have realigned.
I wave a hand through the air, wiping the past away so I can concentrate on the here and now. Because before me is an opportunity.
A door. A place to explore and wage a new war.
That’s a nice start to a new spelling, if I do say so myself.
But this revelation comes with a caution. Am I ready to end this, once and for all? Am I ready to win? To go through that door and ruin Pressia the way she ruined me?
Because surely, it is her waiting for me on the other side.
I get up, walk over to the puny men, reach down with a wing claw and break their chains. Then step back as they rub their wrists and gaze up at me in terror.
“My good boys, please stand.”
They get to their feet, looking at each other, panicked.
“Take me to this door. If you can do that, I will let you walk back through and pretend I never caught the scent of your pathetically small, but most certainly tasty, bodies.”
I almost manage to say these words without crinkling my nose in disgust, but don’t really manage it. They don’t notice. They have no idea that I don’t eat humans. They are already pointing at the exit, eager to show me what they’ve stumbled into.
Which is much more than a place to explore and wage a new war.
It is a way to settle the score.
Because while the curse states my soulmate is hate, it’s equally factual that revenge is my fate.
CHAPTER TEN - CALLISTINA
It feels good to shed the charade. The constant tension running down the back of my neck and radiating out to my shoulders fades as I walk through the bar door and leave Eros to his prisoners.
I stop just short of the street and tilt my head up, catching the sun’s warm rays. My cheeks feel flushed, like I have a fever. But it’s not a sickness, it’s a cure.
My eyes close and I stand there, breathing. Existing.
Coming to terms with what I now am.
I am still a lioness from the House of Fire. Even if I’m no longer Queen of Vinca.
I am still a gryphon chimera—on the inside, at least.
I am still me.
I. Am. Still. Me.
I inhale deeply, then let the breath out slowly. When I’m empty, I open my eyes again and see the world in a new way.
I can work with this.
I can make it work.
Because there is a door.
My head turns to the left and down the street where the overpriced candle shop is.
The door is a little further up the street, but not much. And then it’s straight up the hill. It shouldn’t be hard to find again.