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)
He shrugs. “Well, of course I do.”
“And do you recall that I was in the middle of compelling Pie and Pell to bring me Tarq so I could make a little godling that could then be sacrificed for powerful magic to break my curse?”
“Uh… yeah. I guess.”
He probably didn’t really understand that part. It’s not like he’s my second in command or anything. He’s just one of the more intelligent and rational monsters, so I have higher expectations of him.
“Well, upon the sight of you carrying the little dragon-girl covered in scales, I was… well, distracted.”
“OK.” He’s not sure where I’m going with this.
“I had other things on my mind. That’s all I’m saying. I wasn’t capable of pulling together a bunch of magic to turn you into the man Madeline really and truly loves.” He’s still not getting it. “Darrel,” I say, my voice stern and this word snappish. “She wasn’t in love with you, brother. She was in love with Tomas. He was the one who could cure her, not you.”
He sighs. “Right. Tomas.” That name comes with a little sneer. “But your arrow should’ve compelled her to love me, right?”
“Does she not love you? Because that wasn’t your complaint. Your complaint was that she doesn’t love you enough to keep her curse at bay. And my answer to you is… well, the plain and simple truth is, you’re just second best.”
Now he’s makin’ an angry face at me. “So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying you might have to put up with a scale or two, OK? That’s what I’m saying. You’re expecting perfection and I just can’t deliver. Not because I am not powerful, but because she was in love with another man when I shot her.” I tap my head. “And that memory is still there.”
“Can it be erased?”
“Of course it can. People fall in and out of infatuation all the time. If her curse is coming back then she’s not in love with you. She’s infatuated. And I could, of course, do that for you. Erase her memory of Tomas. Again. But it’s always gonna wear off, Darrel. Until she really loves you of her own accord, her curse will never be truly gone.”
Darrel’s face morphs into a look of defiance. “You just told me your arrows don’t wear off.”
“They don’t. She does love you. It’s just not romantic love, Darrel. It’s more of a… friendship.”
“Hmm.” Darrel considers this. “Friendship, huh?”
“That’s right. Love comes in many forms, my friend. And her love for you is just not enough.”
He stares at me as the reality sinks in. As it always does when someone asks me for a love arrow and hasn’t come to terms with the consequences of the compulsion spells.
You always get what you ask for, but it is never what you expect.
People, all species, are constantly surprised by this.
I just don’t understand how everyone is so dumb.
I clap him on the shoulder. “Good talk, brother. Now.” I straighten up and clear my head of his petty problems. “I will gladly shoot her again for you.”
He brightens. “You will?”
I shrug. “Fuck it. What do I care if you prolong the inevitable? Sure I will. But I want something in return.”
Darrel looks a little taken aback at the thought of him being useful to me. “Uh. OK. What do you need?”
“I need to know how the hell Callistina got turned into a human.”
I really didn’t expect to say this. I mean, I did say that mantra. Four times. I am not planning a future with the former Queen of Vinca. But I’m justifying what comes rolling off my tongue as the past, not the future.
Though I am not planning a past with the former Queen of Vinca, either.
“I need to know what happened with her and Pie. How did she come upon her curse?”
“Well…” Darrel thinks back. “We went to Vinca to steal the wood nymphs”—he pans his hand to a group of them hanging out in front of the diner as his Example A—“and make Tarq the king.”
“As one does, I suppose.”
“Right. So… Callistina was waiting for us. Like it was a trap.”
“Isn’t it always a trap, Darrel?”
“Uh. Sure.” Darrel nods. “It is. It always is. But anyway, Callistina killed Pie’s bird. And this riled Pie up and she cursed Callistina.”
“Pie did? Well. That surprises me. I didn’t know she had it in her. She’s so fuckin’ sweet.”
“Yeah, well. Not always. She had her moments there, at the end. Anyway. Pie spelled her.”
“What was the spell?”
Darrel thinks back for a few moments, making a face of concentration. Then he brightens and snaps his fingers. “‘A horn, a hoof, an eye, a bone.’”
“Oh, that one again.” I roll my eyes.
“‘A bitchy queen on her makeshift throne.’”
This part makes me laugh.
“‘Her sins are mine to keep and hold. In debt she goes in my control!’”