Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
He ignores me.
I tickle his foot.
His leg kicks out, but I avoid it. "Stop."
"Are you ticklish?" I tickle his foot again, mindful of his legs in case he kicks once more. "Because if you're gonna stay in bed, I'm gonna tickle you. Those are the rules."
He growls low under his breath, his head still hidden under the blankets. "Maeve. Stop. It."
"Someone's not a morning person," I singsong...and then tickle his foot again, because I am absolutely that annoying person who doesn't know when to quit.
His growl grows louder, but I'm having to stifle giggles because his tail is thumping like mad under the blanket, and he reminds me of an annoyed house cat. I wait a moment, and then touch his foot again—
Zhur leaps up from the blankets and grabs me by the waist.
I yelp in surprise, tumbling backward into the bed with him. "Hey!"
He wraps his arms around me, pinning me against his chest, and tucks his chin against my neck, holding me down. "No tickling. Just sleep."
"Sleep? Oh, all right." I pretend to relax and fake a big ol' yawn. "I guess we can go find Nassakth some other day."
Zhur's breathing stops.
"Did you say...Nassakth?"
"Mmm. That was my original idea. You're right, though. Let's just sleep in instead. G'night."
Zhur sits upright, pulling the covers along with him. "I've changed my mind. Let's go." He pauses and then touches his face. "How does my fur look?"
I scratch my neck, considering. "Orange?"
He shudders. "Let's go anyhow."
CHAPTER
EIGHTY-EIGHT
ZHUR
"Breathe," Maeve tells me as she steers the air-sled.
Yes. Of course. Breathe. I exhale and then inhale again slowly, trying to remember how to do something so small. My stomach feels like it is full of rocks. My pulse hammers with alarm, and there is a clammy sweat coating my nose and the pads of my palms. "I am nervous."
"Obviously. It's going to be fine."
I know it will be “fine.” That we are taking our pathetic plant to Nassakth's home to ask questions about it. I hold the plant tucked into one sweaty hand On my knee rests the box of pastries from our brief visit to Simone's stand earlier this morning. We are merely neighbors bearing gifts, nothing more.
But...Nassakth.
The Scourge of Askorthi Prime.
The best gladiator of my generation.
To say I am excited to meet him would be a gross understatement. And yet...I cannot truly meet him as I am. Heir Zhurrrvas must remain missing. I am simply Zhur, with a hideous orange mane that has been chopped with dull scissors. A nobody. An inferior male. I hope he does not dismiss me as unworthy of even meeting him.
Maeve glances over at me, scratching at her blue dress. "We're almost there. You okay?"
"I am fine." My heart will explode from my throat due to nerves, but other than that, I am fine.
"You know you don't have to get out of the car if talking to him is going to make you so nervous."
"Don't make me hiss at you, female." Just the thought of coming this far and not meeting my idol makes me want to let out a primal cry of outrage. No, I must meet him. "It is normal to be anxious when one meets an inspiring person."
"Wait until you see his house," she says, glancing over at me. "It makes mine look like a hovel."
"Yours is a hovel."
"Rude." She reaches over and lightly smacks my arm. "It's the only hovel I've got."
"I'm not blaming you. I'm just pointing out that it is, indeed, a hovel." Maeve keeps her house tidy enough, but it's the same size as every other little farm we've passed. It's a home and it provides her freedom...but not much more.
"Still rude to point it out," she says, her tone cheerful. "Okay, his house is down below. I'm going to circle overhead and you see if you can guess which one it is."
Like the nervous fool I am, I immediately shove my wet nose against the window so I can stare out at the place that my idol calls home. There's a farm a short distance away atop a rocky hillside, but the house is small and the fields are covered in white flowers that look suspiciously like noli. Not that one, then. Any praxiian looking to function normally would avoid noli like the plague. I scan the surroundings and...
There. That has to be it.
Trees line a road, leading up to the largest house I've seen on this planet so far. While it's not particularly impressive to me given that I grew up in a palace, it must seem enormous to Maeve. It has to be at least ten rooms, all on one floor, and made from stone. Tall windows are designed to let in sunlight, and everywhere, there's large amounts of greenery. Behind the house stretch out massive fields, crops lined up in tidy rows and blooming with health. Maeve's crops look nothing like these, and the puzzle-solver inside me wants to know why his are doing so well and hers are meager. Is it a fertilizer? A higher grade of seed?