Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“I hated it.” No equivocation, her eyes devoid of anything—so empty that Aodhan wondered at all the things she didn’t want to feel. “Shoved it in some corner and forgot about it. Likely several of the other jewels are mine, too, for I know they are gemstones found in this region, but I couldn’t tell you. I was…not well then, Aodhan.”
Tiredness now, her fingers rubbing at her forehead. “I didn’t want to remember, and so I made myself forget.”
Aodhan understood in a way that would escape most people—and he had no fear that she was prevaricating. This woman had stripped herself down to the bone, was rebuilding a person she didn’t even know yet. So he kept his voice gentle when he said, “Do you have any idea how it might’ve vanished from your home?”
“We hosted many people over the centuries.” Lailah looked around with an emptiness in her gaze, as if searching for memories of those guests. “I called them friends at one time but we were never friends. I don’t know if I have any friends aside from Cato.” No sorrow, no attempt to gain sympathy, nothing but an unvarnished statement of truth. “But wait…” Deep grooves formed in the center of her forehead. “There’s something I do remember.”
25
Lailah looked over to the left. “Cato!”
A male voice sounded in the background.
“A moment, Aodhan. Cato is dealing with one of the animals. I will go speak to him then return. I want to make certain of my memory and Cato is often better at the details of that time.”
Aodhan muted his end of the feed after she’d disappeared from the screen. “That is not the woman I met in the Refuge.”
Arms folded, Illium was leaning back against the wall. “I like this one better than the one I’ve always heard about.”
“So do I,” Aodhan said.
Lailah appeared on the screen again, and he unmuted his feed.
“Yes,” she said, sounding a touch breathless. “I did remember correctly. An angel who used to linger here was obsessed with that diamond the rare times I wore it—exclusively when my father was visiting. She has had many names over the years, but Cato says the last one he recalls is Bijou.”
A name that translated to “jewel” in French. An affectation? Or how she saw herself?
The name rang no bells in Aodhan’s head, but he didn’t run in courtier circles. Jason or one of his people would be more knowledgeable. They made it a point to watch everyone, even those who appeared to be pointless pieces of fluff. Many a spy had hidden in those ranks. “Do you think this Bijou might’ve taken it?”
“I would not accuse anyone, but she was the one with the most avaricious eyes when it came to that particular stone.”
“Can you describe her?”
“She changes her hair color often—and I think these days, she would also change her eye color, but her natural shade is a hazel green that is startling in its paleness. It’s part of why I remember how she looked at the stone; her stare is disconcerting. In all honesty, I’d have given her the cursed stone if Charisemnon wouldn’t immediately have noticed should it have appeared on anyone else.”
“So if she took it, she knew not to display it.”
“I can see her hoarding it, pleased with her secret. Bijou had that way about her, a sense that she was always watching, ready for any vulnerability that she could either utilize—or gloat over knowing. She’s old but not particularly powerful, so she grasps for power in other ways.” No judgment or anger in Lailah’s tone, the words nothing but a description.
Bijou didn’t matter to her. Not as Andi mattered.
“Her hair, it has always been long and straight anytime I’ve seen it,” she added. “She was proud of that. Her skin is like Cato’s—so pale as to look bloodless.” A faint smile. “Though Cato is at last gaining a hint of color after all his time in the sun.”
“Her wings?” Those were often the most distinctive things about an angel.
But Lailah said, “Cream, with no other elements. I believe that’s why she plays up the cosmetics and clothing so much—I thought her wings lovely and elegant, but she couldn’t bear having what she called ‘pedestrian’ feathers. She used to color parts of her wings, too, but you know how difficult it is to get color to last on angelic feathers, so she gave up on that.”
Aodhan could’ve ended the call then, but he found himself curious about this woman who appeared to have stepped out of centuries of bondage of a kind unknown to most. “You’re different, Lailah,” he said without artifice. “You’re not lost any longer.”
A smile so haunted, it hurt. “Oh, Aodhan, I am still very much lost—but I’m trying to build myself a road that takes me out of this black maze in which I find myself.”