Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
She smiles, a little sadly. “I am Princess Bronwyn. I am so sorry I haven’t done anything to help.”
“No,” the young man says, a smile turning his lips up. “Not the princess. You’re the voice. You’re the voice in our heads. Goddess, I can’t believe you’re real. Can’t you all hear it? Do you hear the hum?”
Kaja walks to the bed. “I have heard it for days, but Dante thought it was all the vampire technology.”
Gillian’s eyes turn down. “I’ve heard it since the day I met her as a girl. But it was faint. Just a hum in the back of my mind until the last few days.”
I close my eyes, the enormity of what my wife is hitting me squarely in the chest. I don’t want to be sure, but I have to. “Bronwyn, think something.”
She glances at me, confusion on her face. “I am almost always thinking something.”
Shim seems to understand immediately. “Think something at Gillian. Specifically. Try to get her to hear you.”
Bron turns toward Gillian and her brow sets in a serious line.
Gillian, Kaja, and Charlie all wince, each holding their heads. “You don’t have to shout.”
“Sorry,” Bron says.
“And I don’t think I’m old enough to hear those words,” Charlie says, his face looking boyish for a moment.
Kaja gives her a smile. “You should use a sharp knife, Bronwyn. A rusty one will cut off your husbands’ manly parts very slowly.”
“I think she was hoping to cause some pain, baby,” Dante explains.
“Well, I don’t see why they would stand there and allow their little men to be sawed off with something dull,” Kaja argues.
Shim looks at Lach as the others seem to laugh and find Bron’s power curious, but Shim has a grave look in his eyes. “You don’t think she could do other things, do you?”
“I hope not, brother, otherwise she would be a powerful weapon. I also think I know why the hag is trying to steal power from consorts.” The thought occurred to me almost immediately.
But Shim is right there with me. “They intend to kill Torin and take over the plane.”
Charlie holds out a hand, and his father helps him to sit up. “Yes. What the big guy said.”
The phooka laughs and falls to the bed Charlie lies on. “The big guy is the Unseelie prince, Charles.”
Bronwyn stares at the phooka. “Why are you here? You’re the same creature who convinced me to run.”
“Then he is the same creature who I am about to throttle.” The fucking phooka seems to have his hand in everything. I’m ready to put the little shit out of his misery.
“I am simply more adept at this game than any of you,” the phooka replies, his midnight-black tail twitching. “I am certainly smarter than the Unseelies. Princess Bronwyn is the most important piece to this game we’re playing. If you take her off the board, this plane falls to Torin and Torin to the hags. The only reason the hags haven’t taken over yet is the fact that they lost a sister. Everyone knows they’re stronger in threes, but they found a way around it.”
“To become soul eaters,” Gillian says hollowly. “I don’t understand what any of this has to do with Bronwyn. Is she going to hum the hags to death?”
Bron looks up at Shim. “How do you send power to me?”
Shim frowns. “I don’t think I do. I feel you pull it from me. The first few times I fought it and it went wild. When I realized what was happening and let it flow, I could control it a bit more.”
Bron takes Charlie’s hand. “Don’t be afraid.”
The young Fae has a wisp of a smile. “I know what fear is. I’ve moved long past it. Fear is something you get through or you die. So feel free to experiment, Your Highness.”
Bron takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.
“Damn it, Bron.” Shim grits his teeth. “Fine, but this is a mistake.”
Even I can feel it. Bron reaches out and holds the connection. She draws on it, passing up my cold power for Shim’s hot one. I’m fascinated. Now that I know what’s happening, I realize it happened before. My power is buried deep, deep down inside, but Shim’s simmers at the surface. It’s easy to reach and hold. It’s easy to share.
Charlie gasps and looks down at his hand. “Bugger me. I’m on fire and it doesn’t hurt.”
He wiggles his fingers, flames at the tips. His fathers both stare.
Dellacourt curses. “She’s a conduit. Gods, she isn’t a broadcaster. She’s a bloody conduit.”
Bron’s whole face lights up. “I can help us win. I can win this war.”
I shake my head. “Absolutely not. You’re going home and there you will stay. Roan, if you don’t have us in Aoibhneas by dark tomorrow, I will find my own way. If any of you thinks for one bloody second that I intend to let you use my mate as a fucking psychic cannon, you’re insane. She is not going to any battlefield.”