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)
I can see the fires from far-off villages and masses of peasants coming for my head.
One single day. ’Twas all it took. A day and a meeting on the road with vagrant monsters. That gang of trolls and goblins taught me everything I needed to know about the world. It doesn’t matter whether a man is a prince or a pauper, death and violence and brokenness comes for everyone unless a man takes power.
Why can’t my people see I’m trying to save them? I’m smarter than them all. It’s why I’m king. I wasn’t simply born to the part. I was ruthless enough to fight and kill for the crown.
“And it’s mine. It will remain mine.” I say the words out loud even as my guard form a phalanx around the palace.
“My children will win this day.”
Damn him. The last thing I want is to see my brother. My sluagh brother. When this day is over and I remain king, I will force the hags to rid this plane of all sluagh, all monsters. I will slaughter them all, every last one. Their blood will make the Seelie fields fertile, and then I will dispose of the vampires and the Unseelie and I will rule over all the planes.
And then I will be safe.
Seamus shakes his non-corporeal head. “You always were ambitious. It’s too bad I didn’t see how far you would go.”
“You suddenly read minds, brother?” I force my attention to the battlefield. It’s a waiting game now. I’m not sure if they will march in today or the day after, but I have word that my nephews are on the plane, and that means they will attack.
“It’s almost a sure thing what you were thinking.” Seamus floats around the room, the act almost a mirror image of the pacing my brother used to do while thinking through a problem. “Why don’t you let Bronwyn go? Can’t you see the hags lied about her?”
The fact that Bronwyn Finn is here in my palace and still breathing makes me sick to death. She’s here, the one woman who can kill me. Her throat should have been slit the moment the hags found her, but my wife pleaded their case. “The hags think they can pull power from the girl’s soul. Enough power to defeat the true triad.”
“Which one?” Seamus asks, his voice nonchalant as though he is politely asking about the weather.
I turn to my brother. “What do you mean? It’s only a rumor that those idiot boys of yours managed to find a bondmate and create a true triad. I think it’s just a story the villagers tell to give them hope.”
Seamus sighs. “Do you even hear yourself speak? The fact that your own people would even be forced to make up tales to bring themselves hope that one day your reign will end should tell you everything you need to know.”
“They are stupid. I’m protecting them.”
“You are a fool, Torin,” my brother says with a shake of his head. “You’re justifying your own immorality, but it doesn’t matter, because it isn’t a story. Beck and Cian have come into their powers, but they aren’t the only true triad. My Bron has formed one with the Unseelie princes. So I ask again, which true triad do they seek to kill, and why didn’t your own hags tell you of this news? I assure you, they know.”
And yet they only mentioned that the idiot Unseelies possess some small magic. They didn’t mention the triad. Why did they not tell me about the triad?
“Who are you talking to?” Maris asks, walking into the room. If she’s upset about the battle about to take place, she doesn’t show it, but then my wife is a block of ice that nothing seems to penetrate.
But I don’t need anyone to know I see my brother’s ghost. “I was musing about why my hags might keep something from me.”
I study my lovely bride. So beautiful. So fucking vapid. Is it possible she’s in league with the hags?
She huffs and crosses to the mirror, smoothing back her already perfect hair. “Well, they are hags, darling. You have to think that at some point in time they’ll turn on you. I thought you had a plan to take them out when we no longer need those nasty bitches. If you like, you can start it now.”
I’m mollified a bit. Seamus huddles in the corner, exactly where he should be, hidden and unseen. “I thought you wanted to keep the Finn girl alive because the hags needed her.”
She sighs, a long-suffering sound. “Well, there’s a reason you’re the king. I don’t know anything about this. I have no idea why I would say such a thing. Why would I sincerely wish to keep your niece alive? I hate that whole family.” She puts a hand to her head. “I actually don’t remember very much about the last few days. Ever since that Finn girl was brought here, my mind has been a bit cloudy. Do you think it’s something I ate? I shall have a long talk with cook just before I have him strung up. So sad to have to find another cook. Good help is so hard to find these days, but there’s nothing for it. I should probably execute the entire kitchen staff.”