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)
The hallway is utterly silent as we move toward the stairs that lead into the main hall. I follow Arik, who lumbers in front of me. All the long walk, I can feel Tir’s eyes on me. I begin to feel an ache low in my gut. Fear? It’s a horrible rolling sensation.
“We’ll get a hot fire going for you, witch.” Arik’s voice echoes off the stone walls.
“But not so hot it won’t take a little time to work. Wouldn’t want you going out too soon, now would we?” Tir says with a hollow laugh.
“Wouldn’t want to disappoint the crowd.” I frown, my feet shuffling in front of me. One foot in front of the other. I have to get through each moment. I try to focus. My skin feels hot. Is it starting again?
Arik stops at the bottom step. “Ain’t no crowd. Heard they was too afraid of you. The mayor is trying to calm them, tell them he has you under control. I’m sure by the time the magistrate passes sentence, they’ll come out in droves and see you ain’t nothing to be afraid of.”
But Tir is frowning. “I heard they wouldn’t come because they love her. She gave a lot of people in this village food. That sister of hers healed a lot of Fae.”
Arik’s eyes go hard. “That’s the way witches work. They bring you in. Who knows how many she really hurt? My neighbor lost two cows last week. I bet it was her.”
Tir seems to pull his energy back around him. He nods. “You’re right. Me ma’s wrong. She’ll see when the witch dies and things get better around here. Move it, Isolde. Don’t think because a few of us are too stupid to see that you’re evil, that they’re going to help you. More’s like those who don’t come will get punished.”
I find a comfort in the fact that they’re rebelling, even if it is in a quiet way. The people of this village seem so deeply content with the status quo, but perhaps that’s because Torin hasn’t really touched them yet. Things are changing. I simply need to find a way to live long enough to see it happen.
I try to focus on the heat that threatens to take over my body. It needs to be in my hands, not low in my gut.
Arik turns back around and has a foot on the first step of the stairs. I begin to follow. There’s nothing else to do. The corridor is narrow and doesn’t lend itself to fighting. But if I can start a fire, maybe I can run.
I hear the guard shuffling behind me. He gives a soft grunt, and then there’s a hand on my elbow. I turn and look into Niall’s brown eyes. He holds a finger to his lips, an obvious request for silence. Tir is on the floor, his body in a crumpled mass. I check my gasp.
Niall holds a blade in his hand, the knife slick with blood. Tir’s blood.
The enormity of it grasps me. Niall is killing to protect me. Do I want that responsibility? Do I have a choice? The choices I will have to make if I pursue this path hit me squarely in the gut as Arik moves up the stairs and Niall stalks him.
I cling to the side of the wall, my eyes moving between Tir’s body and Niall’s arm as he rears back. The burning sensation hasn’t gone away. What in all the planes is happening to me? I need to think.
I make the decision. There will be no going back. There will be blood and death, and I cannot not shrink from it. I will eat the guilt because that’s what it means to be a leader.
Niall slits the guard’s throat, the knife moving in utter silence. He holds Arik against his body, his arm around Arik’s shoulders in an odd approximation of intimacy. Niall brings the larger man to the ground. He never got a chance to shout or say a word.
My protector eases him to the floor and holds the blade at his side. “Your Highness, I need you to trust me.”
“Gillian told you. Gillian trusts you.”
His face contorts in confusion. “Gillian? No. Gillian knows who sent me. I talked to her yesterday. I knew she wasn’t your sister so I figured she had to be the Unseelie princess who went missing.”
I stare at him for a minute. “Who sent you? Who told you my name?”
Niall’s eyes are on the stairs above. “You have to play your part, Your Highness. We don’t have another way out. Just take a deep breath and follow my lead.”
He takes my elbow and starts to escort me up the stone steps. But I have a few questions. If I’m going to be the center of this revolution, I’m going to start playing the part.