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)
“Because she always intended to take you to the Unseelie plane. This is not her fight. You’re a bargaining chip for Gillian McIver. I would have completely left Gillian out of the planning if I could have. As it stands, she only knows I’m trying to help. We’re going to keep it that way. You cannot leave the plane. There must be a Finn in Tír na nÓg or all is lost.”
There’s a shuffling upstairs, and I hear a male voice call out. “Guards? Where is the witch?”
Niall’s jaw firms, and he pulls at my elbow. “Follow my lead, Your Highness. I will protect and defend you with my life. This I vow. I will see you on your rightful throne and not that of the Unseelie.”
He begins up the stairs, stepping around the bodies of the guards he killed. My mind races. What’s going on? What does he mean about Gillian? Gillian tried for years to take me to the Unseelie plane, but that makes sense. It’s her home plane. Where else would Gillian go?
I follow Niall into the main hall, my eyes on my potential ally. Niall is a handsome young man roughly my age. I try to remember more about him. His father was kind enough, but all I remember of the boy is a shy lad who brushed my pony’s coat and gave me carrots to feed it. Can I believe him? Do I have a choice?
“Hurry along now.” Micha stands frowning. There’s a circular disc around his neck, tied with rough twine. It doesn’t fit with Micha’s normal elegant dress. The mayor presses a second one into Niall’s hand. “Wear this. It’s a ward to protect you from the bitch’s magic. And hopefully the potion has started to work.”
“Potion?” Niall asks. His eyes take in the room. Three guards stand at attention, Micha’s closest men. The door to the grounds stands open, and the sounds of workers shuffling as they build the great bonfire waft in. Already I can smell the scent of the oil they douse the wood in.
Micha shrugs. “I had one of my house women concoct a dampening potion. It should keep her calm and compliant. I slipped it into her water this morning. She should be a mess by now. It’s actually an aphrodisiac, but it has the added benefit of making the user very submissive.” His eyes find mine. “Did you think I’d give you your last words? Not a chance. I have too much at stake. But you shouldn’t be able to talk at this point.”
I try to back away. At least I know what’s happening to me.
Micha grabs a vial off his desk. “Hold her.”
Niall stops, obviously not sure what to do. Poor Niall. None of this has gone how he planned. I’m sure he hoped to slip me out of the province with no one the wiser. Now he has to get me away from more guards and deal with a drugged princess. He’s forced to watch as one of Micha’s personal guards holds me and forces my head back.
The substance is vile, and I recognize the bitter taste. There was only a hint of it in the water. This is undiluted. It rakes through my system, burning as it makes its way down my gut. The effect is almost instantaneous. A horrible ache, so much worse than before, chokes me.
I need. I need them.
“Shim. Lach.” I feel my head lolling back.
“That’s better.” Micha’s muddy eyes look down at me. “See, my dear, now you’re compliant, more like the lady you should have been.”
“Hurts.” I seem to only be able to speak single words now. “Shim. Lach.”
He shakes his head. “Are they your lovers, dear? I should have known you would be a whore, too. I should have taken you and left it at that. You ungrateful wretch. You don’t deserve to be my wife. Go and see if the fire is ready yet and bring the magistrate. Our witch has confessed.”
I feel my body falling and the cold stone floor against my skin. My head aches, a sharp pain, but it’s nothing compared to the fires that lick at my body. Fire. Fire should be sweet, but now it’s only pain. Shim. Shim is fire. Like a shimmer. Lach is cool like a lake. Yes, that’s where I got their names. One mystery solved. Will I see them soon?
“Your Highness, I am outnumbered.” Niall lifts me off the floor where they simply tossed me like I’m a piece of garbage. Niall’s words are whispered against my ear, so quiet I can barely make them out.
I want to kiss him. I want his lips on mine, his cock sliding deep. That might quench the fire. My eyes will close, and I’ll pretend he’s Lach or Shim.
Goddess, it’s cruel to die like this. To know this ache and know what it means. I will die a virgin, fire torching me from the inside and the outside.