Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Someone grabs me from behind and puts a hot, sweaty hand over my mouth. “Look who we have here.”
“That’s not the princess,” someone else says. I kick and flail, trying to squirm from his grasp, but he’s huge and his hold on me is too strong.
“No, but it’s the next best thing. Erith wants this one dead and he will reward me for finding her.”
“What are you waiting—”
The sound of steel slicing through flesh fills my ears. I’m dragged to the floor as the male holding me falls. We land in an awkward heap, him half on top of me, and blood soaks into my dress.
Someone shoves him off me with his boot and grabs my hand to pull me up.
“Hale?” I’m almost positive, but I can barely make out his silhouette, much less his face. “It’s so dark. How did they know who I am?”
“Orcs see better in the dark than we do.” He glances back and forth, watching for trouble. “Are you okay?”
No, but I won’t saddle him with that when there are a thousand things wrong with this moment. “I’m fine. You?”
“Fine. I got separated from Jasalyn, though—earlier when the portals opened and all hell broke loose—and now I can’t find her.”
That’s not the princess, one of the orcs said. “Those orcs were looking for her. You think one of Mordeus’s people took her?”
“They would want to if they could.”
Of course. Because they need to secure the vessel for the king to return. “I’m looking for Erith. His magic is behind so much of this mess.” I wish I could see Hale’s eyes, that I could hold his gaze while we had this conversation. “Hale, if I can find him, I need to do this.”
He finds my hand in the dark. “Don’t worry about me. Any fate that’s going to end me tonight won’t be stopped by you sparing that sonofabitch.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“He was in Abriella’s office last I knew, but he was guarded by wards. I don’t know if he’s moved since. A few of Konner’s sentinels are silencers and they’re working together to cut off magic to the whole palace—that scared most of the insurgents outside. Misha and Pretha are working together to keep wards up around the palace walls so they can’t get back in.”
“I’ll start at her office.”
“I’d go with you, but I need to find Jas.”
I think of the vision the oracle gave me, the image of Hale bleeding out on the ground, and shake my head. “No. It’s better if you’re not there.”
“Everyone’s gathering in the throne room,” he says. “Come there when you’re ready.”
I take a breath, but I can’t make myself let go of his hand. “Please be careful. Hide if you have to.”
He releases a dark chuckle. “Don’t have it in me to hide, sis. Now get your dagger ready and get out of here.”
Where are you, Erith?
As I round the corner to Abriella’s office, lightning cracks outside, illuminating the hall. Half a dozen bodies litter the floor in front of the busted-down office door. My heart is racing, and I focus on steadying my breaths to even it out, waiting for another flash of lightning so I can see more.
I don’t have to wait long before the hall is lit up again. Thunder follows immediately, shaking the floor beneath me. The storm must be right on top of us. The light lingers just long enough for me to make out a trail of blood, leading around another corner.
I follow it in the dark, moving slowly and using every fae sense I have to listen for others.
That’s when I hear the voice in the distance. A voice that sends shivers down my spine.
“You are a disgrace to my palace,” he’s saying. “Did you ever ask yourself why I started sending you to do my killing when you were barely ten and three years?”
A beat of silence and no response. I creep closer.
“I knew you would never amount to anything, never be worthy of ascending. I knew it from the day you were born. Your mother coddled you.”
I’m getting closer. His voice is getting louder.
When I peek into the next doorway, I find a room illuminated by candlelight.
Erith has his back to the door as he uses his knife to carve into his victim’s skin.
Konner’s skin. I bite back a gasp. Is he doing blood magic? Does blood magic work when powers are muted like this?
Erith jerks his blade across Konner’s gut and my brother releases the weak grunt-cry of someone barely hanging on. “Tell me where she is, and I’ll spare you,” our father says. “You know I’ll find her one way or another. Wouldn’t you rather I end her now, while she’s too young to have spent her life fearing me?”
“Never,” Konner rasps.
Not blood magic. Torture. Erith knows about Leia somehow and he’s torturing Konner for her location.