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)
A torch on the wall flames to life, illuminating the stranger as he crouches in front of me. The sight of him makes my heart twist. Blond hair and ice-blue eyes just like mine. Just like the male in the illusion. Just like my twin brother.
“Konner.” I say the name like it’s precious. Like he means something to me. And I hate myself for it.
He must see the push and pull of conflicting emotions on my face because he smiles. “Hello, sister.”
I squeeze my eyes shut against the wave of affection threatening to drown me. He taught me how to wield a sword and shield my mind. He held my hand while we stood at our mother’s sickbed. He—
No.
Our mother was murdered by our father and all those childhood memories are nothing more than strategically placed fantasies to confuse me.
“Why?” I ask. And I hate myself for how much I like having him here. Hate myself for how much I want to talk with him. To know him.
My real family.
“Why what? Why show you the life you could have? Why try to make my sister—the twin I once shared a womb with—see the truth?”
“Why haven’t you killed me?” I have to force the words out. Have to remind myself that’s the real question here.
“Maybe I want you alive,” he says, shoving his hands into his pockets. “You think you’re the only one who had a lonely childhood? I could’ve used a sister. A friend.”
“Or maybe you want to ascend into the Seven and you can’t kill me if you want to survive the fire portal.”
“You think I have an entire palace at my disposal and not a single person who would get blood on his hands for me?” He shakes his head. “Besides, I’ve been doing our father’s slaughtering for years. He never intended to allow me to ascend.” Sighing, he studies me. “I’m not so different than the brother in your dreams.”
I can’t just sit here and listen to him, so I scan the walls of the cell, searching for a door, a window—anything I could potentially use as a path to escape. “Except that you want me dead.”
“I know that’s what you think, but you’re wrong.”
“You and Erith want me dead. That’s why he killed our mother when he found out about me. That’s why he sent his soldiers looking for me.”
“You are assuming so much.”
“Do you deny the oracle told our father that his daughter would kill him? Do you deny he wants me dead?”
“I don’t, but I am not our father.”
“And yet here I am. In some dark cell with no way out.” I push off the floor—I need to get away from him—but I have to cling to the side of the bed to help myself up. I’m too weak.
He stands and cocks his head to the side. “Have you tried asking nicely?” He waves a hand, and I feel strength pour back into me. I gasp as I’m able to straighten. “There,” he says. “A gift from your loving brother.”
I cough out a laugh. Legs that can hold me up are a start, but they won’t get me out of a doorless, windowless cell. “You’re just going to let me go if I ask? It’s that simple?”
He shrugs. “Maybe not. But not for the reason you think.” He studies me for a long time and I study him right back. All those illusions he planted in my mind are so strong that it’s hard to see him for the enemy I know him to be. “You’re stronger than I expected. I’ll give you that.”
I glare. Stronger? He just had to use his magic to give me the strength to stand.
“Your mind.” He rolls his eyes. “It took more energy than I expected to keep you dreaming.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I want you to rest until it’s time.”
“Time for what?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
I narrow my eyes, cocking my head to the side as I study him. “You don’t know, do you? You have spent your life doing everything he asks and he can’t even tell you his plans.”
I see a flash in his eyes—something like frustration, anger. “I am not his puppet.”
Thunder rumbles in the distance, and faster than I can follow, Konner is behind me, one arm wrapped around my waist, the other hand at my throat, a heavy wave of sleepiness thrown over me like a blanket.
In front of us, a tall, olive-skinned man, the silver lines on his forehead flashing.
“I suggest you release her before I show you what real magic can do.”
Misha? Is that him or am I hallucinating? No. This has to be a dream. He hates me.
Konner tightens his hold and his magic surges, pulling me back into sleep. I cling to consciousness like a cat sinking its claws into its captor. The edges of my vision go dark.