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)
I open the doors opposite the kitchen and discover I was right. One is a bathing room and one is a bedroom. A tiny one. With only one bed. One very small bed.
Of course.
“I’ll sleep on the sofa,” I say, already turning to leave the room.
“You’ll sleep in the bed,” Misha says before I can get far. “You’re the one who needs to dream.”
“Right. Okay. I only need to sleep long enough to dream.” I open the pouch and withdraw a single strand of chestnut hair. “Where did you get these? We’re sure they’re hers?”
“Abriella’s goblin provided them, though I hate to imagine what he required for such a favor.”
“There’s nothing the queen wouldn’t give for her sister.”
Misha grimaces. “And that’s why Jasalyn’s disappearance is so troubling. If she falls into the wrong hands . . .”
“So long as she wears the ring, she’ll be able to escape anyone who tries to catch her.” I glance down at my clothes—a basic cotton tunic and pants—and try not to think of how they must’ve changed me while I was stuck in that illusion-fueled stasis. They’ll be too big once I’m back in Jasalyn’s form, but that’s a problem for after our return to Faerie.
I kick off my boots and climb onto the bed. It’s not particularly comfortable, but it won’t matter. I can sleep anywhere.
Misha steps to the side of the bed, snaps his fingers, and a bedroll appears on the floor.
I roll to my side and frown at him. “You’re sleeping in here?”
“I’ve been tasked with bringing you back. The best way to assure that is if I don’t leave your side.”
He removes the sword from his back and a bandolier of knives from his waist, eyes on me the whole time.
“I can feel you staring at me.”
“Interesting.”
I turn my head to glare. “So stop?”
His cocky smirk tilts up the side of his mouth. “Stop looking at you? Or stop being obvious about it?”
My stomach flip-flops. Is he looking because he wants to or for some other reason? “What are you doing?”
He skims his eyes down the front of me, then slowly back up. “Didn’t we just cover that?”
My insides tremble with something I don’t want to identify. “Why?”
He shrugs, giving me his back. He drags his shirt over his head and tosses it on a chair. I try not to watch. I can’t very well complain about him staring at me and then stare at him. Even if taking my eyes off all that golden skin feels next to impossible. His skin glows where it’s been kissed by the sun, and my hands itch to run across his broad shoulders.
He turns and I look away. “Like what you see?” he asks.
I roll my eyes. As if I don’t care. As if the memories of his touch don’t haunt me. “You’re not bad. For someone so old.”
He grunts. “Try not to drool on the sheets.”
Seriously? “Keep dreaming.”
“This is truly your natural form?” he asks.
All the warm wiggles in my stomach go cold. I lock my gaze on the ceiling. “We can’t all be like the princess. No matter how much we might want to be.”
“Why?” I hear the frown in his voice.
I throw my arms out. “I was born this way.” Born this way and not willing to apologize for it. “Ask the gods if you’re so determined to find an answer.”
It’s true that I deceived him by pretending to be Jasalyn, but I never meant for either of us to catch feelings. I certainly wouldn’t ever ask to fall for someone only to have them disappointed when they discover my true appearance.
“That’s not . . .” He shakes his head and lowers himself to his sleeping roll. “Get some sleep.”
I shift to put out the lantern at my bedside, but it goes dark before I can reach it. “Magic is rather convenient, isn’t it?” I ask, if only because lying here in the dark so close to him tangles my insides into knots of nerves and longing and grief for what I lost with him but also never had.
“Magic just is,” Misha says. “Sometimes it’s as much a weakness as a benefit. I would think you’d understand that. It’s not like you’re human, though you certainly had me convinced there for a while.”
I want to ask if he understands why I did what I did now that he’s met Kendrick and knows more about what’s happening with the princess. I want to ask if everything he felt for me is gone. To ask if he thinks he could ever—
I smash the thought before it can go any further.
“I had to be careful about using my magic my whole life,” I explain. “The Seven have their elders watch for suspicious amounts of magic use. As elves living in a fae-excluding Elora, we had to hide. It was a careful balance between using enough to learn and not so much as to pull unwanted notice toward my family.” I clutch the strand of Jas’s hair to my chest. I’m not sure why I’m telling him all this. It’s not like he cares what my childhood was like or why I am so unpracticed at wielding my magic.