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)
My throat goes thick with tears. “I missed you too,” I whisper.
“Don’t start with that,” Skylar gripes from across the room. “No teary reunions today.”
“She faced her father and survived,” Remme says. “That’s worth celebrating.”
I shake my head. “I didn’t see my father.”
Hale frowns, then looks to Misha for confirmation, as if he might know better than me.
Males.
Misha presses his lips into a thin line. “I only saw her brother. Another male appeared as we were trying to leave—a silencer that Felicity killed before he could kill me.”
“Yeah?” Skylar says. She nudges Hale out of the way and pulls me into a hug. “Always knew you had it in you. Good work.”
I huff out a dry laugh and squeeze her in return only to be passed to Remme, then Natan. You aren’t alone in the world. This is your family.
When Natan releases me, he chucks me under the chin, just like he did when I was a little girl.
The shadow queen steps forward, red hair framing her face, and her king consort steps behind.
My whole body tenses. The last time she looked at me, she wanted me dead with every fiber of her being. This time, she’s no less intimidating, but the energy rolling off her is more like determination than wrath.
I bow my head. “Queen Abriella.”
She looks me over, conflicting emotions twisting her lips. “I won’t pretend I like it when you are in my sister’s form, but for now it’s necessary. Misha’s filled me in on what you know.”
I look back and forth between them, frowning in confusion, before I realize they likely have a mental connection. He’s probably been speaking into her mind from the moment we arrived.
“Allow me to apologize for not initially believing your story,” the queen continues. “Thank you for agreeing to help us find her, despite how poorly I treated you. It’s far past time we bring Jas home and put a stop to all that Mordeus has put into motion.”
I look around the group, wondering if any of them are thinking what I am. What if something happened to Jas? What if they’ve been unable to find her not because the ring makes her so elusive but because she’s dead?
There’s a fire in the queen’s eyes when she says, “She lives, and now we can get to work gathering the tools we need to locate her.”
“Misha told me about the stone. Tell me how I can help.”
Abriella and Finn exchange a look and when she turns back to me, she nods. “I’m throwing a ball in two nights’ time. I need you to appear as my sister, as if you never left.”
“A ball?” I look around. I can’t be the only one who thinks the timing on this is absurd. “Right now? With everything else happening?”
“I need you to be seen,” Abriella says. “There are rumors that my sister has died or that she’s on her deathbed. Rumors that she’s working with the rebels. Rumors that she and I are estranged. The kingdom needs to see that their princess is well. They need to know that she can step up if Mordeus or his followers find a way to strike me down.”
“So soon?”
“I would do it sooner if I were confident I could get the necessary players to attend,” she says.
I bite my bottom lip. “Who will I see at this ball? Who knows your sister well enough that I need to worry they might see through me?”
Beside me, Misha grunts in annoyance and looks me over. “You are physically Jasalyn in every way. Have you ever truly had to worry about that?”
“Look who’s still angry about being duped,” Skylar says. Hale flashes her a look, warning violence, and she rolls her eyes but shuts her mouth.
“You know you can do this, Lis,” Hale says. “No one can do it but you.”
I turn back to the queen. “If we’re taking this risk, I want to make sure it’s worth it.”
“The ball serves two purposes. One, having the princess be seen. Two, launching our plan to find Jas. Searching for someone wearing a ring like that? It’s been like searching for a ghost. I know she was here last night—she came to warn me about Mordeus—but maybe that’s not the only time I’ve seen her. Maybe we’ve found her a dozen times. Maybe one of us finds her every day.” She shrugs. “We would have no way of knowing because the ring’s magic makes us forget. I need the Stone of Disenchantment for a spell so that when we do find her, we can nullify the magic that is keeping that ring on her finger and remove it once and for all.”
Hale touches my arm to get my attention. “This ring is doing worse than making us forget if we find her. It amplifies the blood magic Mordeus used on her and acts as a conduit between Jasalyn and Mordeus. It’s allowing him to control her. It’s how he killed so many of his followers—fae who had pledged their lives to him—in order to fuel his resurrection.”