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)
He waits a beat, then arches a brow. “Go on.”
I cringe. Is there any way to say it that doesn’t make me sound and feel pathetic? “That I’m all alone in the world.”
“Felicity,” he murmurs. “You know you’re not.”
I shake my head. “Maybe it’s because you’ve been gone and Aster hasn’t visited from Elora in an age. I don’t know. But the dreams are so real. I’m living in Faerie. On the run and hiding. I don’t have any family or friends, and I can’t even take my true form because it’s too dangerous.” I sneak a look at him, just to see if he thinks I’m crazy, but he’s looking up at the same stars that have been giving me comfort tonight and nodding.
“It makes sense.”
My chest squeezes tight. I didn’t realize I needed him to take my silly dreams seriously. “It does?”
“Well, yes. The only thing that matters to you more than Elora, more than home, is family. Your love is your motivation for all you do—whether it’s preparing to join the Seven or giving guidance to your friends. Your truest nightmare would be to have all that taken away from you.” His eyes, so much like mine, are tender when they scan my face. “What would the point of any of this be if you didn’t have your family?”
That fist around my heart loosens. “They make me feel raw. The dreams. Raw and terrified that I could’ve been there instead of here.” I swallow. “They just feel so real. What do you suppose it means?”
“Perhaps that you feel powerless against these unknown enemies that have been trying to find a way into our palace.” His lips curve into a facsimile of a smile, but I see the pity in his eyes. “Or perhaps it just means you have the best twin brother in all the realms.”
I cough out a laugh and swat his arm with the back of my hand. “Oh. I’m sure that’s it.”
He cocks his head to the side. “I am sorry, for what it’s worth, that you’re having nightmares. If it were up to me, there would be no bad guys and we would never have to leave the palace.”
“I don’t understand how they can hate us so much.” I wave a hand toward the palace. “This is all for the good of the realm. To protect those weaker than us. Why would anyone be against that?”
His gaze shifts back to the stars and he sighs. “Sometimes I think we’ve done you a disservice by keeping you here. We’ve done such a good job protecting you from the evils of the world that you can’t even comprehend their existence.”
“I’m not that naïve.”
He shakes his head. “No. You’re full of hope and belief. And that is just what Elora needs.” He flicks my nose, then slides his arm through mine. “Don’t change yourself, sister. Change the realm.”
He leads me through the heavy servants’ door and into the late-night quiet of the palace corridors. The halls are lined with paintings from the finest artists in Elora and lit by the glow of flickering sconces that line the halls.
He stops at my chamber door. “What if I told you someone gave me something for you before I left Faerie?”
My stomach pitches. “Did he?”
He pulls a pale green velvet pouch from his pocket and hands it to me.
I loosen the strings, dump the contents in my hand, and my breath catches as I find myself staring down at the most beautiful pair of earrings I’ve ever seen. They’re bloodred rubies wrapped in fine gold vines with tiny emeralds as leaves. “Why in the world did he think to send me such a lovely gift?”
“I believe they’re a sign of his affection. Not that anyone needs reminding.”
I study the earrings again. “Did he send a message with them?”
“A message?” He shakes his head and my stomach sinks.
I shouldn’t expect so much. He’s very busy, with more demands on his time than I can wrap my head around. I should accept the gift and be grateful.
Konner’s lips twitch and he nods to the doorway behind me. “I’m pretty sure anything he has to tell you he’d like to tell you himself.” Before his words sink in, he takes me by the shoulders, turns me around, and nudges me into my chambers. The door closes behind me with a soft click.
Just inside the door, the breathtakingly handsome king of the Wild Fae waits with a finger to his lips, and it almost doesn’t stop me from squealing.
His grin slowly grows as he looks me over. “Felicity.” My name is an exhale. A discovery. A relief. The dark waves of his hair are mussed, as if he couldn’t keep his hands out of it while he waited, and his skin is deeper golden than the last time I saw him, a testament to hours spent in the sun during our time apart, but those russet eyes I love so much are the same.