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 meet my brother’s gaze. “In that version of the future, you’re bleeding out on the floor, Hale. In that version of the future, you’re dying.”
Skylar’s face goes as white as the moon.
“What?” Remme says. “By whose hand?”
Natan’s eyes are sad as he studies me.
“I don’t know. She didn’t show me that.” I bite the inside of my cheek, then force myself to look at my brother again. He’s stoic, and I can’t read a single emotion on his face. “I never wanted to tell you. I knew you’d say it was a necessary sacrifice. I’ve always known you believed this cause is bigger than you, and I wanted to find a way around that prophecy.” I press my palm to my chest; my heart races beneath my fingers. “Call me selfish, but I won’t do it if you are the cost. Elora needs you. Our future queen needs you. I need you.” Tears prick my eyes. “I wasn’t born into a loving family like you. I had to get lucky and be given one. I don’t take that gift for granted and I won’t squander it. So, no. The destiny I was shown is not one I’m willing to fulfill. Not at that price. I will help you in any other way I can, but if you intend to kill Erith, you will have to find someone else to do it.”
I tear my gaze away from Hale’s and stand. The eyes of the other three are trained on me, different levels of shock in each pair, but for the first time they all hold something I never anticipated: understanding.
When I turn my back on the stars and the night sky and head back into the palace, no one tries to stop me.
Misha’s leaning against my chamber door, arms crossed over his chest.
“What do you need?” I snap. I just want to bathe and fall into bed and forget the look on my brother’s face when I told him the prophecy that’s haunted me for years.
Misha frowns as he looks me over. “You finally told them.”
“Isn’t that what you said I should do?” Then it registers what he said and why he would know. Storm. I didn’t look for the hawk while we were on the terrace, but he could’ve easily been close enough to take in the scene without us noticing. “Really, Misha? You’re spying on me and my friends now?”
He lifts a shoulder in a completely unapologetic shrug. “You and your friends are still outsiders who currently have easy access to the shadow queen. It would be negligent of me not to observe when I have the opportunity.”
I shake my head and reach for my doorknob. I don’t have the energy for this. “Well, I hope you saw what you wanted,” I say, storming past him and into my room. I peel off my robe and toss it on the bed.
“Not really,” he says, and because he’s apparently determined to make me lose my temper, he follows me into my room. “But I think I understand you better now.” He scans my face. “You said you were afraid that Kendrick would ask you to kill your father anyway, said you thought he would be dismissive of any personal consequence.”
I huff. “Of course. Have you met him?”
He shakes his head. “But that’s not the real reason you’ve kept this from him for four years. That can’t be it because just like they wouldn’t force you before, they won’t after learning what the oracle showed you. Telling them doesn’t change that at all.”
“Maybe I wanted to wait so I could find a way around it, so I could find a way to what they needed me to be. Maybe I needed to find a way to make amends that wouldn’t put Hale at risk.”
“Make amends for what?”
The heat of my temper drains away, and I wrap my arms around myself, trying to ward off a sudden chill. “I am their enemy’s daughter. I am the rea—” My voice breaks and I swallow back a sob. “I am the reason the man who raised us is dead.”
“That’s not how they see you.”
I step back and fold my arms across my chest. “Stay out of my head, Misha. I don’t want you there.”
His fingers are gentle as they sweep across my cheek and tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. “They love you.” His throat bobs. “You are so easy to love.”
My stomach twists because I want these words more than he could possibly understand. “You don’t have to say that.”
“I am king.” His lips quirk into a crooked smile. “I don’t have to say anything I don’t want to.”
The sight of his smile feels like the summer sun after a long, brutal winter, and my irritation with him melts away. “Oh, pardon me. I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise.”