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)
“There you are,” someone says from the open doors behind me. I turn and hold my breath as Hale joins me. “Natan wants to meet with you and Misha tonight to talk plans for your trip to the Eloran Palace.”
“He’s going to Elora with you and Jasalyn in the morning?” I ask.
Hale huffs out a breath, amusement dancing on his lips. “They all are. You know this group.” He cocks his head to the side. “You look thoughtful. Want to talk about it?”
I shrug. “Nothing to talk about.”
He arches a brow. “I know we’ve been separated the last few years, but you think I don’t remember what you’re like when you’re upset about something?”
I blow out a breath.
“This is about what you told us last night.”
I cut my gaze to him. I want to deny it, but it’s the truth, even if only part of it.
“I’m sorry,” he says. The words come out rough, as if they’re scraping against all the days he willed me to kill Erith. “I should’ve known you had a good reason for refusing. I wish you would’ve told me sooner.”
I shiver. “I didn’t want you to sacrifice yourself.” I shake my head and rest my elbows on the stone ledge. “And I didn’t want to be the reason my big brother wasn’t in this world anymore.”
“Yeah.” He stares at his boots. “I get that.”
I scoff. “Really? No speech about how there are things bigger than ourselves? About how the ends justify the means?”
He huffs out a breath and laces his hands behind his head, pacing in front of me. “I’m twenty-one, Lis. My life has hardly started and most of the years I’ve had have been spent busting my ass and trying to prove I’m worth this gods-damned crown.” He drops his hands and turns to me. “You know what’s crazy? Before, I thought I was okay with it. With the crown. With the burden. With having my wife picked for me. A wife who, let’s not forget, I’m supposed to watch age and die while I enjoy fae immortality.”
“You thought you were okay with it before what?” I ask. “Before you knew what the oracle showed me?”
“Nah.” The corner of his mouth twitches in sardonic amusement. “I probably would’ve accepted that, or at least told myself I did.”
“Before your princess,” I murmur, and his throat bobs. “I’m sorry, Hale. It isn’t fair, the way the monarchy works.”
He braces his hands on the stone ledge and looks out at the capital beyond. “I know we’re fighting a losing battle here. I know we’re trying to get back something Jasalyn already gave away. I know that it makes no sense for me to reject my fate—whether it be death or ruling beside a human queen—until we know if Jas can get out of this bargain. If the woman I love is ultimately lost to us, why do I even care that bringing down Erith could mean the end of me even before we get to see the monarchy restored?”
“You care because there’s more to you than the male who loves the princess.”
When he turns to me, his eyes are bleak. “That’s where you’re wrong. There’s no part of me that exists apart from loving her. I care because I can’t accept that she’ll be gone. I know the facts and yet . . . my mind rejects them. And so, no. I won’t be telling you to kill that bastard despite what the oracle showed you—at least not without some well-thought-out safeguards. Because if there’s any chance at all that Jasalyn’s going to be here when this is all over, I’m sure as hell going to do everything in my power to be here too. Maybe that makes me selfish. Maybe it makes me unworthy of this crown.”
“Or maybe it just means that you’ve fallen in love, and it’s changed you,” I say.
“It feels as if it’s changed everything. From the way I breathe to the color of the sky.” He drags a hand through his hair, making a mess of it. “It sounds absurd but it’s true.”
I know what he means, but given my situation with Misha I’m too embarrassed to share as much. “So tomorrow you all head back to Elora to find the witch. And if you get the princess out of this bargain, what’s next?”
His jaw ticks. “I need to see the oracle. I need to figure out what I’m missing. Why would she show me Jasalyn’s face as the key to turning around this revolution, why show me Jasalyn plunging that blade in Erith’s chest if she can’t even kill him?” He makes a fist and presses it to his chest. “And why did the Mother make me feel this if I have to let her go?”
My heart aches for my brother. Elora has always asked too much of him. “Do you think she’ll see you again?” I ask. “When you’ve been so recently?”