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 have to try.”
I bite the inside of my lip, thinking of everything that could go wrong for all of us in the coming days. I’m still bothered by what I didn’t tell the group in our meeting. Maybe I should have told them that Jas is a risk to herself—maybe they need to know in order to protect her. “If you don’t find the witch, I think you need to understand why they wanted Jas sleeping until the time Mordeus can overtake her body.”
His brow furrows. “What do you know?”
I hesitate. Not because I’m unsure but for the same reason I hesitated in our meeting. This is such a raw truth. I’m exposing her darkest secrets.
“Tell me,” Hale urges.
“He wants her in a deep sleep because he needs her alive,” I say. I swallow. “The only thing that could stop Mordeus from coming back the way he has planned is if Jasalyn didn’t make it to her eighteenth birthday. And Mordeus knows from the time Jasalyn spent in his dungeons that the biggest risk to Jasalyn’s life is Jasalyn herself.”
Hale’s expression turns bleak, his eyes so sad. “We’ll find the witch and get her out of this bargain. I won’t accept anything else.”
“I’ve been curious about those memories your brother planted,” Natan says. Natan, Hale, Misha, and I decided to meet over lunch so the group could spend the evening ironing out their own plans. “How true to life were they?” He waves a hand over the table and the surface transforms into a map of interior rooms.
I’ve never been to the Eloran Palace before, but Natan’s suggesting that I might be familiar with it from the illusion I was trapped in. I scan the rooms and corridors reflected on the table and feel like I’m looking at a map of my own home. “Very.” I point to a bedroom, then trace my finger down a hall and into the throne room. “This is exactly as it was in my dreams.”
Natan beams. “Perfect.”
Misha grunts and frowns at the map.
Is he thinking the same thing I am? “Why would he do that? Why not create a fictional place? Why risk giving me information that puts them at a disadvantage?” Why keep me alive? My mind keeps circling back to that.
“For the same reason he didn’t create fictional people,” Natan says. “I’m not familiar with the magic he used to create and maintain such an elaborate illusion, but I imagine it works best with as many details as possible. Chances are, Konner has spent the majority of his life in the palace—or at least has never stayed in another place long enough to mentally re-create it. He used what he knows to make sure it felt fully real to you.” He waves a hand and the image on the table changes. “Now what about this? This is the southern pillar of the Eloran Palace and the place we suspect they keep the Chronicles.”
I study the new collection of rooms and corridors and shake my head. “I don’t recognize that at all.”
“He isn’t a complete idiot, then,” Remme says.
“It makes sense to use what he knows and create memories in the less secure areas of the palace. But the knowledge she was given—the familiarity those memories will give her to the palace—will still prove useful for getting around with the kind of confidence Sol would have. And I can tell you how to get here,” he says, indicating an area on the map I’m unfamiliar with.
“And we’re sure this Sol will leave the palace so there aren’t two of her walking around when Misha and I arrive?”
“I invited her to join me at Castle Craige tomorrow,” Misha says. “She thinks I want to discuss an alliance between the Elora Seven and the Wild Fae.”
“I bet a bag of coppers that she thinks she’s on the short list to be the next queen,” Skylar says with an eye roll. “Not that you’ve done anything to disabuse her of that notion.”
Misha seems unbothered by this jab. “I did what I needed to do to get close to her so that we would have everything we need.”
What he had to do. Why does that have my hackles up? It’s not like he’s actually interested in her or as if he has any plans to make her his queen, but my stomach turns at the idea of them getting close enough for him to subtly take her hair. “You don’t think anyone will think it’s odd that the Wild Fae king is suddenly visiting the Eloran Palace?” I ask.
“I won’t be, though,” Misha says. “Not as far as anyone there will know. I plan to stay hidden during our visit.”
“Okay, let me make sure I understand.” I drum my fingers on the tabletop. “Misha gets Sol to visit Castle Craige again and detains her—which I’d like to point out is risky business if you’d like to avoid war with the Elora Seven, but I’ll leave that for now—”