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 swallow and try to keep my expression blank, but my mind is swimming. What deal? And female descendants? Not just me? “I can’t take that risk, though. Not with what the oracle showed me.”
He stares at the spread of cards for a long time before sweeping them into a pile and sighing. “You would do anything for Kendrick the Chosen, and Erith knows it. Until recently Kendrick’s fate was the only thing keeping the Patriarch of the Seven safe. But now a new variable has entered into the mix. Erith doesn’t know yet, though.”
“What new variable?” I ask.
Squird cocks his head and studies me. “Your brother didn’t tell you?”
“No, but Hale has been very busy the last few days.”
“Not that brother, your blood brother.”
My heart clenches as I think of the Konner from the illusion. Blood brother and best friend. I swallow the lump of emotion and keep my voice casual. “He was too busy keeping me in stasis to tell me much of anything.”
Squird nods and hands over the deck of cards. “He has a reason for his secrets. A bigger reason than he’s ever had for anything. Now, if you don’t need anything tonight, I should go.”
I might have more questions than I did when I called him here, but I still want to hug him. Goblins are a little finicky about affection, though, so I only offer him a smile. “It was good to see you, Squird.”
“I can’t enter the Eloran Palace, so be sure you have everything you need before you go.”
My heart swells. Nigel would be proud of this kid. “I will.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jasalyn
“Jas? Jasalyn, are you okay?”
I feel like I’m being pulled from a thick fog and shake my head to clear it.
“You all right there, girl?” Skylar asks, one brow arched.
“I . . .” I blink down to the cold stone beneath my hands—the ebony stone of the Throne of Shadows—then jerk them away. “How did I get here?”
Skylar frowns at me. “I was cutting your hair and you told me you’d show me that funky mirror of your sister’s I’ve heard so much about.”
I nod. Yes. I remember that. She wanted to see the Mirror of Discovery. I remember Brie sending us to retrieve it from the throne room, but it all gets foggy after we started walking—like when I would be doing a repetitive sewing project for a client and my mind would wander. Suddenly it was hours later and the stitching was done.
“Are you okay?” Skylar asks. She holds out the mirror—when did she get that? “Here, you can put it back. I just wondered if it worked the way they said.”
I take the mirror, numbly turning to place it in the case on the dais where it belongs. When I turn back, Skylar’s watching me carefully.
“Feeling okay?”
“Did I . . .” I bite the inside of my lip. “Did I do anything? Hurt anyone or—” I pat my pockets. “Or take anything?”
She cocks her head. “Since we got here from down the hall?”
“I don’t remember,” I whisper. “I don’t remember coming in here.”
She scrunches up her nose as if she’s about to argue, but then it must hit her the same way it hit me. I don’t remember. Just like I don’t remember all those nights before the ring got stuck, nights when Mordeus took over my body and used me to assassinate hundreds. “You were a little quiet, but that’s not strange for you. You aren’t exactly the chattiest girlie I’ve ever met.”
“I didn’t think he could use me without the ring.” My stomach is a giant knot. “I didn’t think I’d have to worry about that until . . .”
“Until your birthday.” At least Skylar doesn’t beat around the bush. I appreciate that right now. “You didn’t do anything other than fondle that throne a little inappropriately, but I think you can both get past it with time.”
I want to laugh. I do. But instead, dread has a hundred tiny bugs scuttling through my veins. “I need to leave,” I say, even as I sink to sit on the edge of the dais.
“Do you want me to get someone?” She looks around the empty throne room. “Kendrick!”
I rest my head in my hands. I have to close my eyes. Just close my eyes and breathe and the world will stop spinning.
“I’ll be right back.”
I barely register the sound of her steps rushing from the room. I’m too busy counting. In, two three four, out, two three four.
I don’t know how much time has passed when I sense someone in front of me, but when I open my eyes, Kendrick is there, down on one knee before me, hand on the edge of the dais as if he’s intentionally waiting to touch me until I know he’s there. “There she is,” he murmurs, holding my gaze.