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 want to give you so much more.” He nuzzles the side of my neck. “I will give you more. I’ll find a way.”
His whiskers are rough beneath my palm as I urge his face up and press my lips to his. The broad expanse of his back feels like a dream beneath my fingers, warm and taut. “I want this,” I say, in case it’s not clear. “No matter what tomorrow brings.”
He shifts his position over me. I feel him against me now and tense in anticipation. “I will always choose you,” he says. “No matter what tomorrow brings.”
He angles his mouth over mine and kisses me so deeply I let the tension evaporate. He feels the change and grunts softly as he moves into me. Slowly. So slowly I could push him away. So slowly I don’t need to. My body is warm and pliant and ready to give everything his asks. Then we’re joined, and he’s looking down at me like I’m a miracle and I think I’m looking up at him the same way.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Felicity
I dreamed of my brother again. Of that other life he planted in my mind. Of being in my own body and never having to hide. Then I dreamed of a beautiful dark-haired faerie passing me a cherubic blue-eyed baby girl, and when I held her in my arms, I knew I would do anything, sacrifice anything, to protect her.
Misha skims his gaze over me a few times before shaking his head. “I wouldn’t think anything could take me by surprise after how well you impersonated Jasalyn, but every time you take a new form, it’s still hard for me to believe it’s you.”
“It’s probably best that you forget,” I say, glancing down at myself. Sol’s tall and lean and has dark hair that’s loose around her shoulders and flows down to the middle of her back. Because watching someone move and talk is better than being told, Misha let Storm into my mind to show me his brief interactions with her. It’s more than her traditional beauty, though. She has an air about her that exudes confidence and power. It’s the perfect match to Misha’s energy.
It’s the first time I’ve seen him since what he told me yesterday afternoon, and while I would’ve loved nothing more than to wake in my own body and put his words to the test, I couldn’t do that—because I assume my father’s still looking for me, and because I need to be Sol today.
“Learn anything useful in your dreams?” Misha asks.
Focus, Felicity. “There’s a child—a baby girl. I think Sol is a grandmother. And I think she would do anything to protect that child.”
He flinches.
“What is it?”
“That’s the kind of information I hope we never have to exploit,” he says. “Let’s go. Pretha said Sol just arrived at Castle Craige, so we need to hurry.”
“You’re sure we have to go back that way?” I ask Misha as I glance toward the mirror we just walked through—a mirror that now looks entirely ordinary. There’s nothing ordinary about where we just came from. The Hall of Doors is worse than the sanctuary he took me to while I was staying at Castle Craige. When we walked down the corridor toward his revered elder, the Jewel of Peace, I didn’t think I’d ever be in a place as disconcerting as that. I was wrong.
“As far as we know, that’s the only way in or out of the Eloran Palace.” After a quick survey of the room—a space that looks like a rarely utilized office—he opens the door to the hall. Does any of this look familiar to you? he asks, switching to speaking into my mind.
We pass room after room and I don’t see anything I recognize until— “In here.” I tug him to follow me and turn into the library. My mind is flooded with memories of playing in here when I was a child, of my mother reading to me, of—
Illusions. These are just illusions.
“There.” I point to the opposite side of the library, where another doorway leads into a hall I know from my memories.
“This is as good a place for you to remain unseen as any,” I say, looking around.
“It wouldn’t be impossible to explain it away if I was seen here with Sol.”
“And if we run into Konner? And what about anyone else who might know you’re the one who rescued me?”
He sighs. “Keep your mind open to me. I can get to you quickly if you need me.” He gives my hand a hard squeeze.
“It will be okay,” I say. I’m not sure why I feel the need to reassure him, but he seems more on edge today than usual.
The moment I turn out of the library, my surroundings click into place in my mind. It’s eerily easy to navigate through the palace’s maze of hallways. It doesn’t feel like a strange place I only know from maps. It feels like . . . like home.