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)
“Odd to hear you say it that way. I don’t think Jasalyn’s life is anything to be envious of.”
I feel a flood of sympathy for the girl I’ve gotten to understand through her dreams. “It’s not. Life has been cruel to her in many ways. What I really mean is that it was easy to wish I could look like her all the time. I haven’t had more than a couple of days in my own skin since I was sixteen—not while I was conscious, at least—and that means I never had the chance to come to terms with my body.”
“I don’t understand that,” he says. “You’ve said it before—that you’d like to look like Jas.” His voice dips a little lower, a little softer. “Why would you want to change anything about yourself?”
I open my mouth, then snap it shut again. I wish I could see his face. I’m almost positive that’s a trick question. “You can’t deny you looked at me differently when I was in her form.”
“You only say that because you don’t know how I would’ve looked at you as you are.”
Why are you saying these things? Why are you making me wish for things I can’t have? “I suppose we’ll never know.”
“My point is, you shouldn’t want to be anyone but yourself. Not even for a minute.” He tucks his face into my neck and breathes deeply, making me shiver with want.
We ride the rest of the way in a silence loaded with so much tension that by the time Misha urges the horse to stop at the palace gates I feel like I might explode from being so close to him and wanting so much more than his arm around my waist and his thighs bracketing mine.
Misha dismounts, and when he reaches up to help me down I hesitate, fully expecting to feel awkward about my body under his hands, but then his hands are on my hips and they don’t make me feel too big or too wide. They curl around me and make me feel like I’m exactly what I need to be.
When he guides me down, I keep my eyes on him, and I could swear the thrum of his pulse in his neck quickens.
“Thank you, Loki,” he murmurs to the horse, giving it a quick pat on the hindquarters before it races back to the woods.
“Loki?” I ask. “How do you know his name?”
His eyes crinkle in the corners. “Because he told me.” He leads me through the gates, exchanging brief greetings with the sentinels on guard before pulling me around to a stone fountain in the garden. “Ready?” he asks, nodding to the pooling water.
“That’s the portal?”
“The energy from the flowing water helps keep it charged so I only need to use my magic to open and close it upon use. It’s significantly less cumbersome than creating a new portal each time.”
I’m not keen on the idea of getting soaked and wonder how he’d feel about me circling back to the suggestion that we call on my goblin.
He chuckles when he sees my hesitation. “I promise none of the water will touch you. You’ll be as dry when you arrive as you are now.”
“If you say so.”
He takes my hand, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world, and we step over the ledge of the fountain together. He’s right. I don’t feel the water, but it doesn’t feel like any other portal I’ve used before either. While most portals feel like taking a step from one spot right into another, this one yanks us back mid-step and we tumble, falling onto the cold, rocky ground in a space that is definitely not part of his castle.
Misha jumps to his feet, jaw tense as he surveys the craggy cliffside.
“Where are we?”
“Not at Castle Craige.” He tugs a hand through his hair and mutters a curse.
“I noticed.” I stand and brush the dust from my pants. He looks more angry than surprised. “What’s happening, Misha?”
He swallows hard and his jaw ticks. “My magic is . . . it’s not cooperating.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Some of my magic isn’t mine alone. It comes from my court. It’s the magic the land grants to the king and queen so that they may protect their people.” He scoops a handful of rock from the ground and waves it beneath his nose before dropping it back to the ground. “For several months now, I’ve been having some trouble harnessing that magic consistently.”
He looks around and sighs. “And now we’re stuck here for the night because goblins won’t travel to this part of my court. I won’t have the strength to get us back to the castle until I get some sleep.”
“Do you know where we are?”
“Yes. That, at least, I am useful for.” He crooks a finger at me, then nods to the boulder just in front of him. “I’ll show you.”