Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 112416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
“Tyche?” Her voice was weak and it shook, but it was the voice he knew.
“It’s me. I’m here,” he replied, not caring that she’d used his real name. Few in the world knew it. Besides, he and Shawn weren’t planning to stay in this hellhole for much longer. They would be out of there before his name could mean something to those assholes.
Her slender arms trembled as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Tyche could see the blood that streaked her blue-and-white plaid shirt. Her long brown hair was a knotted mess, blocking half her face from view. Ragged breathing broke the silence, growing faster and faster. She gazed about and for a moment, she froze, staring across from her.
“Hey! Hey!” Tyche called out. “That’s just Shawn. He’s okay. Look at me. Teitei, look at me.”
The young woman tore her eyes away from Shawn and spotted Tyche. One dark brown eye was nearly swollen shut while the other filled with tears. She blinked, and they spilled down her dirty cheek. She half crawled and half dragged herself to the bars, positioning herself in the corner so that she was as close as she could get to Tyche.
“Tyche!” she sobbed. A shaking hand thrust between the bars, reaching for him, but even if Tyche did the same, there was no way they could even brush fingertips.
Yet even knowing that, Tyche couldn’t help slipping a hand through the bars and reaching for her. “It’s okay. You’ll be okay. I’m here.”
“Where’s here? Where are we? Why are we here? Who are these people?”
Tyche’s tongue knotted. He didn’t even know where to begin, so he opted for one of his own questions. “Where’s Cirina? Where’s your sister?”
Yesuntei closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the bars. Her hand dropped to rest on the floor between their cells. “I don’t know. I’ve not seen her in…in a long time. We had a fight. You know how she is.”
Yeah, he knew too well. Cirina wasn’t all there. She spent most of the time completely mad and out of touch with the real world, but he figured that came with being the Goddess of Dreams. Yet, as bonkers as she was, Cirina was also ferocious and a fierce protector of her softer and much more tenderhearted sister. If Cirina had been with Yesuntei, Tyche didn’t believe she would have been taken.
“Who are these people?” she asked, dragging Tyche from his wandering thoughts.
“No idea. We just know they’re looking for anyone who has magic so they can steal it,” Tyche replied.
“But I…” Her quavering voice trailed off, and her one good eye darted toward Shawn, then back to Tyche.
He gave a slight shake of his head. Yeah, he might have trusted Shawn a bit, but he still had a lot of unanswered questions. Right now, all he had to keep himself safe were his secrets. And that meant protecting Yesuntei’s secrets as well. “I know you don’t have any magic, Teitei. These people are insane, but we’re making a plan. We’re going to get out of here. I promise.”
“Okay.” She peeked at Shawn as if she were afraid that he was going to break out of his cell and attack her.
“That’s Shawn. Another prisoner,” Tyche murmured.
Shawn leaned on his bars and waved a hand at her. “Ty’s a friend.”
“Tyche isn’t good at being friends with people,” Yesuntei said.
Shawn huffed a little laugh, which kept Tyche from wanting to groan. She wasn’t wrong. He didn’t have friends. He wasn’t a social creature like so many others. Yesuntei liked to say that he was all prickles and fangs.
“Well, we’re not good friends,” Shawn admitted, and Tyche tried to shoot him a scowl, but the man was ignoring him. “I call him my friend only because he keeps stealing food from me. If I didn’t call him a friend, I’d have to punch him for that kind of nonsense.”
A tiny sound escaped Yesuntei that sounded like a giggle. “Yes. He is all stomach.”
“Wait a minute! You said I was all prickles and fangs,” Tyche cut in.
“You are prickles, fangs, and stomach. But that is all,” Yesuntei countered, showing a spark of her usual spunk.
Shawn let out a low chuckle, and Tyche relaxed. It was stupid, but he had a feeling that it was at least helping to tame some of Yesuntei’s panic. He wanted to warn her against revealing anything about herself or her magic, but he couldn’t think of anything to say that would give it all away to Shawn. Besides, what was the point? Yesuntei might look sweet and naïve, but she wasn’t. She’d had an incredibly long life too. That didn’t happen if a person was careless with their secrets.
For now, he could only make do with giving her the same warnings and advice that he’d passed along to Shawn after they first met. Get some stuffing for her ears. Trust nothing that Scarella promises. Keep your mouth shut. Don’t lose hope.