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)
A huff broke from Adrian’s lips, and he tipped his face up so Haru could see his smile. “I doubt your jasmine scent rubs off quite like that.”
“You’re right. You smell like jasmine and my cum. That is even better.”
Adrian’s loud cackle filled the room and Haru’s heart. They tumbled across the bed, shoving, laughing, and kissing. For this moment, Adrian wasn’t worried about not being enough, and Haru wasn’t worried about his mate rejecting him. The outside world could wait a few more minutes.
CHAPTER 17
Tyche
The appearance of Yesuntei in the prison made Tyche more desperate to get the fuck out of there. While Shey had never admitted to it, Tyche could read between the lines that Shawn was on some kind of fact-gathering mission, and he needed to learn all he could before they broke the fuck out of there. For that, Tyche was willing to show some patience. He’d been in there longer, but he couldn’t say that he’d learned all that much while he’d been there. He also wouldn’t have minded knowing what the fuck was going on.
However, Teitei had changed everything. They needed to get out of there as soon as possible. He liked Yesuntei. Truly, he did, and Tyche didn’t like anyone. She was sweet and fun. If she had her way, people would treat each other with kindness and simply go their separate ways. There would be no killing, anger, or treachery.
But the problem with Yesuntei was that her mind was a fragile thing, like thinly spun crystal. The tiniest amount of pressure and it would shatter. If that happened, so many bad things would follow. It was why Yesuntei was usually never too far from her twin sister, Cirina. The other woman had a shorter temper, a darker view of the world, and was far more likely to strike out over the smallest slight, but she was also protective of her sister. They acted as a balance to each other and kept bad things from happening.
Unfortunately, he had no idea how to communicate to Shawn that they needed to move up their escape plans without tipping off Teitei and sending her into a panic. For now, he was stuck biding his time and trying to find ways to drop subtle hints to Shawn.
It seemed he was being too subtle, though, because the human wasn’t catching on.
“So, has Ty always been a coffee snob?” Shawn’s playful voice drifted through the cellblock. The annoying man had finished his workout—yes, he would work out in his cell. He claimed it helped to stay fit for a fight and to keep his mind sharp against the unrelenting boredom. The bastard had even hounded Tyche into doing stupid things like sit-ups and push-ups. Tyche had relented and followed along occasionally because he was bored and it was the only way to get Shawn to stop his nagging. The worst part was that Shawn could tell when he was half-assing it, even though he couldn’t see him.
Now he’d turned to Teitei as a source of silly information. Thankfully, he hadn’t asked any truly prying questions, and Teitei hadn’t slipped up and said anything dangerous.
“What are you doing?” Tyche called out from where he was lying on his uncomfortable bed. “I’m right here.”
“Where else would you be? But I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to Teitei because I don’t think she’d lie to me like you do.”
Tyche huffed while Yesuntei giggled from her cell. He could barely hear her light steps as she crossed her cell to the bars to put her closer to Shawn.
“I think Ty has been in a dark love affair with coffee since his very first sip,” she teased. “I wasn’t there when he discovered it, but he has given me many long explanations about who brews the best coffee and who has the best roasting techniques.”
“Because that’s important to know!” Tyche shouted, shaking his outstretched hands in the air above him.
“There was this one coffee shop in Brightspire—”
“Gods, don’t,” Tyche moaned.
Yesuntei giggled again and continued. “I’m not sure of the name. It might have been The Bean.”
“More like The Burned Bean,” Tyche muttered.
Shawn chastised him. “Shh! Don’t interrupt her story.”
Tyche rolled his eyes. Her story was about him, but he kept his mouth shut. The stupid tale was a good distraction from the monotony of the day.
“Anyway, apparently Ty stopped in for a cup of coffee and lost his temper because they had cooked their coffee beans for too long.”
“No! They burned their beans. Burned them!” Tyche popped up from where he was lying and scooted to sit on the edge of his bed, his legs dangling off the edge. His body was practically vibrating with the memory. It didn’t matter that this all happened many years ago. “And these weren’t just any beans. They were Besan beans. They can be grown only in the far eastern part of Ilon, in the mountainous region near the Ordas and New Rosanthe border. Each harvest is incredibly small, and each damn bean is precious. And these thoughtless bastards were burning them.”