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)
“I know it’s not much consolation, but we killed the woman who was in charge of the place,” Adrian admitted.
Tyche cheered up. It was like watching a flower burst into full bloom in a flash. “You killed Scarella? Was it slow? Did you make her suffer? Did she beg for her life? Like ugly sobbing, on her knees, tears and snot all over her face, begging?”
“Scarella?”
“He means Yasmine. Blond and stick-thin,” Shey explained a bit more calmly. “She used a device that changed her voice to pierce part of your brain to make you instantly terrified. It was a unique and horrifying form of torture.”
“Oh, sorry. It was a quick death,” Adrian said.
“But she did beg profusely,” Haru chimed in as Tyche was wilting. “She looked like she was about to go to her knees, but Adrian moved too fast. However, she was sobbing, and there was quite a bit of tears and snot.”
Tyche sighed, his body sinking into a relaxed slump. “That’s good. As long as she was scared at the end.”
“I wanted to kill Ruben too, but we haven’t blown our cover with him yet, and we still need to figure out who his boss is.”
“You’ve met Ruben? He’s the one running everything?” Shey demanded.
Well, this was a long story.
Adrian launched into a fast recap of searching for Shey through Bellcairn, their adventure in Voxmore, and meeting up with Ruben in Bellcairn through some secret spy connections. He might have left Vitor out of his explanation because he wasn’t sure if Caelan wanted the prince of Caspagir to know about his spy network.
“What we’ve been able to confirm is that it looks like a group of these rich assholes is trying to overthrow both Damardor and New Rosanthe by pulling together a small, personal army of people with magic. However, according to Ruben’s bitching, it sounds like they haven’t kept anyone with magic alive.”
Tyche grunted. “They push too far, and we die rather than give in to their demands.”
“They need to be stopped, but you’re right. We must get to the root. If Ruben isn’t the ringleader, we need to dig this person out. Otherwise, this person will go underground and reemerge somewhere else to start again.”
Adrian scratched his head. “See…that’s where things get complicated. I agree. These people need to be stopped. They’re rounding up and killing people indiscriminately. However, our job was to find you and bring you home. If Haru and I get caught here, it could explode into this whole war because I’m a royal guard of Erya and he’s…well, he’s a fucking dragon.” Adrian paused and gave Shey a very pointed look. The same argument could be made for the Crown Prince of Caspagir.
“I know. I know. Things are…complicated.” Shey said nothing more, and Adrian was left to think that maybe Tyche wasn’t aware of who Shey was. If the prince wouldn’t say the words, Adrian wouldn’t step into that mess.
“I think the best next step is to return to civilization and make some phone calls. To Cael. To your mom.”
“You’re enjoying that too much,” Shey drawled, to which Adrian just shot him a big shit-eating grin. It wasn’t often that he got to tease a powerful prince with the fact that his mommy had called in the cavalry to save his ass, but Prince Shey could have brought an army with him and still would have needed help against this group.
“Civilization means food and coffee, right? Good coffee?” Tyche interjected.
Shey’s smile returned as he looked at him. “Yes, I promise civilization will mean good food and coffee, even if I have to roast the beans myself.”
“Fine.” Tyche hopped up and dusted off the seat of his pants. “I can hear a stream over that way. You three talk about politics and all the things that you can’t say around me. I’m going to splash off some of this mud, blood, and sweat.”
Before Adrian could say anything else, the little god started off toward the stream, leaving Adrian staring at Shey.
“Does he know who you are?”
Shey huffed a quiet laugh. “Honestly, I have no idea. I can’t even guess at what Ty knows and what he doesn’t. Yeah, he’s a god, and he’s a bit self-centered. I think it comes from being alone for so long.”
“Do you trust him?”
Adrian was surprised that Shey seemed to think about the question for several seconds. He didn’t take the question lightly or make a joke.
In the end, Shey nodded. “I do. Even with national secrets. He’s a simple guy and doesn’t want to rule my people. He values excellent coffee and a quiet life. And not getting killed. I can respect that.”
Yeah, a desire for a simple existence was something Adrian could understand, but it wasn’t something all that easy to provide if he was going to continue to hang out with the prince of Caspagir.