Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
If I’m the wizard around here, the curtain was pulled back on me today. My people think I’m invincible, always two steps ahead of Rising Tide. Many of them were shocked to realize I’m just a man, fallible like anyone else.
Thinking I can’t be beaten and I always have the answers makes people feel safe. Today fractured me, though, and I don’t have it in me to pretend everything’s okay.
Nova’s too furious to even look at me. Elison came close to dying. The Tiders have a mammoth, cutthroat operative working for them who can walk into our camp at any time. I gave up half our supplies today, so we’ll have to ration, which we’ve never done before. At least they didn’t get much ammo, because we keep most of it stashed in underground caches hidden around the island.
It’s clear McClain doesn’t have much time left. He’s weak and bony, and I can’t believe he’s not bedridden. If he and Briar can’t create an aromium stabilizer, I don’t know what our next move will be.
The one and only good development for us came a few hours ago, when Niran returned to camp with a report. He said six Tiders took their share of the supplies and left to fend for themselves. I hope it’s the start of a breakdown at Pax’s camp.
I return to the work I was doing, running a whetstone over the blade of my hunting knife to sharpen it. It’s meditative, helping take my mind off the events of the day.
But then I look up and see Briar walking toward the bonfire, and my hands go still.
She’s smiling, her long, dark curls wet from a shower. Amira’s beside her. With the amount of blood she gave Ellison, she should be resting. Has she eaten since the transfusion?
Chance and Wyatt approach the two women, Chance putting his arm around Briar’s shoulders. I will myself to return to sharpening my blade, but I can’t drag my eyes away from them. Chance’s hand is on her back as he says something in her ear that makes her laugh, his hold on her lingering.
I narrow my eyes, daring him to move his fucking hand even an inch lower. I’ll cut that hand off and choke him with it. I lost Briar, but that doesn’t mean he can have her.
All four of them—Briar, Amira, Chance, and Wyatt--turn to look at me at the same time. I glance to the side and find everyone else is staring at me, too.
Fuck. The ground is rumbling. I didn’t even realize it. Wyatt bats Chance’s hand away from Briar’s waist and Chance takes two steps back.
Taking a deep breath, I look at my blade and return to my work. I don’t give a fuck if everyone in this camp knows I’m the swirling, dark-slate sky over rough, choppy waters. I could unload a deadly torrent without a moment’s notice. In fact, I want them to see it. Any man who touches Briar needs to know that might be his last move.
I may not have any right to feel this way, but I do. It’s all I can do to keep my distance from her, because anything I think of saying rings hollow.
When she first came to our camp, I was suspicious of everything she said and did. Concerned she was a spy sent by Virginia. But she was honest, and I’m the one who deserved the suspicion.
Very few people have been on this island long enough to know I was once a commander at Rising Tide. Just me, Ellison, McClain, Pax, and a small handful of other Tiders. I was already at the secure area that became the Dust Walkers’ camp before everyone else came on prison transports.
Briar is getting closer. I know it without even looking in her direction. When I eventually do glance up, my eyes lock onto hers. I want to go pick her up like I did earlier. Carry her back to our room and explain everything.
If she told me it’s not enough, though, the dark, emotional spiral it sent me into could cause me to destroy this entire island without meaning to. That’s why I haven’t pleaded my case to her. I know hearing her say she can’t forgive me would be my undoing.
There’s aromium in my blood now, and I can’t risk my connection to endoliths causing the volcano to explode or the earth to open up and swallow people. I have to keep my distance from her in every way I can.
“Everyone, I have an announcement.” Amira steps onto a log, which only makes her less of a shorty. “Attention, please!”
The murmurs stop, and she smiles.
“I just wanted to say that Savage Spa and Wellness will be open tomorrow, starting at ten a.m. I’ll be doing facials, deep conditioning, and tweezing. Remember, ladies, just because we’re feral island bitches, that doesn’t mean we can’t have two distinct, well-shaped brows.”