Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“It doesn’t matter if I give you the seal or not. At this point, we both know that the game has been playing for too long for you to let this go. I’m a threat to your throne, your crown, your kingdom. You won’t be able to handle me living.”
“I am not going to kill you, Nox.”
“No? What are you going to do?”
“I am going to banish you. You can go back to your human world and live among them. You can build your empire there. You can live a human life. I am not going to kill you. But I am going to strip you of the essence that made you here. I am going to make you human.”
Equinox looks suddenly frightened, but he shakes his head. “That’s not possible.”
“Of course it is. If longevity can be bestowed, it can be removed. You see, nephew, I have lived much longer than you. I know deeper magic. You have made yourself master of modernity, of technology, of the little trinkets and toys humans used to amuse themselves. But the deeper magic evades you. Even the electric trickery you use to make a portal is weak. You do not know who you are beyond the pain of your formative years. You have not reached back to your ancestors. You have not sought the wisdom of the past. And so you have no counter to what I am going to do to you next.”
Ornix is fucking terrifying when he is being logically brutal. I can see Equinox regretting every decision he ever made—and I can equally see that he realizes it is far too late to backtrack now.
He throws the seal to Ornix. “Here. Take it. Whatever. What cell do you want me in? Sorry, Melissa. Looks like the two of us are stuck here for the rest of our lives.”
Watching Nox fold like the proverbial house of cards almost makes me feel sorry for him. Almost.
Ornix turns around and grabs me around the waist, throwing me over his shoulder. He carries me up and out of the dungeon, only pausing to tell the guards:
“Deepest cell for the boy. Not a trace of light.”
A shiver runs through me at his tone. He sounds completely calm and entirely merciless. Then he finishes carrying me upstairs and deposits me on the bed, looking down at me with a stern expression that I know does not bode well for me.
“Am in trouble?”
“When are you not, angel?” He rumbles the response. “Whenever there is trouble, you are at the core of it. You are not in trouble, you are trouble incarnate. Making another one of your futile escape attempts too, I see. Have you not yet learned not to team up with my imbecile nephew?”
I don’t think Nox is stupid, but I don’t say that part out loud.
“You just got him to put himself in the dungeon,” I say instead, admiringly.
“Yes,” Ornix says. “I did.”
“Is it actually possible to do that? To take away his dragon-ness?”
Ornix gives me a long, slow look, as if he is trying to weigh up whether he should entrust me with the truth.
“No,” he says. “It is not.”
I slap my hands over my mouth and I let out a giggle of pure glee. “You just got him to give you the seal and imprison himself without doing anything.”
“Yes.”
“That’s incredible. It could have been so bad. But you stopped it. Without lifting a finger.” I pause. “I don’t think I have ever been so attracted to anyone.”
“You like duplicitous tactics?” He scratches his fingers lightly along the back of my neck. “Interesting, for one as direct and chaotic as you.”
“Hey, I can appreciate the game when I see it being played well,” I say. “And you played that so well. That was so impressive.”
“It’s a Band-Aid. It does not change the fact that he plotted. It just gives me time to try to find a way to avoid killing him.”
That really brings the mood down. “You wouldn’t, would you?”
“I don’t know, Melissa,” he says, his voice terse. “You are at risk. Our infant, should there be one, is at risk. I know you think he is a friend, but he has repeatedly used his connection with you to manipulate you. I do not want you to talk to him anymore. Do not go to the dungeons, do not accept any messages from him. Remember that he used you. I am not the only one playing games here. Dragons may seem to be creatures of force, but we are also of the mind. And you are an innocent. You like to see the best in people. You like to connect. It’s a weakness.”
“You think I’m weak?”
“No. But your need to be friendly allows others a point of entry and your belief in friendship blinds you to treachery.”