Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“She didn’t point you out as the Captain.” Sebastian turned in his chair to look at Nessa. “That’s telling. She recognized me, even like this, but not you.”
“I thought of that, yeah.” Nessa folded a bag neatly and put it on a pile of others. She started emptying the next, putting everything onto the counters in groups. Once done, she did the next until there was no room, and then she started moving items into the fridge or various cupboards. “We don’t have enough room for all of this.”
“We can distribute what doesn’t fit into the other houses,” Austin replied.
She gave him a blank look, and then comically frowned. “Withholding information like that from your loyal subjects is not how you work smarter instead of harder, Mr. Alpha King.” She sighed and looked around the kitchen. “I have to start over.”
Austin smirked and Tristan started chuckling.
“Yeah, ha-ha.” Nessa pulled items out of the cupboards and put them back into groupings. “Let’s make Nessa do one job twice.”
“Well, really, it’s only one job done one-and-a-half times,” Tristan replied.
“Don’t bring semantics into this,” she groused.
“I bet she’s seen me before.” Sebastian’s eyes held a faraway expression. “In person.” He drummed his fingers against the tabletop. “I bet she has worked for the Guild in some capacity. They would have pictures up of me in all forms. They brought me in to torture. They’d have an image of me at my absolute worst.”
Fred looked up at him with wide eyes. “Does Niamh know that?”
Sebastian’s eyebrows furrowed. “Yes?”
“He didn’t mean that as a question,” Nessa said, emptying the fridge. “The question is only why are you asking?”
“Ah.” Fred bobbed her upper body with an affirmative. “I was about to ask.” She went back to her task. “Because Niamh is very good at getting revenge, and she goes about it in such a calculated way that it is neither scary nor horrifying. Eventually I’m sure reality will slap me in the face, but by then, maybe I won’t care.”
I toggled my hand, a mere spectator in this conversation so far. I needed some caffeine or a snack or something to get back some energy.
“When you find out what these people are capable of,” I said, “you certainly won’t care as much as you might think. But I’m still not comfortable with half the things we’ve been doing lately.”
“You’re softer than me,” Fred said without preamble. “With more morals. I think that bodes well for my mental health, don’t you?”
How was I still the most squeamish one in this group when we had a Jane that hadn’t acclimated to a violent animal like mine? It defied logic.
“Okay.” Nessa got everyone’s attention. She studied the heaps of food on all available surfaces. “Let’s get this food distributed. Boys, you’ll be the runners. Here we go.”
Sebastian hadn’t looked away from Fred. “Niamh is going to help me get revenge, yes. So are you. So is Jessie and Austin. By tearing down that organization, and Momar’s with it, that is all the revenge I need. Putting up a better organization in its place, one fair for all magical people, that’s how I heal.”
“And also,” Nessa said, “everyone who laid a hand on him, and who ordered it done, are already very dead in the most painful way we could imagine.”
“Well, yeah, and that,” Sebastian murmured.
10
Jessie
Once the extra food was delivered to the other houses, raising interest in what we were having, Nessa and Austin started collaborating on a meal that would take much too long for my level of hungry.
“Seriously, I can’t wait,” I said, holding my growling stomach. “Lasagna takes a long time, especially with Austin making pasta from scratch, and I am starving.”
“Excuse me!” Nessa gave me a hoity expression. “I will also make pasta from scratch. You could’ve picked another dish to be your favorite since there is no way this is it.”
Austin smirked at me. “This is Jess trying to be fair to our competition while also knowing we can make large batches and feed others.”
“How is she being fair?” Sebastian asked.
“Because she thinks lasagna is fine,” Austin said. “She neither loves nor hates it. For that reason, I’ve never made it for her. Tristan, before you help Fred, can you run down and ask Mr. Tom to make us some sandwiches to tide us over? He’ll be all too pleased. Also, tell him that we’re making enough lasagna to act as a side for dinner tonight. I’ll get some steaks and tri-tip marinating, but if he could start working on some salads and prime some potatoes and things like that, that would greatly help.”
I smiled at Austin. “See? Now this is perfect. He gets to help without being a nuisance, you guys get your challenge, everyone gets to participate in the voting, and we get lunch rather than all passing out waiting for your perfection to manifest into cheesy goodness.”