Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Slowly, her pulse too fast and the sweat standing on her forehead despite the night’s chill, she turned.
Tarian stood next to the fire, his metallic clothes splattered with blood, watching her with a smirk. His weapon now resembled a sword and hung down beside his leg.
“Hello, little dove.” His voice was deep and rough. His smirk twisted into a wry smile. “Did you miss me?”
She let loose a gush of breath, utterly deflating. She should’ve known he wouldn’t be distracted for long.
“Not really,” she replied, staying where she was. There was no point in running. He’d catch her. “How’d you find me?”
He relaxed his posture and glanced at his handiwork. She didn’t follow his gaze. With a wave of his hand, everything disappeared.
He’d pulled that trick back when they first met. She’d been glad for it then, intrigued by the feeling of his proximity and his vibrant green eyes. She was nervous about it now, the power it displayed. The chasm between their strengths.
He didn’t answer her, walking to the stretcher and surveying what was there.
“All that magic, yet you kill them with your sword?” she said, needing something to mildly distract her as he picked up the stone Sharlo had held and dropped into the midst of the others. It could’ve been a random rock for all the reverence he gave it.
“Yes.” He prodded the stretcher with the toe of his boot. The items resting on it tinkled as they jostled against each other. Several lit up, showing their power. “If I am going to make the effort, I prefer using my hands. It’s much more gratifying when you best your opponent that way. Magic is inherited. Sword work is learned. It shows skill and discipline when you master it.”
He crouched, looking the magical items over, before grabbing two and tossing them away from the others. Then the next two, leaving those that glowed within the stretcher. He was separating magical and non-magical items in the blink of an eye.
“Of course, I do cheat,” he said. A dozen or so magical items were left when he finished. The hollow orb twinkled up at him, not glowing but from the firelight reflecting on the diamonds. He studied it for a long time. “I can read their thoughts. I know who is going to do what, when. With as much training as I have had, it’s simply a matter of anticipation.”
He pushed to standing and looked around the campsite.
“How’d you find me?” she tried again.
He made his way to the wagons. “I’ve been watching, obviously. When it was clear you wouldn’t use my gift how I’d intended, it became necessary to keep tabs on you until you could figure out where our friend Rutherford kept his loot. Isn’t that what you call it? Loot? A fitting term. I hadn’t realized the Sapphire Throne was also watching. Very annoying, that. They clearly have an informant in our court. No one else knew I was waiting for your people to crack the code.”
“For my people to crack the code?”
He pulled bedrolls from the back of the wagons and gave them a sniff test. His nose crinkled, and he threw them back in. Apparently, they didn’t pass muster.
He turned to her with a half-smile. “You didn’t think I was being a gentleman in leaving you that computer, did you?” The sentiment echoed what he’d said after he killed Rutherford. “I only deleted the files so you wouldn’t suspect I was feeding you information. How were the weapons, by the way? The pictures of them looked atrocious.”
She opened and closed her mouth silently, not knowing what to say.
“So you did think I was being a gentleman.” He laughed. “You think better of me than my own family.” He pulled food and skins of water from the wagons before transferring them to a large piece of fabric resting on the ground. “I didn’t expect his records to be so cryptic about the chalices.”
“You hadn’t meant to kill him,” she said. “You could’ve gotten the information from his mind. And why do you call them chalices? Not one of them looks like a cup. Not even close.”
He gathered the corners of the fabric and moved the food and water items more toward the fire. “You’re right. I hadn’t meant to kill him. I had a momentary slip of control—” He tilted his head and corrected himself. “I had one of a couple momentary slips of control. Luckily, your team excels at espionage and technology. Do they not? Anyone of consequence in the human magical world thinks so. I knew they could get the files they needed from his computer and figure out where those chalices were being kept. That failing, I would’ve gone about it the hard way. Thankfully, your team came through. Kudos. It saved me oodles of time.”