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)
“Such a pity that it is different.”
“So it seems.” He paused. “Aren’t you going to ask why it wouldn’t let you stab me?”
“It wouldn’t let me?”
“Yes, it. I wouldn’t have reacted quickly enough to stop you. Really, very good timing. Violence while orgasming is exceptional. I’m turned on all over again. If I hadn’t checked your magic myself, I’d have assumed you had fae in you somewhere. You’re wonderfully vicious. I adore it.”
She leaned forward to get some space from the constant thrill of his presence. His touch. “Something is wrong with you.”
“You’re the one getting off while stabbing me. I’m just an innocent bystander in all of this. But yes, the blade is magical. It will not allow anyone to stab its owner. Well…” He twisted to survey his shirt again. “It’s not supposed to, at any rate. You got the blade in a little. I didn’t think that was possible. It must like you.”
“It’s alive?”
“It was forged in the wylds, my treasure. Of course it’s alive, with, clearly, a very dark sense of humor.”
“And the knife you gifted me…?”
“You cannot die by that blade. Given that it was forged for me and I gave it to you, I cannot die by that blade, either.”
“Ah.” She slouched, still pleasantly tingling from his earlier ministrations. “You gave me something with which to protect myself against all manner of fae…except you.”
“Correct. While also having a way to communicate.”
“And a way for you to spy on me.”
“Now you’re getting it.” He grabbed her around the middle as he reached forward, his hard length still pulsing against her, but he did nothing to satisfy his craving. He’d stopped at satisfying her. He grabbed the reins and leaned back again. “Any other questions? We’re almost there.”
She couldn’t get her thoughts to stay in line enough to think about questions. Their chemistry was indescribable. Insatiable. She’d just climaxed from his touch, yet it wasn’t enough. She wanted more of him. Less clothes between the press of their bodies. More time and no inhibitions, with none of their murky motives to muddy the waters. She just wished she’d found someone like him in the human world, where it would’ve been normal. And easy. And maybe lasting.
If he heard any of those thoughts, he didn’t comment, for which she was thankful. Then again, he was probably thinking all the same things. She would’ve killed him just then, just as she would eventually take the chance again when it presented itself, but she’d lament the possibility of never feeling this heat again. She suspected he felt the same. She had a feeling they were battling this together while in complete opposition. Two sides of the same tarnished, scratched, fucked-up coin.
The dirt road continued on. They didn’t see a single soul along the way. It wasn’t until late morning that the vegetation started to wither, just as he’d said it would. Barren trees twisted cruelly in an increasingly darkening sky. Vines crawled along the ground and crowded each side of the dirt road, none of the reaching vegetation daring to break the plane.
“I’ve long suspected this road of being magical in some way,” Tarian said, noticing her looking at them.
“And if you leave the road?”
“The magic of the wylds is weak here. Those vines are still mostly just vines. They grow slowly and don’t have the ability to quickly grab you. They do not have any intelligence.”
“And the vines in the wylds?”
“Would grab your legs, drag you to the ground, and thrash you viciously. They don’t need mouths to kill—they can constrict around your body or throat—but some plants do, in fact, have mouths. And teeth. And move very fast. They like the taste of fresh blood.”
She shivered, fear crowding close. Then, much sooner than she was ready for, they left the forest, and she got a look at the Faegate in the distance.
Without warning, her stomach lurched, and she barely had time to turn to the side before she lost her breakfast.
16
“Shh,” he said, his voice turning somber. He wrapped his free arm around her, as if his embrace would protect her from the sudden fear freezing her blood. “You’re feeling its magic. The sight of the fringe is supposed to elicit terror in those who are not permitted to pass. With effort, you can force the effect away.”
“The fringe? That’s a fucking doom wall.” But wall wasn’t even enough to describe it. Faegate was laughable.
She breathed deeply, taking it in.
A colossal barrier towered above the desolate land in front of it, nearly as high as the eye could see. It stretched endlessly in both directions, forming an impenetrable barrier between this realm and the mystical fae lands beyond. As they continued closer, she could see it was made of huge and ancient stones, roughly hewn and each taller than her. Briars and brambles and dark, thorny vines curled and twisted and snaked their way up and across. Sharp spikes jutted out at irregular intervals before hiding back in the wall again, each longer than her leg and their deadly thrusts hard to anticipate.