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)
She put her hands on her hips as Tarian stepped out of the way and let the horse continue walking through. It vanished, as if through a door. He looked at her as he turned, smirking.
“No?” he asked as he passed. “You’re not going to make a run for it? You’ve talked yourself out of it again?”
She didn’t respond as he collected the next horse. This one he led, first past her and then to the hazy purple area. Nearly to the almost solid mass, he stepped to the right and somehow went around, still pulling at the rope. As the horse walked through, he flung the rope up and over an invisible line, and it dragged on the ground behind the animal, pulled along through the portal.
“If not”—he passed her for the next animal—“you could always help me. It would make this go a lot faster, and we’d have more time to relax at the first resting place in the wylds. Assuming I can get you across the fringe.”
She sighed and turned to help him. There was nothing for it. She was stuck in this venture for the time being.
“True,” he said, and it was still as annoying as all hell that he could read her mind. “Because yes, I would just follow you. And reclaim you. And put your family in harm’s way if you made it that far, which is doubtful. I will accomplish my plans. You will help me with that whether you like it or not. Running would just delay the inevitable.”
“Yes, I realize all that, thank you. Which you know, because you eavesdrop on my mind.” She trudged back for one of the next horses.
“Don’t you like to be told you’re right?”
She ignored him, eyed the knife at his side, then ignored that, too. It was a great shame it wouldn’t work on him. “What happens if we aren’t alone when we step out of the haze?” she asked instead.
“Some would say it depends.”
“On what?”
“On if the person you’re meeting is more dangerous than you. If they are, you’d typically run. If not, you’d usually try to kill them.”
“And so we assess and be ready to attack or flee?”
His smile was arrogant. “I always attack.”
In other words, he was always the most dangerous.
They started toward the Faegate with nothing but a pack each, cinched tightly to their backs. If they had to run for any reason, it wouldn’t bounce too much. While he might always be the most dangerous of the fae he met sneaking through the Faegate, he wasn’t more dangerous than the swooping Celestials, something he hadn’t enjoyed her pointing out.
“Here.” He held out the blade he’d gifted her in the human lands, the one he’d retrieved from her home.
“If this won’t allow me to kill you”—she took it from his grasp and slipped it into her shirt, securing it in her bra—“why wait until now to give it to me?”
“I didn’t want to ruin the surprise of your botched attempt to kill me with it. I also wanted to see how you’d react to being completely at my mercy. In case you’re wondering—”
“I’m not.”
“—better than I expected. Your fearlessness and confidence, not to mention what must be hours upon hours of training, is exceptional.”
“I was dosed to sleep for most of it.”
“Nonsense. You talked yourself out of trying to escape, you tried to break the crystal chalice at your possible peril, and we enjoyed a lovely horse ride together—it’s been an exciting collection of hours. The only additional thing I could’ve asked for was to taste your lips while my fingers sought your deeper places, feeling you tighten and ripple around them as I brought you to climax. But I’ll wait for that. I want to watch you unravel in the comfort of my chambers.”
“You’re getting tedious,” she said with a suddenly flushed face. She knew full well that she would unravel, which was why it wouldn’t be happening. Unless it was a means by which to kill him—
She jerked her face toward him in frustration, belatedly cutting off that thought.
He laughed delightedly as the shimmering purple in the air lightened.
“What a fun toy I have found.” He slowed, checking the straps on his backpack and taking his knife from its sheath. “So grumpy in your resignation, yet still so delusional. I will watch you unravel. You won’t be able to help yourself. I can’t wait. Now…” He held out his hand to slow her, his eyes going skyward. “This is it. The moment we cross this plane, the fringe will be right in front of us. It is entirely an illusion, remember that. It is not actually a large wall at all. The holes you noticed aren’t really holes. The archway is not as it seems. It is an illusion to cloak the fringe, to identify the barrier, and to seem very scary.”