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)
How’d they do that?
He was quiet for a moment. By killing her, of course. Torturing her while I watched. She’d lost her love for me. I am still, and will forever be, partial to her. But to be released from the claim, the court decreed she had to die. I was more valuable than her. Only the royals are immune to this…curse. This horror. I can never have a causal fling without sentencing someone to death or entrapment…except for them. They aimed to make me a plaything. To service the crown.
His lip curled in a snarl, and she felt herself reeling with that revelation. Recoiling in horror on his behalf.
I would rather die than touch any of them, he thought, and she didn’t blame him. She understood his desire to rip them off the throne and be done with them entirely. My power is too great for them to force me, and so they taunt. Always taunting. He took a deep breath. But then, that’s how the game is played. I have been working you in. You’re smart enough, and hard enough, to be immune to those antics. Thank the gods for their mercy for that. Your life has already been spent in constant danger. You won’t be out of your depth in the dark fae court. Not at first. Not until they seek to punish me by using you. I can only shield you so much, and then you must fend for yourself. It is the nature of faerie courts. The game ends when you are broken. When we both are.
He fell silent, and she didn’t disturb the troubled stillness in the aftermath. She took that all in for later contemplation. There was too much to unpack, too many revelations and angst for her to properly analyze right now. This fae had layers. Many of them. And pain. He was in a precarious situation in his court, and she needed to really dissect each nuance of that. It was too delicate to do right then, especially as he slowed. Their current situation needed all her focus.
There was just one thing that snagged her logic.
Why didn’t she just kill you?
He spat out a laugh, then slapped his hand over his mouth to muffle the sound.
I mean… Daisy shrugged. She didn’t love you anymore, and it came down to you or her. I thought fae were ruthless. Why didn’t she just kill you?
She should’ve. You would’ve…and then died for your efforts. The royals like to taunt me, but I am valuable to them. But not all fae are as vicious and ruthless as we claim. Some are softhearted and kind. She was. She didn’t deserve what happened to her. She didn’t deserve the destruction I wrought in her life.
And I do?
He slowed as they reached a wide opening that forked into two smaller tunnels, one going right, the other left. His gaze found her and stuck. Darkness shielded his expression.
You are better equipped for handling villains, I think. He paused. Yours is a situation out of your control. You didn’t fall victim to loving me. You fell victim to fate. You can contemplate all this later, as you decided earlier. Focus now, or neither of us will make it across the fringe.
“You were always going to end up in this situation,” he’d said once.
He nodded upon hearing that thought, but didn’t elaborate. She’d need to dig if she hoped to glean more.
She needed to stop him from hearing her every fucking thought.
She took a deep breath and did as he said, focusing. Live today so she might escape tomorrow.
The tunnels looked identical. They could’ve been cardboard cutouts placed side by side, each rise and fall in exactly the same place as the other.
It was clear the Celestials had changed the interior, because Tarian didn’t know which tunnel to take.
Choose the one that smells the least foul, she said automatically. He quirked an eyebrow at her. She lifted hers in response. The one that smells the least foul. Look, we’re basically headed in a roundabout way to Mount Mordor, right? Well, Gandalf, when leading the Fellowship through the Mines of Moria, made mention of choosing the path that smells the least foul. And he did. And they eventually got out. She started losing steam. Though he did have to sacrifice himself to get the job done…
His look was deadpan. Is it because I am holding your hand that you think this whole adventure is out of one film or another?
It was a valid question.
His huff was amused as he looked back at the options. There is no right answer, he finally said, staring first one way, then the other. Both ways will be terrible. One will almost certainly be longer, though. I’m thinking over which one that might be.
She very nearly snapped her fingers. Like a battle of wits with a Sicilian, right? Yeah, I saw Princess Bride. Lexi made me. She called it a cinematic masterpiece, and I’ve questioned her judgment on what a masterpiece is ever since. But I digress. Right. So let’s just add things up. Do those Celestials know a lot about you? Personally, I mean. About how you make decisions?