Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“It’s our mate following you on a fucking death run in the middle of Eclipse City not thirty minutes after I took her back to the academy!”
I’ve never heard him yell before. He does it with a deep gravelly bass that makes my adrenaline spike.
“Lower your tone, old man,” Kirin rumbles. “I’ll give you that first shot for free, but hit me again and I’ll kick your ass.”
“Is that right?”
I watch, eyes wide as Kirin and Einar square up against one another. I get the impression this is a disagreement that has been a long time coming.
“That’s enough,” Rafe says. He hasn’t moved from the couch, and his tone is casual. “We’re not here to fight each other, and they’re back, unharmed.”
“We need Darcy in the academy,” Einar says. “It’s the only way to…”
“Kill the king?”
I pour a little gas on the fire by finishing his sentence. What the hell. Why not?
“You told her?” Einar turns back to Kirin.
“I did. She should know what she’s involved with.”
“We agreed it would be better if she didn’t, that way she can be innocent in most of this. She can fit into the academy more easily without all of this in her mind.”
“Stop talking about me like I’m not here, and I’m not going back to the academy,” I interject. Einar’s not even looking at me. He’s discussing me like I’m part of the furniture.
“Oh, yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Darcy, you will be in attendance at that school tomorrow if I have to cuff you to me in order to ensure that happens. Apparently I can’t trust you out of my sight.”
“Who the hell said you had any right to have any expectation of me doing what you tell me to do?” My voice starts to get pitchy, which I hate. I sound all girlish and annoyed.
“I said, enough,” Rafe repeats himself, slightly more firmly this time. Then he goes so far as to turn the television off. The inane babbling of the box is more obvious when it is gone.
I notice Einar relaxes, though Kirin doesn’t. Kirin puts his arm around my shoulders in a sort of possessive, comforting way.
Rafe leans forward while sitting on the couch, his hands clutched together as he looks at all of us. He seems unbothered, but firm.
“We’re not fighting in front of our mate. Einar, Kirin, if you want to kill each other, go out back and do it quietly.”
“I don’t want to kill anybody. I want our mate safe.”
“You want your pawn positioned correctly, you mean,” Kirin says.
“What part of enough wasn’t clear?” Rafe muses. “Darcy, go up to bed.”
Apparently all of them tell me what to do. Except Kirin. Kirin’s worse than me, and I like that. It’s nice to be with someone who gets me in a way I don’t think anybody else does. Jory used to, but he’s decided to be all responsible now.
“I’ll come with you,” Kirin says, before I can tell Rafe I’m not going to bed. “I’ve had more than enough of this day, and it’s only just started.”
Einar
“Those two are…”
“Doing exactly what you’d expect them to,” Rafe says. “Don’t worry about it. He won’t let any harm come to her.”
“He’s young. She’s young. They’re both stupid.”
“They might be young, but neither one of them is stupid. They’ve both been through more than enough to mature in the way that matters. They’ve both lost a lot, and neither one of them responds to cold authoritarianism. You know that. My question is what’s got you off balance?”
“I spent the day teaching a bunch of snot-nosed kids how to hide in bushes,” I say. “Director talked me into taking a position on the faculty again. I don’t like being in the academy. I don’t like pretending to be loyal to a philandering usurper.”
“You mean you talked her into talking you into it,” Rafe says. “This is all part of the plan. It’s working out nicely. Exactly as planned.”
“Not exactly.”
“In what way?”
“Darcy isn’t just some shifter. She’s our mate. She matters. And she’s terrified of killing. Didn’t you see how she reacted when she cut that guard down? I think she’s been acting out ever since. The director says her behavior’s been even worse these last few days.”
“That sounds like a training issue,” Rafe says. “Which you’ll have the chance to correct when she’s back at the academy.”
“She says she won’t go.”
“She’ll go. I’ll take Kirin out tomorrow, and you can take her.”
“That’s what we’re doing now? Babysitting?”
“A little babysitting is inevitable, and you know it. We’re getting closer, Einar. Now is not the time to lose our nerve.”
He’s right. I don’t know how he’s so calm. I know I should be more relaxed, but when I realized Darcy had yet again gone missing from the academy, and then saw those pictures of what she was up to, and who she was up to it with, keeping my cool became impossible. There’s more to lose now. If anything happens to Darcy, I know I will never be the same.