Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
“Oh, my girls,” Mom breathed in a horrified tone.
“It isn’t over,” Laura said. And then she went on to say something else we’d already figured out. “The troll attack was just the beginning. And with those texts, we know this is deeper, it’s been going on a long time…”
She took a deep breath, squeezed my hand, and finished.
“And the threat is real.”
Chapter 9
Potion
I was sitting at the dressing table in Tanyn’s (and now my) closet, inserting an earring.
I’d changed for dinner into a plum-colored sweater that fell off the shoulder, a matching pencil skirt, and a pair of charcoal-gray suede boots.
My mind was again a muddle, but what had pushed to the fore was worry about Tanyn, who I hadn’t heard from since that morning, and my dad, ditto with not hearing from him.
But mostly Tanyn.
Because he’d already learned that it was more than likely his father had been murdered.
But what was far worse, he might have learned since, his mother had been.
On this thought, as if I’d conjured him, I saw him in the mirror, entering the closet, so I turned on the little bench where I was sitting that was covered in sparkling porcelain taffeta.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Shower,” he grunted, going direct to his side of the closet, grabbing some clothes, then disappearing through the door that led to the bathroom.
He closed it behind him.
He hadn’t even glanced at me.
I stared at the door, then my gaze wandered to his side of the closet.
The room was enormous. And it was not automated, so there were rails, shelves and drawers, with two islands, one on my side, one on his.
Mine was now minimally filled with my jewelry, scarves and some other accessories (and no, I did not unpack here either). His was filled with belts, wrist units, cufflinks, ties, etc.
His side of the closet was not stuffed full. In fact, it was only maybe a third full.
Mine wasn’t even that, regardless it held two suitcases and six hover-crates of my belongings.
Yes, that was how enormous the room was.
The ice marble floor was covered in a fluffy white rug that looked like fur.
Where my dressing table was on Tanyn’s side, there was a one-step platform and three-way mirror (not that I needed a dressing table, I used a mane-mate and cosme-mask to do my hair and face, but I could dabble in arranging my own hair and painting my own face—and not incidentally, Mom had prepared for that mood to strike, because all my cosmetics and hair stuff was in or on that dressing table).
And smack in the middle was a wide oval bench ringed with tassels at the bottom, this covered in alabaster mesh lace dusted with tiny sequins.
The entire room was shades of white and glisten, whereas the bedchamber had this but mostly was done up in arctic blue.
And after I inserted the earring and its twin, I got up and went to the bedroom in order to wait for Tanyn to see if I could find out what was going on before we went to dinner.
I settled on the powder-blue curve-lined sofa in front of the ice-marble-flanked fireplace with my Palm, but I looked around the room…again.
Massive bed dressed in gossamer curtains, that sofa in front of the fire, some tall, thin bow-legged tables against the walls holding crystal sculptures that looked like they were formed from ice (and I was going to have a closer look, because they appeared to be pieces by Andromeda, a celebrated sculptor who lived in the 1700s, and therefore, now were worth fantastic amounts of money). There were also some mirrored or silver-gilt chests dotted around that were clearly for ornate purposes only, and each one was topped with massive sprays of white and blue flowers.
Mostly, though, the yawningly spacious room was empty.
Oh yes.
This was my aesthetic.
Beautiful things, but not many of them so you didn’t dull their glow.
I didn’t want to like this place because, first, liking it wasn’t good for my mental health, and second, liking it felt strangely disloyal to the citadel on Sigil.
Therefore, to take my mind off it, I went to my Palm to check my text to Gayle.
Still unanswered.
So I sent another one.
Laura’s here in Berg Castle with me. So is Aleksei. Please let us know you’re all right. We’re worried.
I sent that off and was staring at the cold fireplace when I heard Tanyn’s shoes rapping on the ice floors.
I twisted to look over the back of the couch at him, then I rose and stepped free of the couch.
He was in a black sweater, black trousers and black lace-up shoes, a sliver of the tanned skin of his ankle showing.
This getup made his eyes look like lasers.
Astonishing.
He was also perusing me top to toe, but when he was done, he growled, “Fucking hell.”
I looked down at myself and asked, “Is this not right for dinner?”