Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“Allie. Heehee. That’s my name.” She loosened her grip on my sleeve only for her fingers to fall to my hand. “The author was stupid.”
What author?
Was she still on her book kick?
“What author?” I asked. “What are you reading that’s got you so het up?”
“The Second Life of Lillia,” she said, tugging on my hand. “Lie down.”
“Will you get under the covers?”
“Yes.”
“All right. Let me take that hair ornament out first.” I raised her head and pulled out the diamond adornment before tucking her in.
I shrugged off my jacket and shoes, then lay down next to her. “What’s your book about, Allie?”
“You.” She snuggled in closer to me, gripping my shirt once again. “And how you hate Alicia and love Lillia. You’re so mean to Alicia. You shouldn’t have married her if you didn’t like her.”
I really had no idea what she was talking about, but the fact she was referring to herself in third person made my heart ache.
“I have no idea who Lillia is,” I replied honestly, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close. “You’re thinking too much.”
“Of course, you don’t know.” She pressed her face into my chest and rested one arm over my waist. “You haven’t met her yet, silly.”
Was it better to play along with whatever story she’d concocted inside her head?
“That makes sense, then,” I replied. “Do you know her?”
“No, but you’ll meet her soon. At the autumn ball. And you’ll fall in love with her.” She yawned. “That’s why I can’t marry you.”
I stilled. What? How could she predict such a thing? Did she have some powers of premonition? It wasn’t entirely uncommon in those with divine power—was she subconsciously accessing hers?
“Is that so?” I settled on asking.
“Yes. I don’t want to die.”
“Would you die if you married me?”
“Yes. Because you won’t love me, but I’ll love you, so I’ll die.” She yawned, then prodded my side. “You’ll let me go, right? When you fall in love with her?”
I clenched my jaw.
Fall in love with who? The mysterious Lillia she was talking about?
Impossible.
The drunken, rambling woman in my arms had me making a mental list of nobles to hurt merely because they ran their insolent tongues.
How could she think I’d fall in love with someone else? That I’d let her go?
I would die before I considered something so foolish.
“That won’t happen,” I said, kissing her hair. “Don’t worry yourself thinking of such things.”
“No, no.” She gripped my shirt tightly and tilted her head back, staring at me hazily. “You have to promise to break up with me when you fall in love with her, okay?”
“I can’t do that.”
“Yes, yes, you must.” She pressed herself against me, and thank God there were thick bedcovers between us, or I might have taken that action the wrong way.
It was tough enough to lie here next to her as it was.
“Promise me!” Tears welled in Alicia’s eyes, and the sight of them was a punch to my gut. “Don’t let me die!”
Shit.
Forgive me for lying to you, darling.
“All right,” I said, cradling the back of her head. “I promise I’ll do as you wish. Please don’t cry.”
She sniffed, snuggling right into me. “Thank you. I don’t want to die again, Kalon.”
A chill ran down my spine at her words, and I held her even tighter. What kind of trauma did she carry within her to think such horrid things?
That I’d abandon her?
That I’d love another?
That I’d let her die?
The very thought of it made me sick.
“Sleep now,” I whispered, tucking her head beneath my chin. “And forget these frivolous notions when you wake.”
“Okay,” she whispered back, exhaling slowly. “G’night.”
Chapter Twenty-Six – Alicia
Red Flag Realisation
The longer I lived in this world, the more I became accustomed to it.
For example, I no longer missed modern-day technology. I accepted that books were all paper, communication was done via handwritten letters, and information was obtained by those willing to pay for it.
Perhaps that was why things like ‘hangover potions’ were so mind-blowing to me. I’d woken up this morning feeling like death thanks to my little drinking session with the Emperor last night, but Bella had almost drowned me with a little bottle of brown liquid that tasted like the worst cough medicine I could imagine, and boom.
By the time my bath was done, it was as if my hangover had never existed.
Modern-day society in my old world didn’t need more technological innovation—it needed magic.
We’d left mid-morning for the imperial hunting ground and the royal villas that surrounded it. All the nobles in the capital were required to attend tonight’s opening ball at the Imperial Villa before the hunt began tomorrow, and if I thought I was nervous about meeting the Emperor last night, it was nothing compared to what I felt about attending the ball as Kalon’s fiancée.
As for last night, my memory was hazy at best. It seemed to waver most after the point that Kalon picked me up and carried me like a princess through the Imperial Gardens, but a part of me thought that might be a good thing.