Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Henri and I didn’t go far before I spotted something ahead—multiple somethings. Two wiry bodies were shuffling through the trees and foliage, the normally sweet air tinged with a hint of day-old vomit and decay.
If I hadn’t already become desensitized to pulling long strands of grass covered with poop out of Duncan’s butt from time to time and having to gag on the few occasions he’d thrown up a carcass he shouldn’t have eaten, I might have started retching.
Maybe I wouldn’t be able to eat dinner tonight after this, but I’d worry about it later. A breeze picked up from behind us, going straight for the two figures.
The bogeymen whipped around.
I didn’t like to call anything ugly, but… damn. With splotchy pale gray skin, thinning hair at the tops of their heads, and a build that was borderline emaciated, they weren’t attractive beings. Small, membrane-like wings, that didn’t look like they could carry five pounds, were dark and tucked against their bony, hunched bare backs. Apart from their body odor, I could confirm that they had terrible breath in both forms—the one I’d met as a human man had apologized for his halitosis from the beginning.
There was a reason why rumors said they didn’t mate often.
I lifted my hand and waved at them.
Thin mouths parted, and beside me, Henri went still.
“Hi,” I called out.
Henri’s head swiveled in my direction, but he didn’t tell me to stop.
“Forgive… us….” The first one slurred through large, too blunt teeth. He might have had an overbite.
Before our eyes, the air shimmered and two lean men, about average height, appeared. They were both dark-haired and dark-eyed. They were okay-looking, but there was nothing memorable or striking about them.
One of them started wringing his hands. “We tried the gate, but no one would let us in,” the bogeyman claimed, his eyes nervously sliding to Henri. “We parked at the road and used our magic to follow a trail.”
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t Crown Prince Wolfiness standing there, silently, breathing loudly through his nose, the muscles at his arms flexing as his hands formed fists.
Their throats bobbed, and the men glanced at each other.
The second one seemed to steel himself before his voice came out strained. “We mean no harm. We’re looking for….” The man, who looked to be somewhere in his thirties or forties, glanced at the other guy, who, now that I could see them well, had some physical similarities that made me assume they could be related, even brothers. “We heard a rumor of a young one….”
Henri took a sidestep in my direction, his hand palming my lower back.
“One who smells like life,” the bogeyman finished, his lean features expectant but clearly nervous.
I didn’t need visual confirmation to know Henri was pissed, and if they had decent noses, they’d be able to tell that too.
“We want to have kids,” the other man almost blurted out, his voice emotional. “We were hoping for a blessing. We’ll pay for it! It would mean the world to us. We mean no disrespect. We tried the gate so many times, and we leave tomorrow….”
The fingers on my back went from flat to clutching the material of my T-shirt from Idaho.
“What is it?” I whispered, peeking up at him.
His left eyebrow went up that signature millimeter he wasn’t allowed to go over without special permission. He seemed to be thinking real intently about something. His attention was on the bogeymen, but I knew he was talking to me when he finally replied, “They’re not looking for me, young one.”
I wouldn’t say I smelled like life. I wouldn’t say that at all. No one had ever given me that idea. Not in any way. It had always been the opposite—except for the kids and Henri telling me I was the equivalent of a pastry, that is.
But right then, Henri was standing there like he was waiting for me to say something, to do something….
He peeked at me right back I guess, when I didn’t reply.
I did that “come here” gesture he was so fond of with my index finger and was pretty pleased when he leaned in close enough that I could ask straight into his ear, “You think they’re talking about me?”
He stayed right where he was with his earlobe a hair away from my mouth. “There’s nobody else it could be,” he answered, and I’d swear I felt his skin graze my lip for a millisecond.
“You’re sure?” I whispered, backing up an inch so I wouldn’t do it again.
His head twisted, and those amber eyes roamed my face when he was at the right angle, and… was that a tender little smile on his mouth? On that serious face? “What do you think fertility is?” he asked before lifting his hand and touching my chin with light fingers. “You don’t need to do anything you don’t want to.”