Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
She tried to punch me? She was really going to hit me just like that for no reason? I knew it shouldn’t have shocked me, but how could it not? I wasn’t used to living in a world where grievous bodily harm was option one, and reasonable communication was option never-gonna-happen.
“You heard her!” Raven barked, jumping up and coming at us as fast as her nine-inch high heels would carry her. “Let go of the fucking box, mortal bitch, or I’ll make you one of us right now!”
And by that, I knew she meant she was going to kill me. And I knew because the rage and hate etched in her beautiful face was screaming she was desperate to do just that.
“Get off!” Nik fell on the box, grasping it tight and fighting with me to hold on to it as Raven joined the fray, and then Ursula. “We caught it fair and square,” he bellowed. “Leave us alone!”
Raven scoffed. “What the fuck you talking about fair, Others Spawn.” She swung, and that hit connected.
She smashed her fist in his nose, dropping Nik like a stone. “There’s no such thing as fair.”
With three against one—and Dora standing there, blinking at the scene as if she couldn’t understand what was going on—the box yanked out of my grip.
My fingernails caught on the lid, and tore it free as we flew apart—unleashing the shade just as the door swung open.
A dark, wispy, there-and-not-there figure burst from the box and blew past Erlik, escaping into the paradise of darkness and shadows that was a hell’s dungeon.
A face like thunder turned on us. “Is this what you call winning?” Erlik seethed. “Setting a shade loose on the whole of the academy? Even for the carrion crows, it’ll take months to find that fucking thing!”
“It was her!” Five voices rang out, and turning around, I found five fingers pointing back at me.
Raven, Kama, and all the princesses of sin pointed at me with not a lick of shame on their faces.
“She did it,” Ursula, the gluttony princess, announced. “I caught the shade all by myself, but when I brought it out to show you, these freaks jumped me and set it loose.”
“It’s true,” Raven said.
“I saw it,” Sauda chimed in.
Kama smirked at me as she dropped kisses on Ronin’s horns. “It was those three, Sir Erlik. You’ll punish them for me...” Blowing Erlik a kiss, the lust princess licked her lips as she said, “Won’t you, sir?”
To his credit, Erlik was openly disgusted at her flirting. He flicked to Ursula. “Caught it all by yourself, did you?”
“Yep. No one helped me. No one could,” she boasted. “I’m just that good—”
“How?”
She blinked. “What?”
“How?” Erlik repeated. “How did you trap the shade alone?” He kicked the box aside. “And why did you trap it in a box? Why didn’t you kill it?”
“I— I—uh—” She rolled her eyes. “I used magic, of course. And I didn’t kill it because I didn’t feel like it. Kill your rats yourself.”
Erlik hummed, his bushy brows high on his forehead. “Your turn.” Dark, piercing eyes turned on me. “How’d the shade end up in that box?”
“We caught it,” I said clearly, completely ignoring the taunts and abuse the princesses heaped on me. “Me, Dora, and Nik. I used myself as bait, and then Dora and Nik ran in with the torches. They used the heat and light to force the shade into the only dark space we left it.”
“That’s a lie!” Ursula shrieked. “That’s what I did! She’s just spitting out what she saw me do.”
Erlik wasn’t even paying attention to her. “And as for why it’s still alive?”
I frowned at him. “Why would I kill some poor creature you abducted and dragged here by force? Violence should be the last resort. Not the first one.”
Snorting, he barked a laugh. “I figured it was something like that, stupid girl.”
Douchenozzle!
“Stupid, but”—Erlik snatched my wrist—“not a liar. Seeing as you’re the only one with the mark of the shade, I’m more inclined to believe your version of events.”
Erlik held my hand up before my face and my eyes bugged. My fingertips! They... They were—
“Black?” I bleated. My fingers looked like they’d been dipped in black wax— No. They looked like they’d been dipped in shadows. “What is this? Is it going to go away!”
He tossed my hand back at me—not in the least bit interested. “As for you five,” he gritted, turning on the princesses. “I like a liar as much as the next demon, but I don’t have time for empty-headed cunts. First, you lose to a worthless human and a limp cripple, and then you can’t even cheat convincingly. Pathetic.”
“You’re pathetic!” Raven shouted. “Watch your fucking mouth, bitch, or I’ll shove those shit-covered hooves up your ass!”
Erlik laughed out loud. “Save the sweet talk for after your run, princess. You lose.” He turned that beaming smile on me. “You all lose.”