Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
“They’re taking too much because it is addicting,” Tanix said in a gruff tone.
“Yes, and it is cutting out their hunger, as well. I have yet to feel the hook, as they call it. Three back-to-back doses doesn’t seem like enough, unless it comes on slowly. I remember you saying two doses could hook someone, so I’ll monitor it to see. I would imagine the compound effect would affect the intensity of addiction, as well. What I don’t understand is why people are taking it. It’s very expensive and that sickness is incredibly unpleasant. Why go back for more?”
“They can’t help themselves,” Tanix returned. “It’s out of their control.”
She sat up a little more, wincing, her gaze going over my shoulder. “I have a couple things to say about this and I’m not going to be delicate, because I feel like shit and you need to hear it. First, in the beginning, they can absolutely control the situation. I had multiple people warn me away from taking Granny’s product. They told me how it would snare me. They told me not to touch it. There is no risk for addiction after just one dose. No risk for three doses, apparently. But the adverse effects are felt immediately. Taking it again would go against someone’s better judgment. It is not, at all, out of their control to continue taking it recreationally.”
She paused for comment and received none.
“Second, your precious dragons have a cure for that addiction, but it’s too expensive for purchase by the common man. Only the wealthy have the coin to buy the cure and save themselves. Make no mistake, your court is profiting off Granny’s snack boxes. They call it a crisis, but they have their hand out to collect the gold all the same. They are just as complicit as this kingdom’s court.”
She paused again, her tone hard. Still no one commented.
“In saying that,” she said, “I will gladly accept my blame in this. I will accept a harsh punishment. I have a lot to answer for, and I know that. My first apology is to you, Tanix. I am sorry for the part I have played. I spoke to people in that alleyway and saw firsthand what sort of horror I’ve caused. I’d intended to go back to them and offer to pay for the addiction cure but was taken before I could. That said, I will go to your dragon court and stand in judgment for what I have done. In so doing, I will return judgment and demand they do better.”
She took a deep breath and leaned heavily against me, and I wanted to take her away and hide her. I wanted to dote on her and fulfill her every desire. Anything but my duty to the dragon king and queen.
At the same time, I couldn’t have been more proud. She was standing up for herself, yet when confronted with her perceived guilt, she did not shy away from the consequences. Her pride in her product and her willingness to stand in judgment of what it had become was admirable.
I’d hoped that she wasn’t as evil as I’d often thought myself to be. Now I had my answer. She’d been through hell, lived a hard life, and still she maintained her honor and her dignity. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect true mate.
“Lastly,” she said, “I will figure out how to take Granny’s organization down. I’ll figure out what that poison is and find a way to combat it. I’ll make this right, somehow. Let me down, Weston. I have to throw up.”
After our defenses were set up and the camp was awkwardly arranged within the dense trees, I found Aurelia amid a drifting group of emberflies, sitting at the base of a thin trunk, staring out at nothing.
“They seem to congregate around you,” I said as I sat beside her, giving her space even though I wanted to immediately pull her into my lap.
“What’s that?” She glanced over at me, blinking quickly and then focusing her gaze.
I waved my finger at the glowing bugs. “The emberflies seem to follow you. We never had them around until you were in our camp.”
“Oh.” She frowned at them before looking out at nothing again. “That’s strange. Maybe they always thought of you as a danger until now. They don’t hang around danger.”
“And yet they hang around you.”
Her left eyebrow quirked up. “I guess I can fool bugs, then.”
“I wasn’t right about your product.” I entwined my fingers and dropped them into my lap. “I was right to let you go. Granny was the one creating the danger, not you. I found the production village—yours—but not the packaging headquarters. We’re still not sure if it’s a village or a town or just a house. We don’t know.”