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)
“No. Some have vaginas. The seamster, Cecil, is a horrible jackass. Answer the question.”
“Oh. Well, my mom didn’t have magic, and that trait is always passed on.”
“It almost never is, actually. It’s quite rare not to have one’s magic flower, but every person born a shifter still has the genes. But I see what you’re saying. You’ve always assumed you don’t have magic because your mother doesn’t, then?”
I furrowed my brow, shaking my head a little. “I’ve always heard that a parent will pass on magiclessness. And anyway, Granny is—was—a pretty powerful alpha and she said she couldn’t feel an animal in me. She tried every year just to appease me. You know, because sometimes there are late bloomers.”
He went rigid.
I leaned back a little to give him space. “Sorry if you thought I was just suppressed. Do you want me to walk?”
“Aurelia, my darling, don’t dip your toes into the absurd. That is not your journey. Granny told you that you didn’t have an animal?”
“Yes. She tried numerous times. She said she’d be able to feel something even if she wasn’t strong enough to pull it out.”
“She certainly should’ve been able to, that is true. And obviously, without magic, you’d have worried that life outside of Granny’s village would end in the same sort of trauma you witnessed as a child, but this time it would be targeted at you. And while you seem like a determined, stubborn sort of person who wouldn’t back down in the face of adversity, I imagine you worried that if the tormentors succeeded, you’d fail in keeping your mother’s promise in remembering her?”
It was silent all around us but for hooves thumping against the ground and the squeak of carts farther back. Weston’s head had come up, clearly having heard me and Hadriel talking, this apparently more interesting than my other issues and hurdles over the years.
I hunched a little, my gaze finding the ground, still so far away. “You’re pretty astute.”
“I’m incredibly good at reading people, love. It makes me unbelievable at sussing out information through gossip.”
“Which is why you are my babysitter, I take it? You try and pull information out of me through idle chitchat while Head Dick over there reads my most intimate thoughts and feelings from over the years.”
“Something like that, yes.” He patted my leg. “I’m enjoying my time with you, though, if it’s any consolation.”
At least he was honest. I supposed that might’ve been the reason I didn’t take offense to it. That, and I was enjoying my time as well. Most of it, anyway. I enjoyed his easy banter and his effortless proximity. I liked that he seemed to actually care about my stories and worried I might break my neck from jumping off the horse.
Maybe it just boiled down to the fact it felt like he actually cared, and I craved that. I was big enough to admit it.
I shrugged. “Is that so hard to fathom? Granny kept me safe. She kept us all safe. And look, what she said would happen if I got captured came to pass. Imprisonment, taking me away, the leader using me for sex . . .” She had failed to mention I’d like it. “She tried to protect me from exactly this. And you killed her for it.”
“Phew.” Hadriel braced a hand on his thigh. “This is a juicy onion. I have water works with each layer.”
“It’s just . . .” My voice was firm, knowing Weston was listening. “You’ve been suppressed, fine. But, number one, you knew you had magic, and number two, you were in the same boat as the whole kingdom. You were all in it together. I don’t have magic and I’m on my own. I’m the only one. My mom looked for help and look where it got her. She tried to settle down, look where that got her. Right now, I have—or had—a forever home. I have flowers and a semblance of a garden. I have a life. A community. They might not like me being there, but at least they tolerate me. They don’t try to force me out. All of this without magic. I had it pretty damned good for my situation, and I know that from experience.” I paused to take a steadying breath. “So yes, I’d go against the law as long as it wasn’t hurting anyone—and it isn’t, by the way. I dealt with the punishments from Granny when I stepped out of line because you know what? My life with her was a helluva lot better than the alternative. Even being punished or killed by your dragons is better than what I’ve already been through. These streaks of white in my hair are from trauma--being chased out with pitchforks when I was four, or seeing my mother get stoned in the street, barely able to escape, or hiding in wet bushes, freezing, starving, hoping the dogs from the nearby village I’d stolen bread from didn’t find me. I am not going to apologize for my choices. I am only apologetic for not killing the alpha when I had the chance.”