Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Another set of doors opens beneath us. I lean forward and my stomach drops as they carry the cage with the hunched daaknar within it.
Gasps erupt.
Including mine, as I realize his plan. “You cannot.”
“I can, and I will.” There’s a dangerous edge to his voice. He regards the faces in the stadium. “The spark of rebellion must be extinguished before it has a chance to catch. These are all dangerous sparks.”
I take in the huddle of mortals, the terror in their eyes, how the children cling to their mothers’ gowns. My heart has never particularly bled for these creatures who hunted my kind and made me hide in the shadows, but I look upon them now as one might look upon defenseless puppies. My chest tightens with dread at what we are about to witness.
The Saur’goths have all backed away, lining the perimeter of the arena.
Malachi turns to regard me. “Open the cage.”
I hesitate.
“Open it!” he roars, his fury crackling in the air, the two words echoing through the arena.
Forgive me. I shoot a stream of Vin’nyla, striking the latch. The door swings open with an eerie creak and the daaknar eases out, pulling itself up to its full height with a growl.
The women and children begin to cry. The men usher them to their backs, as if that will help.
But it won’t. Nothing will.
I close my eyes.
“Watch.”
“I cannot—” My words are cut off by Malachi’s powerful hand clamped over my jaw. He drags me to my feet to stand beside him. “You are their queen. Let them see your crown.”
A boy of maybe twelve cries out, attracting the daaknar’s attention.
“Have mercy on them,” I beg as it lunges.
Wendeline waits by the main doors to the royal garden, exactly where I told her to. “Your Highness.” She bows. “You are pale. Are you feeling ill?”
“Just tired.” And unable to dislodge those screams from my mind’s ear. I fear I will hear them in my sleep for years to come. I begin walking down the stone path.
She falls into step beside me. A group of Saur’goths grunt at us and she flinches.
“Ignore them. I do.” There seem to be more of them and fewer of the Islorian guards each day.
Wendeline hesitates. “I heard there was an event in the arena tonight.”
“Yes. An event.” More like a massacre. “Did you not attend?”
She shakes her head, her eyes downcast. “The last time I stood in that arena was … not a good night.”
“Yes, you began marking the mortals with the double crescent moon. Where have you seen such a thing, anyway?”
“In Mordain. The seers were known to draw it but without explanation. It was the first thing that came to mind. I had no idea what it meant. I certainly did not expect its ties to this secret kingdom in Stonekeep, which I am sure you are aware of by now.”
“I am. But let us tend to the plants, and I will tell you about the people who wear that same symbol in my old world.”
Her eyes light up.
“So, these People’s Sentinel … they hunt casters?” Wendeline pauses to smooth a finger over a vine. All hints of her fear for me have faded as we stroll deeper into the garden and I tell her about the old world, how different it is from this one.
“And burn them. They also hunt those who feed off mortal veins, though there are few of us left. They consider themselves disciples for the human race, rooting out evil.”
“And they are permitted to do so? No one questions this? The guild does nothing?”
“The mortal population, which greatly outnumbers our kind, does not know. It is all very clandestine. The Sentinel does not discuss it with nonbelievers, which is most of society. If they did, they would be labeled delusional and medicated to scare their demons away. We are mythical creatures. Fictional villains. The guild is happy to maintain this illusion, for our safety.” I pause. “Romeria’s mother is a disciple of their order.”
Wendeline gasps.
“Yes. Ironic, isn’t it, given what her daughter is? Not that she had any idea. But she tried to recruit Romeria. Brought the girl to a burning. That’s the night Romeria ran and never returned. She lived on the streets of a busy city for years.” I watched from afar, struggling not to intervene, my anger flowing. I knew Malachi had an interest in this family, but I didn’t know for what purpose until much later.
“And her father is, or was, a seer.”
“Is. Eddie is still alive. Though, I hazard, not for much longer. Not only did Romeria’s mother have no idea what she bore, she had no idea what she married. Him, I feel sorry for. As difficult as a life for a seer is in this world, you are far better off dead in that one. But Romeria’s mother? She reaps what she sows.” I could have killed that mortal a hundred times over and not lost sleep. Malachi forbade it. “But it is interesting, is it not? That the same symbol can mean two entirely different things in two realms? Though, I suppose in both cases, it hinges on protecting the mortals. Or seemingly so, given how many I heard were executed here because that very symbol uncovered their secret.”