Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 579(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 579(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
A firm hand gripped my arm and swung me around. Jedrek leaned into me, his face a mask of rage.
“What do you think you’re playing at?” he seethed, spittle flying from his mouth. “You dare command me?”
I’d commanded him plenty of times in the past. He’d always ignored it or assumed I was joking.
It looked like I’d learned more than crassness at the castle.
My animal seeped fire into me.
“Get your hand off me,” I said in a low, calm voice.
His eyes flicked back and forth, looking at each of my eyes in turn. My mind jumped to something my sister, Sable, had told me this morning. She’d said my eyes were glowing. Nyfain’s glowed, too, when his animal was pumping power into him. His dragon’s eyes glowed all the time.
“You’ve been gone a few days, haven’t you?” Jedrek said softly, peeling his fingers from around my arm. “You’ve found him, then.”
I furrowed my brow, not daring to say anything. Could he know about Nyfain?
“What did you ask for?” he asked. “To get out? No, you’re a slave to your family—you wouldn’t have forsaken them. You asked to save your dad, I’ll bet, right?”
“What are you talking about?” I finally spat.
He smirked. “Just remember, anyone can barter with the demon king. Even me. But I won’t ask him to save a waste of a parent. I told you I would be marrying you. I’m a man of my word. You will strip off those ridiculous pants, and you’ll put away your silly little weapons, and you will serve your man with a smile and open legs, do I make myself clear?”
My animal thrashed, trying to take control and attack, but I held her back. I needed only words to handle this ape.
“You would enter into a bargain with the demon king, the slyest, most cunning bastard in all the world, in order to make me marry you? Of all the things you could ask for—freedom, riches, two coherent thoughts to rub together—you would choose instead to force someone to pretend to love you? How fucking sad are you, Jedrek? How small, insignificant, and…desperate are you?”
He gave me a smug grin. “You won’t be pretending anything. The demon king is all-powerful. He can make you love me. He can make you salivate for me.”
“What a change from your normal nightly routine, then, huh? Make sure you ask him—if you can find him, because last I checked, he was in charge of his own kingdom—to make me believe you satisfied me when we both know you never could. That would be a real shock for you. A happy woman after your terrible excuse for a lay.”
Jedrek gritted his teeth and pointed at my face. “I’ll make you pay for those comments.” He turned and strutted away.
I clenched my hands into fists before releasing them again. “I hate that guy.”
You should’ve let me at him, my animal said. I would’ve rocked his world.
Then he would’ve cried foul. He’s a small, little man with a fragility issue, and he can’t stand anyone to make him look the fool.
There’s that thesaurus again. Why not a small, little, tiny man?
Oh, shut up.
I turned back toward the weapons in a rush, wrestling with my animal’s desire to run after Jedrek and attack him. How did Nyfain deal with this all the time? Why did anyone miss it? When this beast didn’t get her way—which was always, lately—she was fucking exhausting.
Phyl was staring at me with wide eyes.
“Sorry,” I said automatically, shaking my head. “He’s the second dickface that has accosted me today, and my patience is wearing thin.”
Phyl licked his lips and leaned over the stall some. “You’re an odd duck around these parts, Finley, but don’t you take that as a bad thing. You weren’t meant to fit in here. The day your mother asked me to make you your very own hunting knife—remember that?—I knew then that you were different. This village used to be a haven for the lesser-powered shifters in the kingdom. Them, and the ones that didn’t want to fight for the king and kingdom. But just because you were born in a place, doesn’t mean you belong there. Your mother didn’t have much power, but she was fierce. She came from a long line of fighters. The power gene must’ve just skipped a generation. It didn’t skip you, though, did it? She let you be tough and wild for a reason.”
He held out a sword, the color a little dull from age. A deeper red stone shone in the hilt of this one, and the silver design swirling around it was much more intricate. The leather was supple and soft against my palm, the edge of the blade sharp.
“This is gorgeous,” I said on a release of breath.
“Yes, I made that before the curse, when traveling merchants used to come through. I spared no expense. I thought maybe a noble would end up with it, or the prince himself! Could you imagine?” He smiled sheepishly. “It was always fun to dream big back then. No matter how fine I made them, those merchants always bought from me. There was always someone they could sell to. So I just made them better and better.”