Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Gabrio follows me. “I don’t know what fucking has to do with my inquiry.”
“How about fucking off? Does that work?” I wave him away, not bothering to look at him.
“Lake.” He grabs my arm and jerks me back. “Why are you acting like this?”
I stare up into his green eyes. “You’re serious right now?”
His angular jaw pulses with tension. “Yes.”
I shake my head. “You’re just like your brother.” I turn and continue down the torchlit corridor toward the kitchen.
“Which one?”
“All of them.”
He’s on my heels again. The man must be a sucker for punishment.
“In case you haven’t noticed,” I say, “I almost killed you yesterday, so I suggest keeping your distance.”
“I asked Bard to help you. Did he come last night?”
I stop and turn to face Gabrio, an inquisitive look on my face.
“I know how much you’ve been suffering since being changed,” he explains. “I thought he might be able to give you relief.”
Why did that sound so sexual in my mind? Maybe because when it comes to Bard, I’ve never quite gotten over him. “Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?” Gabrio asks.
“Pretending you care about me.”
“Because I do.” He lowers his voice. “But you are my brother’s wife.”
“So?”
He takes my hand and gives it a gentle squeeze.
I’m not falling for this again. I let Gabrio in before. I trusted him because he saved my life. He not only gave up being a Wall Man, which is a big deal in this world, but he gave up being a giant. I was knocking on death’s door after my first encounter with Benicio and needed human food and clean water to drink. That’s why Gabrio went to River Wall. Without the supplies he sent back over the bridge, I would have died.
“If you cared about me, then you’d help me get home,” I say, “not help your brother keep me here.”
“You can leave at any time, Lake. You’re the ruler now.”
I raise a brow. “Oh, really.”
“You’re not a prisoner.”
“So you’re saying that if I tried to leave, the hundreds of giants camped all around the palace wouldn’t try to stop me?” Fat chance.
“They would try to persuade you to stay, as would my brother. But if you gave the order, your vampire army would attack, and you could walk away in the chaos. If you made it to the wall, the Wall Men would not stop you from crossing over. You are their queen.”
“Well, maybe I’ll just try it tonight, then.”
“You would abandon this world and turn your back on the War People? They worship you. They believe you are going to usher in a new era of prosperity.”
A pang of guilt ticks in my stomach.
No, he’s manipulating you, Lake. Don’t listen. I have to focus on the facts, and the facts are pretty damning. “It’s such a shame they didn’t extend that same affection to my mother and father and every other Norfolk you condemned to die so that Alwar could feed his thirst for power.”
“I cannot help the past, Lake. I can only tell you the truth. And the truth is that the Proxy Vow is over. You did that.”
Up until recently, there was a treaty called the Proxy Vow that used to govern the kingdoms, including the rules around who sat on the throne. Because the size and intelligence of the creatures here vary so much, each kingdom selected a human bloodline to represent them in the Blood Battle. This battle was used to challenge the ruler for power if one kingdom felt they were more suited for the role. I first believed the Blood Battle was a fight to the death between these human proxies but had a rude awakening when I discovered the battled entailed being bled out a bucket at a time. The last person standing won.
Apparently, the Norfolk weren’t so good at it, because Alwar used up my family, summoning aunts, uncles, great-great-relatives, and my mom for this battle.
They all lost.
In the case of my dad, he found out my mom was called to fight and went after her. He was sentenced to death for interfering.
But, as Gabrio just pointed out, the Proxy Vow is void now, and even if it weren’t, the No Ones decided to stop enforcing it. Bard put a stop to that when he took their throne. He wants more for his “people,” though I’m not sure what more means. More meat? More land? More power?
“I am sorry for the price your family has paid for us,” Gabrio says, “but you must remember that Alwar was fighting for stability, which meant Benicio could not remain on the throne. The Blood King wanted to destroy the wall. He wanted to take over your world.”
Yeah. I know. And sooner or later, another Benicio will come along and want the same. My world is just a giant carrot cake—the kind with the cream-cheese frosting—and everyone here loves their sweets.