Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
“Aren’t you a pretty thing?”
His hand is around my neck, and he isn’t squeezing, but I know he could. He wants me to know he has the strength and the power to end me in a second.
A sob tears out of me, shaking my chest.
“Oh, come now, why are you crying? Surely I’m not that repulsive?”
His orcs laugh like this is a spectacular joke.
“They tell me you’re not eating, little human, and that you’re refusing to drink the water they put in your cell,” Mordeus says.
I look to the male behind him—the one who’s been spitting in my water—before dropping my eyes back to the ground.
He lifts my chin, but I keep my eyes cast down. “Look at me!”
I won’t, but then—then I do. My body isn’t my own. My eyes connect with his, and no matter how hard I try to point them elsewhere, they won’t go.
“You see this? This is how it will be. You are mine. You cannot refuse me.”
“That’s enough!”
The sound of Kendrick’s voice snaps me out of the memory and back to the present. I’m still by the fire, sitting cross-legged in front of Natan, but my body’s shaking and my face is wet with tears, just like it was that day—that first time my body wasn’t my own to control.
Natan is pale-faced in front of me, his eyes red, like he’s been awake too long and forced to keep his eyes open.
“So?” I sniff back more tears. I’m unsteady and need to get my footing in the present, but it’s hard. When I think about Mordeus, I feel like he’s close. Like I carry him around with me. That’s why I need to see him dead myself.
Natan’s looking at Kendrick. “Nothing,” he murmurs. “I went as deep as I could, and I couldn’t find anything.”
My chest squeezes.
“You’re sure?” Kendrick asks.
“Nothing at all.”
I drag in a breath, drinking in the night air, the campfire smoke, the lingering smell of dinner—anything to remind myself I’m here and not then. “So maybe I’m not fae after all.” But I know it’s not true.
I stand because I need to prove to myself I can.
This is my body.
I am in control.
“I need a minute.” I spin to the woods and take two steps before I stop cold, staring into the darkness. Fear claws at my chest until suddenly Kendrick’s hand is gripping mine and all the terror falls away.
He gives my hand a squeeze, then nods toward the trees, and I let him lead me into the darkness of the forest, where the leaves crunch under our boots and the drone of the insects grows louder.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“About what?”
“I pushed you to go there with Natan, pushed you to remember something terrible and . . .”
And it was all for nothing. Because I have no power at all. I squandered it to feed my darkest desires. Squandered it for a ring when I could’ve been part of something good for once.
“I’m sorry,” he says again.
“Maybe I’m sorry too.”
“For what?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. For everything—for being a scared girl, for not having any magic, for jumping at the sight of my own shadow.” For trading everything for revenge.
“I think you’re pretty damn brave.”
I scoff. “Obviously you’re not paying attention.”
He stops walking and turns toward me. “There’s nothing braver than doing the things that scare you.”
I pull back so I can meet his eyes, search his face, study his soft mouth.
His gaze mimics mine, snagging on my mouth. His tongue darts out to wet his lips.
Then he backs away. One step. Two. And disappointment leaves me hollow.
A twig snaps, and Kendrick darts to put himself in front of me. Protecting me. Always protecting me.
“Skylar,” Kendrick says on an exhale. “What’s going on?”
“Sorry,” Remme says, and I glance their way in time to see him tugging Skylar back toward camp. “We didn’t mean to interrupt. It can wait.”
“Say what you came to say,” Kendrick says.
“We’ve been listening in on our neighbors,” Skylar says. “Since it sounds like they’re headed to the same place we are, we figured we could gather intel.”
“And?” Kendrick says.
Remme looks at me and grimaces. “Whether they’re right about their king or not, it sounds like Feegus Keep redoubled their security detail. Something’s got them spooked.”
Remme and Skylar exchange a look, then Remme bows his head.
“We heard Natan say he couldn’t find any power inside her,” Skylar says, waving in my direction. “We’re thinking that if we want to adjust our plans for how we’ll approach the keep, we should decide now and find a place for her to stay until we can get what we need.”
Kendrick stiffens.
“No,” I blurt, my hand instinctively pressing the ring hidden inside my cloak. “I don’t want to wait anywhere. I want to go with you.”
Kendrick winces. “We need to be smart about this, Slayer. You could be hurt. Or captured.”