Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“A spectacle—In front—Where?” Abaddon demands.
“I’m not sure. I forgot to ask.”
Then I hear voices in the background and some shuffling. Finally, a couple minutes later, Abaddon comes back on the phone. “Dammit, Layden’s found the video of it already. It’s all over the human’s internet. We’re on our way back.”
“Good.”
I go back upstairs to tell the woman the good news. Except right when I step on the stairs, my nose lifts and my ears attune. There’s activity in the kitchen. She’s left her room. Hmm. I suppose she does have two legs. I’m just surprised she knows her way around.
I head down the stairs and poke my head into the kitchen. She’s bustling around, her hair pulled back from her lovely face, grabbing ingredients and tossing them into a bowl.
Seeing her, I feel a strange slug in my chest. She’s so beautiful and moves with such sure grace. I can’t help remembering the way fire flashed in her eyes when we sparred upstairs earlier.
As if feeling my eyes on her, she suddenly looks my way. “Oh,” she says with a surprised little puff of air. “You.”
I swallow hard, trying to get my wits about me as I stride into the room. “Me,” I say, glad when my voice comes out normal.
“So I’ve informed my eldest brother of Remus’s latest catastrophe, and you’ll be happy to know that they’re all heading back from vacation early.”
She surprises me again when her eyes light up. “So I’ll get to meet Hannah and the baby?”
I frown. “Uh. Yes. The whole family will be coming.”
She smiles happily and drops her hands into the bowl, beginning to knead. “Excellent. Remus told me so much about them. I can’t wait to meet them. I assume Kharon and Ksenia will be coming, too?”
“Just how much did my brother tell you about our family?” I ask, disconcerted as I walk closer.
Her eyes flash my way quickly. “Everything.” She focuses her attention back on what’s in the bowl. “Well, he didn’t tell me very much about you. So now that you’re here, you might as well fill in the gaps.”
My mouth drops open a little. And then I get my wits about me again. “I think it better if you tell me about you. Where are you from?”
Her eyes narrow as she pulls a yeasty dough from the bowl and slaps it on the counter. “I’m not going to tell you that. You’ll just try to take me back there.”
Clever girl. “It doesn’t matter if you tell me or not. Layden said the humans have video of Remus descending on your town. He will be able to tell me the location.”
She hisses in a breath as her eyes flash up my way. Then she glares back at the dough and begins to knead it furiously. “It doesn’t matter. Remus will come for me again.”
Though by the uncertain look that enters her eyes after she says it, I can see doubt has been planted in her head. It’s my job to water that seed.
“Whatever my brother told you,” I say, making my voice softer, “was a lie. He is not who he presented himself as.”
She scoffs at me as she shakes her head. “What do you know about it? You weren’t there. You were asleep.”
My jaw tenses, and for a moment, I worry Remus is threatening to take back our body. But no, I’m still in control. “I know my twin. Don’t you think I know him better than anybody?”
She slams the dough against the counter one last time before not only looking at me but taking several steps toward me, planting her flour-dusted hands on her hips. “Oh yeah? Are the two of you ever awake at the same time? Do you ever actually talk?”
“Well, no.” I blink a couple times. “But that doesn’t matter. We share a memory—usually anyway, apart from whatever he’s managed to do these last few days. . .” I frown, then regret having said it out loud when she looks curious. I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. He makes a mess, then I wake up and have to straighten it out. That’s how it’s always been between us.”
She just shrugs. “Sounds to me like you’re just normal brothers with a serious communication problem.”
I huff out an incredulous laugh. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Maybe. But I’ve met him, and now I’ve met you. So yeah, I get it. You and him are caught in a seriously inconvenient situation.” She gestures toward my body.
Then she lets out a long, deep breath. “Okay, that’s not fair of me to say. I don’t understand. I’m sure no one can really understand it except you two. I’m sure it sucks a lot of the time to have to share a body. It’s gotta drive you both crazy.”