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)
She turns back around to look at me. “But seriously. Is this for real, real?”
My eyes narrow. What does she mean? “What other real is there?”
She laughs and turns around. I think I could become addicted to the sound of her laugh. “I mean, is this just a computer program or—” She reaches out now to touch the stone walls. “It all feels real. Cool to the touch. So are we in another, I don’t know, realm? Are we still in my world even?”
Her eyes track back to me, and I feel a sizzle that goes straight through me when her gaze connects with mine. “Your realm, yes. Just removed from the humans. Safe from their eyes and tracking devices.”
Her eyebrows go up.
“So it’s a magic castle?” she squeaks. “I wanna see everything.”
I pause. This feels too good to be true. Immediately, I am suspicious. “Why? So you can find a way to escape? Because we are in a place far from other human dwellings. There is nowhere to run.”
The smile falls from her face, and she crosses her arms over her chest as she takes a step back from me. “Well, that’s ominous as fuck. I thought you said you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“I would never harm a consort,” I bark, and she takes another step back.
I grit my teeth and stretch my neck. Fuck. Romulus tends to wake up when I get agitated, always ready to take charge of my screwups and save the day with his calm, cold logic. I tug my flask from my pants and chug a small swill. The liquid is bitter, metallic almost, and a little salty on my tongue, but it does the trick and sends my twin back to dreamland. I am fully my own again.
My consort eyes me warily, and I see the distrust her distrust.
“If there is one thing I have learned to value above all others, it is the health and well-being of one’s consort. I will see to your happiness here. I vow it.” I lift a hand to my chest over my heart. She may not know me yet, but in this, I am earnest. It feels strange to show earnestness when I wear so many other masks for everyone else. With her alone, perhaps, I can be real. Or as real as a monster such as me can ever manage.
Her tense stance loosens slightly. Her arms stay crossed even as her shoulders lower a bit. “Trust is earned,” she says.
I nod. Ah, so my consort is wise as well as beautiful. I am happy to discover this.
She bites her lip. “My name’s Lauren.”
“Lo-Ren,” I pronounce, then grin. “Lo-Ren consort, it is my heart’s delight to have you here.”
I hold out my arm wide to the doorway of my bedroom, gesturing toward the rest of the castle, hoping it will delight her as much as my room has. “What would you like to see first?”
Chapter Four
LAUREN
I don’t know quite what to make of him. This man claims to be a god but, at the moment, he feels much more like a man. Well, one with wings and a tail anyway.
What do I know though? I don’t have the best track record with men.
But we’re not thinking about that right now. I’ve stepped into something that resembles a fairytale at the moment, and one doesn’t clutter that with bullshit memories of the past. At least not right now. Right now, I want to be lost in this moment and completely forget my past.
Because what I wanted, what I’ve really wanted—even though I never knew how to pray for it—was to be free. Free from all the bullshit of my own life. And somehow, miraculously, that freedom has been delivered in the form of a seven-foot tall, muscle-bound, handsome if wild-eyed, bewinged god. And the tail, I can’t forget about the tail. Even now, it twitches in the air behind him like a playfully curious cat.
Only as I watch him watching me do I remember he asked me a question. What do I want to see first?
“Everything!” I exclaim.
He grins wide, white teeth flashing, and holds out a hand toward the door. “I’m not sure our castle is as magical as you might wish. Our father had lavish tastes, but my brothers burned many of his things after an. . . er, extreme disagreement.”
“You have brothers?” I ask. “Are they like you?”
He coughs a little, and the hood he’s still wearing falls back from his face a bit. He tugs it into place again. “We were all given different. . . ah, gifts by our father. So no, not like me.” Then he grins, the big one that splits his face, one eyebrow quirking up as he flirts with me. “I assure you, I am quite unique. And you have gotten the best of all the brothers.”