Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Leave us.” He took off his coat and hung it on the third hook, dropping his scarf on the next one over as always, and then he grabbed one of the nearby books, sat, and read.
“Once upon a time… in a land far, far away… there lived an evil prince…”
Chapter Six
Luna
The whole conversation with Benjamin had exhausted me, so much so that I went back to the inn and fell asleep even when I should have stopped by the local bookstore and asked about my hours for the week.
I knew that small-town people could be fickle, and I wanted to start off on the right foot, but after my encounter with Benjamin, I’d been so exhausted that it felt like I lost years off my life making it up the stairs of the inn and into my bed.
It didn’t help that I had nightmares about the forest as if it had living, breathing monsters in it, just waiting to devour me whole. I dreamed of harsh whispers and a man who screamed his love for me until his voice was hoarse, until the feeling of flames overtook my body and nothingness replaced the pain. That love was more terrifying than the monsters. Because the last man who’d said that had died right in front of me.
With a jolt, I came awake, but a heavy sleep dragged me toward dark oblivion again even as I glanced at the blurry alarm clock and, this time, grazed it with my fingertips only to feel a dull buzz pulse through my skin as the numbers started flying backward, from nine to one. Sleep overtook me as a heavy stillness kept me almost pinned to the bed and the world around me phased.
I woke with a gasp in the middle of a field, leaning against a tree. I brushed my hand over the rough fabric covering my thigh and glanced down at a creamy white skirt made of spun wool. Gray and pale blue threads had been spun into the garment, and I ran my palm over it once more. My clothes looked like I’d just taken a trip to the sixteen hundreds. I drew a labored breath and instinctively knew I owed the difficulty of fully expanding my lungs to a whalebone corset pressing into my sides.
“Found you,” a male voice growled before pulling me back against him.
He smelled like pine and cinnamon.
I found myself melting into him like I knew him. Whatever this dream was, it felt good, and it felt real, so real that I could almost taste him in the air with each passing second.
My breath came out in a rush, white puffs billowing right in front of me, the air so chilly that I wanted to sink back against the familiar man even more than I already was.
I didn’t panic. I didn’t freak out. I just felt… calm, like I really was waiting for him to put his arms around me, to pull me against his side and reveal all his secrets. For the first time in what felt like years, I exhaled, and I turned in his arms with expectation, something I’d always shied away from after seeing the ones closest to me die one by one.
“Benjamin?” I whispered in shock. Why the hell was he in my dream? And why was his hair dark green? His eyes a different color? Was it his twin? My imagination? “What are you—”
He cradled my cheeks and drew me toward him, covering his mouth with mine, our tongues becoming a tangled mass of need. “Sorry.” He pulled back, an arrogant smirk on his perfect lips. “I couldn’t help it.”
God, he was pretty, with his hair dancing long past his chin covered in braids and beads. His eyes locked onto mine.
“Hello,” I whispered because I didn’t know what else to say.
“So polite,” he teased with a wink. “Last time you said hello, I had you back against that tree for hours…”
Hours?
I gulped, feeling my cheeks heat. “Well, I just…” I had nothing. “Missed you.”
His gaze softened. “It’s going to be all right, I promise, Luna, one day you’ll look at me like we aren’t damned. One day you’ll look at this—” He gripped my hand in his and squeezed. “—and know that it’s forever. Know that I’ll fight every god in this forsaken world to call you mine.”
Tears filled my eyes as I whispered, “I know.” And oddly enough, I did. I felt it in my soul.
I would chase him to the depths of hell to call him mine.
Body broken and bloody, I would crawl toward him with his name on my lips as I drew my last breath.
He was mine.
Mine!
Suddenly I was overcome with the need to touch him to claim him, to prove that this was real, not a dream or fantasy brought on by the hectic day or my accident.