Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“Fuck, I was hoping she was mistaken,” he said quietly, looking at me with a mixture of frustration and concern.
“Don’t say it.” I shook my head, my stomach churning at what he’d most likely observed.
“You smell like Avianna.”
Shit.
“Well, I am acting as her guard since Olivia is busy.” The excuse was true and rolled off my tongue, but I mentally cursed myself for showering with her this evening. Instead of washing her scent from my body, I’d simply soaked more of her in, especially since showering wasn’t the half of what had gone down in that bathroom. And then there was the fact that my heart pumped her blood through my veins.
“That isn’t what I mean.”
I kept my eyes forward, scanning for any movement in my section, but there was none.
“Are you—”
“Don’t finish that question,” I warned him.
His eyes flared.
“I would hate to have to lie to you, Benedict. First and foremost because I consider you a friend, and secondly because it would be really fucking painful for you when I began spouting multiple fibs just so you’d have to sort out the truth from your own skin.” And I would. What was between Avianna and I was ours and ours alone.
He stared at me for a few poignant seconds, and then shoulders relaxed. “Good to see you’re back to feeding. You were looking half-dead for a while there.”
“Hmm.”
“Look, you know you can count on my discretion, but if Jocelyn picked up on something, and I did, too, then the others aren’t far behind.”
A warning growl rumbled in my chest.
“And whatever secrets you keep are yours, of course—”
“Thanks for the permission,” I ground out through clenched teeth. Relax, this is one of your closest friends. He’s not a threat to you or to Avi.
“—but you have to know that no one would give a shit if that…secret came to light. You both deserve happiness. You are one of the best assassins in the order—”
“And she’s a fucking princess,” I hissed. “Tell me again how much of a shit our king wouldn’t give, Benedict. Tell me there’s not a betrothal contract being signed in two fucking weeks that will secure that king’s throne. Tell me more about just how much you know—”
“About loving a princess?” He gestured down the border where Jocelyn walked. “I might have a little experience with that.”
“No one said shit about love.” My ribs clamped down on my heart, and the damn thing ached.
He glanced down at his bare forearms, and his brow furrowed as nothing appeared on his skin. “If that’s the angle you’re taking.” He shrugged. “Fine.”
“Your princess gave up her entire queendom for you.” I swallowed. “She turned her back on her people all for you.”
“They took her back,” he muttered. “And she never wanted the crown, anyway.”
“Not my point.” I turned and faced my brother head on, pointing between us. “You and I are not the same, Benedict. You’re a fucking Duke.”
“I gave the title to my cousin so I could serve Alek.” A slow smirk played over his face. “And if you’re going to tell me that it was my title that lured Jocelyn away from her throne, I can assure you it wasn’t.”
“I swear, if you say something about your dick right now, I’m going to start lying my ass off.”
He put his hands up. “Got it. My point is that the contract isn’t signed yet, and you and I both know that Alek has no problem going to war over Avi’s happiness.”
“And my point is that your female was willing to give up everything for you. Her throne. Her family. Her name.” Mine wasn’t. “Not everyone is quite that lucky, Benedict.”
His features slackened. “Fuck. Hawke—”
“Over here!” Jocelyn called out.
We all wended, materializing near her.
“That’s the queen’s guard.” She gestured behind her, where a young witch was partially hidden behind a boulder. “And those two…” She pointed to a group of four men, one of whom was fucking with the stone border. “Those two are Greenbriars.”
“What is he doing?” Ajax asked.
“Messing with the wards,” Jocelyn seethed, her lavender hair picking up with a breeze that didn’t exist. “Greenbriars are good at two things, healing the earth and fucking with it. The wards they use are extensive and secret, and they have an uncanny knack for screwing with protective spells that don’t belong to them.”
“The other two are human,” Dagon noted. “And those weapons…”
“Those are Sons,” I spat. “And my bet is they’re carrying poisonous rounds.” The vampire slayers had long since learned how to harness our one weakness, an herb, into their bullets. We’d nearly lost Alek to one.
“How do we follow them?” Talon asked as the figure stood and stepped over the border from witch territory to human.
“Do we have permission?” Zachariah asked Lachlan.
“We do. The Conclave is a wee bit…unsettled at the moment due to the rapid ascension of the witch queen and Luka, the lycan alpha’s death, but we were given permission to search every territory but one.”