Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
“I told you, I don't know,” Cassandra said, just the hint of tension in her voice.
“You know more than you're letting on, little sister,” I heard a male voice, and knew in my bones it was Edward.
The vampire we'd been waiting for.
This was our moment. As much as I wanted to shift and slice his throat, I knew I couldn't. We'd been waiting months for this chance at information and I wouldn’t blow our cover.
I did my best to lock down each of my instincts, and slowed my pace.
“Our brother is missing,” Edward snapped. “There’s been no sign of Warrick in months, and the last bit of information I received was that he was heading to the king's residence. To you. And I don't know if that was on his own accord or if he was being summoned, but I find it very convenient that you left the minute he was spotted heading that way.”
“What the hell are you accusing me of?” she fired back. “I haven't seen Warrick or you or any sign of our family since all of you abandoned me at that court to take the full punishment for what Father was caught doing.”
I edged around the corner, doing my best to not bare my teeth at the sight of him gripping her arm so dangerously tight I could see the fear in her eyes.
“You are hiding something from me, sister, and I am damn well sure going to figure it—” Edward's eyes fell to me as I made myself fully visible, padding up to Cassandra’s side.
He dropped his grip on her arm, turning to face me, curiosity in his eyes.
He moved faster and quicker than I expected, a flash of iron chain snapping out and wrapping around my neck in an instant.
A half-growl, half-whimper ripped from my lips as I did my best to hold my shift even though the iron was draining the magic in me.
“This cat has never once walked into a room without hissing at me,” Edward growled, yanking on the chain even harder.
“Stop!” Cassandra cried.
I lost hold on the shift, my panther skin shedding and my vampiric body thrashing against the chain that burned my fingers as I tried to get it off.
Edward yanked me to the floor, throwing another chain and another, pulling them from a supply that had been set on a table, no doubt about to have been put on Cassandra if she’d kept denying his questions.
Every muscle in my body weakened under the iron, the pain like a thousand hot knives stabbing into my skin. My eyes met Cassandra’s, imploring and apologetic.
She flew backward against the wall, as if some invisible force had shoved her there, drawing Edward’s attention. She blinked a few times, her eyes shifting from that beautiful vulnerable gaze to an icy-cold, unforgiving mask that matched that of her mother's normal features.
“Thank the gods,” she said in a saccharine-sweet voice as she looked down at me in disgust. “He was the link to Alek’s compulsion,” she said to Edward. “You have to get Mom off the island.”
“What?” Edward snapped. “The king used his powers to compel you?”
“Yes,” she said rolling her shoulders as if she was still shaking off the power. “That was my punishment,” she said. “To sneak this hunter trash onto the island without the wards detecting him.”
“That coward,” Edward said.
She was lying. Right? My king would never compel her, would he?
Fuck, I didn't know.
I hadn't been in this century long enough to have formed the bond of trust with my king, instead relying on my honor and duty of my position. Alek could’ve compelled her while me and my brothers were catching up on everything in the modern world. He could’ve compelled her while I was out on any one of my many missions. I’d never paid attention enough to her. I’d hated her on principle, hated her for her name and her status.
But I knew her. I knew her better than this. Right?
But if my king had used me as the blood link for compulsion, he could have easily done so when I had made the pledge to him, slicing my hand open in the official custom ceremony of committing myself to his reign.
Fuck. I couldn't tell.
I couldn't trust my own heart.
I’d been betrayed before, by somebody I thought I loved. Who was to say I wouldn't have made the same mistake again?
“If you were truly compelled by the king,” Edward said, not even paying me any attention as I sat there and writhed on the floor, the pain of the iron draining the life right out of me. “Tell me something. Give me a piece of information that I can use. Something no one else would know. Something someone loyal to the king would never share.”
This was it. She’d never give up anything that would hurt the king. She'd make up some lie, and I’d know. I’d know she didn't betray me.