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)
Warrick didn't press either, instead nodding at his chambers. “They're allowing me to train as an assassin,” he said. “I have the right bloodline to do it, and the skills.”
“That's good,” I said. “That's really good.”
“What do you think they're going to do to our mother?” he asked after I'd remained silent for a little while.
“She has centuries of information,” I said. “They'll keep her alive, but I think we need to be prepared for our mother to be in prison for a very, very long time.”
Warrick flashed me a mischievous smile, cocking his eyebrow may. “You think we could convince one of the guards to let us into her cell? I'm sure we could get a hold of some Night Thistle paint to decorate it with.”
I smiled for the first time in twenty-four hours. “You always were my favorite brother.”
CHAPTER 19
Talon
Adrenaline coursed through my veins and my skin pricked as the claws I shifted my hands into slid back, transforming into normal fingers again.
The house we’d wended to was now drenched in blood, me and the hunters and a few assassins having dispatched over a dozen Sons of Honor who had been holed up here.
We’d caught them gearing up, getting ready to eradicate another list of names of potential powerful bloodlines. But we'd stop them before they could leave and had inadvertently saved over a hundred names on that list.
A list with names we wouldn't have even considered had we not gotten this information.
Had we not forced it out of Cassandra’s mother's traitorous mouth.
I stood outside of the house, catching my breath as Ajax, Dagon, Zachariah, and Saint all came to my side. Benedict followed, as did his mate, Jocelyn.
“How are we supposed to protect people that we don't know are part vampire?” Dagon asked the group, eyeing the list that was now in Ajax’s hand.
“With the help of your...” Ajax cleared his throat. “With the help of Cassandra, Grace and I can work on relocating and helping these people.”
Zachariah nodded, and the sense of battle closure washed over me, making my muscles feel tight and heavy.
“I've barely been able to make sense of what happened on the island,” I admitted. “Thinking about an entire new mission is difficult.” I shook my head. “Cassandra could have been killed,” I continued.
Anger and pain and fear welled up in my chest. “I haven’t even been able to speak with her about it. But the way she put herself between me and that knife, the way her brother could have easily gained the upper hand and ended her...”
“She had her reasoning,” Zachariah said, glancing around at my brothers, as if they knew something about Cassandra that I didn't.
“I don't care what her reasoning was,” I snapped. “She could have died. Why would she be so reckless? Why didn't she let the two of you take the lead?” I pointed to Ajax and Dagon, who’d been with her in that dungeon.
Benedict cleared his throat, looking a little sheepishly at his mate before glancing at me. “Remember that you’re in a new age,” he said. “The females don't really stay where you put them anymore.”
Jocelyn rolled her eyes. “Not when we have something to offer,” she said. “Not when our...when someone we care about is in danger. We have just as much right to risk our lives for those we care about as you do.”
I nodded, and Benedict and Jocelyn turned around when Hawk called to them, leaving me with just my brothers.
“I've never felt that way before,” I said. “I've never felt as helpless and useless as I did when I was buried underneath chains and couldn't move to help her. She may have gained the upper hand, but what if she hadn't? What if I’d had to lay there and watch as she was killed?”
“It didn't happen,” Dagon said. “You can play the what-if game all night, but what you should really be focusing on is what is.”
What is.
I hadn't even had a moment in time to talk to Cassandra, let alone make sense of everything that had happened. But did I really need to? I knew one thing with absolute certainty and that was that I couldn't lose her. That I wanted her for who she was because I was in love with everything that made her her.
“We're done here?” I asked, wanting to make sure that I wasn't about to abandon them if they needed me still.
Again, they shared that look, the one that made me feel like I was missing something.
“We're done,” Zachariah said. “Go talk to her.”
I didn't need to be told twice.
And it didn't take me long to find her, latching on to her scent in the king's residence. I opened the door to my chambers and found her sitting in a chair that had been tucked into the corner of the sitting area.