Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 110034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
“You said she can regenerate though?”
“Louhi may no longer be the Goddess of Death, but she is still a Goddess, thanks to her father. Rangaista is what you mortals may think of as Satan, though perhaps he is not the end-all and be-all of all that is evil. Just one devil among others. An Old God. And since she is his daughter, she is a Goddess. As such, she is immortal until killed, and she’s very hard to kill. Seems the more evil someone is, the harder they are to get rid of. You have to wonder why that is.”
“You think being good gets you killed?”
“It doesn’t get you much, does it little bird?” I ask her. “Look at you. All these selfless sacrifices you made, and yet here you are. Still stuck with me, still being forced into a marriage that you don’t want, still unable to leave this land and see your father again.”
I hear her swallow, her body tensing in front of me. It’s only now that I realize she must be wearing the dress she was to be married in, of course now it’s dirty and torn to shreds, her long dark hair in knots and harboring moss and twigs.
“There is a lot I need to talk to you about,” she says quietly.
“And who says I want to talk to you at all?” I say, leaning in until my lips graze her earlobe.
She sucks in her breath, trying to hide a shiver from me, but I can feel everything her body is doing, how hard she tries to shut things down. That’s another thing about me. I can sense when someone is close to death, but I can also sense when someone is truly feeling alive. I know when Hanna’s body is ripe and ready for me, more than she knows herself.
“I know you’re mad,” she says after a moment, her muscles tensing. “I’ve seen the weather.”
I slip my hands around her waist, squeezing her. “You don’t know the half of it, fairy girl. You’ve never really seen me mad.”
Her head dips. “I saw what you did to Surma,” she says in a low voice.
“That was a thoughtless rage,” I admit, squeezing her until she gasps. “I don’t regret it, Surma deserved it, but there’s a certain madness I’m fond of that takes a lot of deliberation and thought. It’s a calculated anger and believe me, you don’t want to be on the receiving end of it. On second thought, perhaps you will be.”
I lick up the back of her ear until she shivers. That was a mistake. One taste of her honey skin and I feel my dick get harder. “I’m already furious at you and what you did,” I manage to say. “The fact that I just saved you from Louhi may have tempered that a bit, but I have no doubt you’re going to do or say something that will provoke me again. You thought I was a monster before…”
“Maybe I liked it when you were a monster.”
I can’t help but chuckle. I slip a hand into her hair and make a fist, tugging on it until she lets out a soft gasp. “Careful what you wish for, Hanna dear, especially in this land. Wishes have ways of coming true, and yet never in your favor.”
“Is that a threat?”
“I’m full of threats, little bird.”
Sarvi clears its throat. Pardon the interruption, sir, but do you mind toning down the weather? I’m getting tired.
I thought I made the storm disperse when I found out where Hanna was, but I suppose my own volatile emotions at the moment are still influencing things. The lightning and thunder have stopped, but the wind is still fierce and I can sense the fatigue in Sarvi as the unicorn flaps its wings.
“My apologies,” I tell Sarvi. “I need to keep myself in check. Perhaps it would be best if we spend the night somewhere, if you need the sleep?”
It’s not ideal—I want Hanna back at Shadow’s End as soon as possible—but I don’t want to cause any harm to my loyal companion either.
We shall see, Sarvi says. We’ll make it past the gorge at least and see how I feel.
The three of us fly in silence for a few minutes and I do what I must to concentrate on the task at hand—getting home and what to do with Hanna once we get there. I do what I can to not smell her or feel her or think about her in any pleasurable way.
Hanna breaks the peaceful silence. “Okay, so say Louhi does scrounge up some flying lizards. Or a giant eagle. Or say she decides to come after us on foot, then what?”
“You’re really worried about her?” I ask.
“Uh, yeah!” she exclaims, craning her neck around to give me the most incredulous look. “She has Rasmus, and he isn’t with her by choice, that much I can tell.”