Total pages in book: 209
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Maybe even come to enjoy the pain. And pleasure.
It’s after the fourth kiss that Markadian stops, licks off his lips and teeth, and pulls his face back. “Would you like to stay here in my private bedroom with me today?”
Kaleb stares back at him, surprised by the question.
To be honest, he looked forward to returning to his cool, calm room at daybreak to relax before his big show tonight at the banquet. He could cuddle up with his book, too, the last chapter of which left him hanging. Maybe he’d also get a long-overdue visit from Raya, if she was awake.
He didn’t expect to stay here all day.
After already having stayed here all night, testing his sexual endurance and stamina.
And what will he do all day in here? Continue the torment? The biting? The endless, perpetual sexual edging?
Would Kaleb ever know rest again?
“Oh, my dear brother …”
Markadian rolls his eyes at the sound of Ashara’s voice. “I do seem to recall posting Miss May at guard outside …”
“Ever since the night before, yes, you have.”
“And?”
Ashara’s heels click along the floor as she saunters inside. “I have been waiting patiently to discuss a pressing matter with you—one you will want to hear before tonight’s engagement.”
Lord Markadian slides off of Kaleb and rises gracefully to his feet, standing by the bed. Kaleb quickly adjusts, sitting up and covering his privates with the bed sheets. Ashara is in a slim green gown, her lips colored a matching green as well. Strange, how she doesn’t once look at Kaleb, only at her brother.
There is tension in her face. Her eyes, glassy with emotion, a hardness Kaleb hasn’t seen before.
Kaleb notices.
“I’m all ears,” says Markadian with an impatient spread of his hands, his cheeks and lips still dotted with blood, some of it dried, some of it fresh. How long had they been kissing?
Ashara lifts her eyebrows, then begins to tell him.
In a different language.
Kaleb at once is confused—and mesmerized. Markadian’s eyes remain focused on his sister, appearing to understand each and every word. She speaks at length. She only looks at him.
Slowly, something loosens in Markadian’s face.
His jaw relaxes, lips part.
Eyebrows lift, as if cast into space, free of gravity, floating.
His eyes swim, not quite focused on her anymore, though she keeps speaking. Whatever it is she’s telling him, it is news that has him in an entirely dissociative state of mind.
Like he isn’t here. Complete detachment. Disbelief. Shock.
Kaleb stares at each of them, worried. Did someone die? A loved one of Markadian’s? Do gods even die? Or did something terrible happen? Does it involve one or more of the directors? Do they have to cancel all their plans tonight?
And then: “Are you sure?” comes Markadian’s voice, now in English, and it is low, paced, and crisp with significance. He lifts his eyes to his sister. “Are you absolutely sure?”
Ashara’s face is harsh and tense, yet her words are soft. “It’s confirmed to be true, my dear brother. Without a doubt.”
Markadian lowers his gaze. He looks nowhere at all. It is difficult news for him, whatever she has said. Heavy news.
Kaleb fights every urge in him to ask what it is. He fears he would be overstepping. Meddling in the issues of gods. Putting his nose where it doesn’t belong. Forgetting his place.
Markadian’s head turns ever so slightly in Kaleb’s direction, yet still without looking at him. His eyes gleam with something disturbingly dark. “And … what about him?” he then asks. “Does he know?”
“No,” states Ashara.
Markadian shuts his eyes.
And then he laughs.
He laughs and he laughs and he laughs.
The walls begin to curl, as if made of soap, and a giant has started clawing at them with its big fingernails. The chandelier bursts apart, too, all the glass pieces floating in the air like teardrops. And Markadian keeps laughing and laughing.
Ashara says, “Brother, calm yourself. The House …”
At once, Markadian is silent, and the room snaps back into place like a puzzle.
His silence is twice as loud as his laughter.
Ashara comes close to her brother. “I’m telling you, it’s the right time, the perfect time,” she then urges him. “Let us turn this banquet into an opportunity. While we have the directors united under our roof. You and me, Lord and Lordess, to set a precedent for the history of our kind, a step toward true unity. Everyone is ready for it. Expecting it. Then once our region is settled, we meet with Lord Xiang of the east region, and finally unite our regions under one rule, as it should be.”
Markadian is slowly shaking his head. “Sister, one thing at a time, one bloody thing at a—”
“The event is tonight. The time is now.”
His movements are slow. The news still drags heavily upon him, as if it literally sits upon his shoulders, crushing his perfect posture. “Are these our first steps in a conquest to take over the world? Got the Asias and the European sects in your belt, too?”