Series: Lords of Rathe Series by Meagan Brandy
Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“I wasn’t going to ask you to help me.” I slide out the little trunk made from a large tree trunk, lowering myself down and watching the clock that’s hanging on the wall in the lounge click. “I have two hours to pack my things and be there, Kaia. Not that I have anything to fucking pack because Knight never allowed me to go back and get my stuff.”
“If I offered to take you to get your things, would you go?” she asks knowingly, using logic to try to erase one bad thing from my mind.
The answer is no, I wouldn’t. I couldn’t possibly face my dorm after what I witnessed there. For all I know, it’s been emptied, all my belongings thrown away like the carpet soaked in my best friend's blood.
How am I supposed to sleep in the same place as Knight knowing what he's capable of?
I look back to Kaia. “I need you to do one thing for me.”
“What is that?” she asks, and in a matter of hours I feel like I can trust her more than I can most people I’ve known for years. Beside from the fact that she has proven herself, my spirit, whatever the fucking thing is that lives inside of me, feels at peace whenever she’s around.
I can’t deny that.
I lean forward, turning my head to the glass window behind her and watching as the soft pink sky begins to burn into a mustard yellow. “Wait—why’s the sky doing that?”
“Hmmm?” She turns in her chair to follow my line of sight. “Oh, well, when there’s a forced Evolution of the King due to a Royal—or future Dark Lord—who has rejected his mate, it knocks off the balance of magic until the courtship has ended and the new Queen is crowned.”
I blink at her, willing for her to continue since she blurted it out as casually as one would their grocery list.
“Sorry, I’ll continue.” I watch as she stands from her spot and moves toward a large bookshelf. One that I didn’t recognize any other time that I’ve been here. How did I not see that? It’s hardly even a bookshelf. The wall dividing the kitchen and the living area parted by a wall filled with books. None I’d recognize, until a bright pink and blue spine comes into view. Boys of Brayshaw High. I almost choke on my drink. I was obsessed with that book. The fuck is that doing here? My eyes find the other book beside it. The Silver Swan. I should ask Kaia why she has The Elite Kings on her shelf, or what kind of messed up shit she’s into reading—because I need recommendations, but I kinda want to ask her why she put both of them so close together. I’d read both. Having those authors in the same vicinity, not just shelves, is enough to scare my ass back to Earth.
“As I was saying,” she skips over both books. Thank god. And stops at a leather-skinned older spine. “The balance of magic has been knocked around, so things are going to start changing around here. It affects us all, London. In so many ways.” She finally turns to me, holding the book open and placing it onto the table in front of me. “But since I only have two hours, I’m going to try to make this quick.
“Stygians are dark, you know that already, but what you don’t know is that during Yemon, the imbalance of a royal's bond, things start to go haywire. Lines will be drawn. We start to expose our shadow selves. You can’t trust anyone, not even me. There’s increased crime and killings, unlawful feeding, and even incest. As soon as Yemon is over, everyone is back to normal, but until then, London, I fear you’re in even more danger.”
I fail to wrap my head around this, and I think it’s mainly because I can’t see these people being possibly any worse than what they are right now. “How so?”
She holds my eyes, and it’s the first time I feel the fizzle of fear trickle down my throat as I swallow. “Because you’re right in the heart of the very place that wants to kill you.”
“Shit.” I lean back in my chair, but when that doesn’t give me any chance of relaxing, I shoot to my feet and start pacing around the kitchen space. The dirt—that feels more like Kinetic sand—melts between the cracks of my toes, and every time I close my eyes to think of a new plan, it’s eradicated into tiny little bits and shat out by a fucking six-foot-three beast that currently holds my entire fucking heart.
I hate him.
“Okay, so everyone goes crazy until Knight finds his Queen.” I hate that that felt like acid coming up my throat. “What else?”