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)
But then what of the future of Rathe?
Without another thought, I take Villaina Lacroix into my arms and leave the room.
My wife said to do as I must. To think of my sons.
That’s exactly what I’m going to fucking do.
Sinner’s eyes snap closed, and it takes a moment for him to reopen them. When he does, they’re back to blue, only this time with spiderweb cracks over his irises for a split second. Because Legend was right.
Sinner hates everyone and trusts no one, but London? He liked her even if he didn’t want to and she liked him too. She somehow understood there’s a mask he must wear and accepted the one he chose. She accepted him, even if she didn’t want to. Fate doesn’t give a fuck about your feelings. It puts people in your life for reasons that you simply cannot see right now.
“Fuck.”
Legend runs his hands through his hair, pacing as much as the small space allows. He comes to a stop in front of me, his arms hanging to his side. He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out and he looks off.
“How much,” Sin finally asks. “How much did you erase?”
“Remember the letter we found in her room the night everything went to shit, the one warning her from Rathe?” I ask. “She got it the day we cornered her at the diner when she was out with Justice. She just never read it back then, so I toyed with her memories, taking them back to that day. I gave her knowledge of her gifts and made it seem like the letter was the invitation to the courtship. She was sleeping the entire time, the memory playing out in her head like it was real. The moment she opened her eyes this morning is the moment she thinks she was portalled here.” Pressure digs at my chest, but I ignore it. “Everything after that day at the diner is gone.”
“So, the mating bond?” Sin’s jaw ticks. “Ben?”
I say nothing. I don’t have to.
They know what day I’m talking about. It was nearly our beginning. Before I ever touched her. Before she knew she was mine … even if she didn't want to be. It was before everything.
“Drop the barrier,” Sin says.
Creed shakes his head, but Sinner isn't going to allow whatever thought or excuse he has to deter him.
“Drop the fucking barrier, Creed.” Sinner smooths down his suit jacket, squaring in his shoulders and jaw, fully expecting Creed to do exactly what he's asked.
He does. First, the fog around us clears, and the moment the barrier falls Sinner stalks forward, Legend right behind him.
Creed’s expression is more unreadable than the others, his mind likely whirling as he decides what to do with that information and how he's going to take it. He stares at me a moment, before slowly turning, so I do the same, following his line of sight.
As expected, our brothers are already on their way to her.
She stands across the gardens before a giant chocolate waterfall made up of cobblestone. The young gnomes who found their way to her at her side.
They laugh and shove dessert after dessert toward her, and London smiles as she takes a small bite of each, her palm overflowing to the point she has to hold it against her body to try and keep them from falling.
The smallest of them all, dressed in a flowery pink dress and long, yellow braids, slips between her legs, spinning round and round as she holds on to another.
“They sense her power,” he says, and I nod without looking away. Unable to. History and fuckery aside, there’s no denying that London would make a phenomenal fucking Queen.
The young here have a way about them. They can pick up on what’s on the inside, even if hers is lying temporarily dormant.
London laughs then, and the sound vibrates through my chest, forcing me to clench my teeth until I feel one crack. It’ll heal, but I wish it wouldn’t. I deserve to break, even if only physically, for what I’ve done to her, for what I’ll continue to do.
Sin and Legend reach her, crowding from behind. The young gnomes scatter just as my brothers claim the space at London’s side.
They cage her in, her head whipping from one to the other, but neither speak. They just stand, staring down at her, and slowly, the corner of her mouth lifts.
Her lips part, and I don’t know what she says, but both Sin and Legend give curt nods.
“What did you see?” I finally ask, keeping my eyes trained on the girl who has no fucking idea who I am to her. “When you looked in her head, what did you see?”
Creed is silent a few more moments, and it’s almost too fucking much, but then his hand clamps over my shoulder.