Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“I guess you’re right,” Lucy said, feeling a tiny bit better. But she still didn’t like the idea of riding across herself!
“You’d better get into the cart and get going, Lady Lucille,” the first guard remarked. “I don’t like to rush you, but as I said earlier, Lady Twa’linda doesn’t like to be kept waiting—not even by another Dom’mesque.”
“Um…all right.” Lucy looked at the little green cart at the end of the tracks. “I guess we both get in together?”
“I would recommend that you let your manservant ride in the back and you ride in the front, my Lady,” the second guard said. “It’s safer that way.”
Lucy didn’t see how riding in the damn cart across the spindly-looking tracks could be safe in any way but there was nothing to do but head for the cart with T’zaren right behind her.
She sat in the front—noting that the sides of the cart were a lot lower than she liked—and the big Monstrum settled in the rear seat. Just as Lucy had thought, his long legs were on either side of her and her back was pressed against his broad chest. She tried to scoot forward to give him a little more room, but there simply wasn’t much room to begin with in the cart. And packing a curvy girl and a muscular, seven-foot-tall alien into it was clearly straining its capacity.
Lucy wondered if the two of them together were over the cart’s weight limit. Should she ask for them to ride in two separate carts? But no, she didn’t like the idea of riding on those skinny rails over the dark chasm all by herself. As awkward as things were between herself and the big Monstrum, having him at her back gave her a sense of security.
I trust him to protect me—as much as he can in this situation, anyway, she realized. After watching him go into a killing Rage and completely demolish the lizard-men slavers who had been trying to rape her, she was absolutely certain that T’zaren really would protect her with his life.
It was kind of an awe-inspiring revelation, she thought. But she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised—after all, he’d dived into the raging river on the Monstrum Mother Ship to save her before he even knew her. He might be a grumpy, complicated son-of-a-bitch but he was also extremely loyal and trustworthy. Not to mention incredibly attractive in his alien way.
He’s saved me twice now—at the risk of his own life both times, she thought. Mike wouldn’t even get out of bed to get me a glass of water back when we were together.
Also, Mike hadn’t been seven feet tall with an amazing physique and molten gold eyes.
It was amazing how different Kindred males were from human men. But then, Iyanna had told her as much when she’d called to let Lucy know that she’d run away from her own wedding to marry a Monstrum Kindred warrior. She—
“Here you go!” one of the guards yelled and the cart lurched forward, cutting off her train of thought.
Lucy bit her lip and tried not to look at the lip of the canyon which was only about ten yards away.
I won’t be scared, she told herself. It’ll be over in a minute and we’ll be across. Everything is going to be all right. I won’t be sc—
Suddenly, the tracks rose up into the air like a cat arching its back—and the little green cart they were riding in rose with them! Lucy found she was no longer looking across a level field to the edge of the chasm—instead, she was at the top of a mountain, (or at least a really high roller-coaster hill)—looking down into the gaping maw of the seemingly bottomless hole.
“Oh my God!” she gasped, clutching at T’zaren’s knees, which were on either side of her. “What’s happening? Why are we suddenly up here?”
“It’s all right, my Lady!” one of the guards called up to them. He and the other guard were still safely on the ground. They looked like little toy action figures, they were so far away, Lucy thought, feeling sick.
“It’s the only way to get the momentum to get you across the chasm!” the other guard shouted. “Just hold on and you’ll be fine.”
“Oh God! OhGodohGodohGod!” Lucy moaned. “Oh no, I don’t like this! I’ve never liked roller coasters. I mean, I’m really adventurous in other ways but I just can’t do heights! I can’t—”
Suddenly a pair of long, strong, muscular arms encircled her tightly.
“It’s all right,” T’zaren murmured in her ear. “Breathe, Lucille. I’ll be right here with you every moment.”
“You will?” Lucy clutched at his arms, pressing back against him, wanting every bit of comfort she could get from the big body surrounding her own.
“I will,” T’zaren promised. “Didn’t I swear an oath to keep you safe and not to leave you? Just close your eyes and lean against me and I’ll protect you.”