Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
“Gods, you’re such an asshole,” she moaned and sniffed. She turned her back to me and roughly wiped her eyes. I pretended not to notice, keeping my head down as I gave Nylian’s horse a last pat on the rump before walking over to grab my gear.
As I straightened, Adeline punched my shoulder. “Just so you know, we’re all getting out of this snake pit alive. There won’t be any sacrificing for the rest of the group. Jasper needs to get to West Vale and find a teacher. Nylian needs to save his brother. And they need us to keep them alive.”
“I bet your plan is already more sensible than anything those two are trying to cook up,” I said as we walked over to join the elf, wizard, and chipmunk.
As if on cue, all three heads popped up at my words. They’d scratched a rough diagram in the dirt in front of them.
“If all your plans include me being left at camp, you can just scrap them and start over. I might not like snakes, but there’s no way in hell I’m letting you leave me behind,” I continued while still standing over them.
Nylian and Jasper stared at us and then shared a long, silent look. In the end, Nylian shrugged a shoulder and Jasper threw up his hands in exasperation. That proved I was right on that guess.
The elf turned his attention to me and smiled, “Precious—”
I leveled a finger at him, my expression stern. “Do not think you can sweet talk your way out of this with precious this and Adam that.”
Nylian lost his grin and stood to face me, his hands resting on my hips. “You’re right. I want to keep you out of this fight. It’s dangerous. I feel confident that I can protect you from swords, but snakes and poison are more insidious and harder to protect against. A bite or even the smallest prick on something you didn’t even see, and it could be too late. I came too close to losing you in Blackscar.”
“And you won’t lose me now.” I leaned in and stole a quick kiss, but it did little to remove the worry from his vibrant green eyes. At least it felt like he was listening to me. “I worry about the same things for you, but if we’re watching each other’s backs, it will be harder for the duchess to strike.”
My lover dragged in a deep breath and held it for a second, before releasing it with a nod. “Okay. You’re going.”
Jasper leaned around us to glare at his sister. “What Adam said, but without all the mush and kissing.”
“Fine. Whatever. We’re all going so we can all die together in the snake house. Sounds like a fun time for everyone,” Adeline snapped.
I took Nylian’s hand and led him over to where he’d been brainstorming with Jasper. Adeline picked up a sack of dried rations and handed them out while we hashed out some rough plans. Nothing seemed brilliant. It went without saying that this woman had to have some kind of security system on the place, even though we couldn’t see any actual guards moving about the grounds.
“This might sound crazy, but what if Nylian and me just…you know…walk up and knock on the front door?” I suggested.
“Knock on the front door? You’re kidding me?” Adeline repeated in a flat voice.
“Why not? Maybe she didn’t know what the poison was being used for. Maybe she still doesn’t know. She might give, or more likely, sell us the antidote and hand over the name of the asshole who bought the poison. We don’t know that she’s trying to start a war between Lockeheim and Wolfrest.”
Nylian gazed at me, his face unreadable. He turned to Jasper and gave another one of his shrugs. “It’s not the worst idea we’ve come up with.”
“I just love the support,” I muttered.
“If you and Adam are going in the front door, what are Jasper and I doing? Sitting on the hill, twiddling our thumbs?”
“You two can circle the building and search for another way inside. Wait for our signal to come rescue us if there’s trouble,” Nylian said.
Jasper plucked the chipmunk off the top of his head and held out a sunflower seed for him to eat. “What kind of signal?”
The elf smirked. “I imagine you’ll know it when you see it. We won’t be subtle.” He stared at the chipmunk eating his dinner. “And I’d keep a close watch on Master Binx. If she’s got snakes slithering about the place, I’m sure he’d make a tasty snack.”
Yep, this was an insane idea. We’d be lucky if we didn’t die.
Chapter 27
Why Did It Have to Be Winged Snakes?
As we stood at the front door, waiting for someone to answer, I began having second and third thoughts about my “brilliant” plan. Mostly because it was dark, and I swore I could hear movement within the shrubbery. The slithering kind of movement.