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)
Get wounded and dirty in a fight? Hot maiden swoons and takes care of him.
Betrayed by family member? Returns to win the hearts of the people and ascend to the throne.
Beaten by the villain? Roars back ten times stronger and destroys the villain.
Yeah, Nylian was possibly benefitting from the hero halo.
“Where are the ogres?”
Nylian jerked his chin toward the back of the cave where a series of growls, grunts, and snarls had become background noise to our conversation. “They’ve been arguing since I woke about what they should do with us.”
“Do I want to know how the argument is going?”
“Probably not.” Nylian shrugged a shoulder. “I’m not fluent in ogre, but it sounds like they’re fighting over whether to eat us or sell us. At least a couple of them have gotten the impression that one of us is valuable.” Nylian paused and rolled his eyes toward me. Yeah, yeah. It was clear which of the two of us was the more valuable. Even if he hadn’t admitted to me that he was a prince, it was obvious he was the one who came from a prestigious and rich family.
“If anyone wants my vote, I say sell us.” I tried once again to sit up, only to fall with a heavy thud.
“I doubt they would care about what we want. Plus, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. They’ve killed one of their companions, and I believe he was one of the strongest voices for selling us. Now I think they’re down to eat one and sell one or eat both of us.”
“Of course. Naturally,” I muttered while trying very hard not to give in to the panic that was bubbling up in my veins. We needed to think of a way to escape while they weren’t looking. “Your sword! Knives! Did they—”
“They removed all our weapons while we were unconscious,” Nylian said before I could finish.
“Well, since you’re out of options…” an unfamiliar female voice drawled from somewhere above us. I flopped around like a landed fish, trying to locate the speaker, but I was still having trouble rolling over. “How much would you be willing to pay for us to get you out of here?”
“A hundred gold pieces,” Nylian shot at our possible savior without a breath of hesitation.
“Five,” the woman countered.
“Two-fifty.”
“Are you fucking serious? Why are you negotiating?” I hissed. I scooted along the ground until I was next to Nylian and hit my forehead on his hip. “Just agree, so we can get out of here.”
“Rogues, who would charge for a rescue rather than gracefully accepting a reward after the fact, should not be paid their initial asking price,” Nylian replied in a stiff and prim tone.
“Four,” the voice from the trees stated.
“Three-fifty and that’s my final offer,” Nylian stated with a little extra bite.
There was a long sigh. The sound grew closer to us as our would-be savior climbed down the tree. “Fine, but if you get yourself captured again as we’re trying to get away, you’re on your own.”
“That will be a problem for Lockhart, I’m sure.”
“Fuck off, elf,” I growled. Not that he was wrong. I was the troublemaker. “I believe that nonsense at the inn was your mess. Not mine. I saved your ass.”
“Good to know we’re taking turns.”
There was a soft rustle behind me and a tug on the ropes at my wrists. I jerked around to see who was there, but before I could get a good view, my hands were free and I was falling onto my back. Above me, with a wide grin and short, floppy brown hair, was a woman with enormous dark eyes and round cheeks like plums. She winked at me and moved to my ankles, where she cut away the rope binding me.
“How are we coming, Jasper?” she called out in a low voice as she stepped over my legs to cut off the rope at Nylian’s ankles.
“Um…well…maybe not as good as I’d hoped,” someone stammered somewhere in the blackness behind me. There was the sudden sound of pages being turned frantically. “Maybe…maybe we should try to get out of here more quickly, Addie.”
The woman paused as she moved toward Nylian’s bound wrists, closed her eyes, and shook her head as if she were praying for some kind of inner strength to see her through. I didn’t recognize the names right off, but I honestly didn’t care who they were.
I shoved upright and rubbed my wrists, wincing as a rush of pins and needles accompanied the sudden renewed blood flow into my limbs. The splitting headache I’d been cringing through was now playing second fiddle to other aches and pains cropping up.
“Have you seen our weapons?” Nylian demanded, hopping to his feet the moment the woman finished cutting away his bindings. My hopping attempts were more of a stagger. The pins and needles that had invaded my arms were now flowing south to my hips and legs. In a second, I would feel nothing but pain. Fucking ogres.